Li Yi was actually a little surprised because the golden finger was opened a bit wider this time.
There were actually quite a few kung fu movies (martial arts movies) that he remembered.
In addition to the "Once Upon a Time" series, there is another movie that Li Yi likes quite a lot. Different from the "Once Upon a Time" series, there is another movie called "Fist of Heroes". The protagonist is the same as the "Once Upon a Time" series.
One, the same is a kung fu superstar from another world in my memory.
The difference is that "Fist of Heroes" is definitely the ceiling for fighting scenes in this type of movie.
It can be said that in terms of the theme of "Chinese and Japanese martial arts showdown", this film is almost impossible to surpass in Li Yi's opinion.
Of course, filming this type of film is actually very tiring, because it can be said that the essence of "Fist of Heroes" lies in the fighting scenes, and the requirements for actors are too high.
It was possible to find such a lineup in Hong Kong back then, and even the villain was the original boxing champion, but what about now?
It’s not that there are no boxing champions now, but the gold content is really completely different.
Not to mention, the reason why Kung Fu Superstar is Kung Fu Superstar is due to the times, but his own quality is also very crucial.
Is Wu Jun qualified for such a role?
Li Yi doesn't know, maybe it can be done, but Li Yi has no intention of making this movie. Without him, this kind of movie is really not what he is good at.
Li Yi has no idea how to deal with "Fist of Heroes" yet.
If you don’t take pictures yourself, let others take pictures?
To be honest, Li Yi is not particularly optimistic about it.
It's not because other directors can't make movies well, but because times have changed. It can be said that among today's "famous directors", how many of them have actually made so many kung fu movies?
If Li Yi didn't have the original version as a reference, he thinks it would be difficult to achieve such a level of photography.
The "Once Upon a Time" series is enough for him to play for a while.
Li Yi decided to shoot directly in succession. Yes, the "Once Upon a Time" trilogy was shot directly in succession.
It can be regarded as a shot in the arm for the categories of martial arts films and kung fu films in the Chinese film industry. At least it lets everyone know that martial arts is not really in decline.
If one movie doesn’t work, what about another series?
There are actually more than three movies in the "Once Upon a Time" series, but in Li Yi's opinion, the first three movies can be said to be the pinnacle of the series. The latter ones are not really that bad, but they are obviously still worse than the first three movies.
Have some flavor.
"What? Three movies in a row?" Zhao Guangming looked shocked.
Others also looked astonished.
Although it's not like Li Yi has never made two movies in a row, you must know that this is a martial arts movie!
"Yes, the three stories are actually of the same origin. Everyone will know it when I finish the script." Li Yi didn't say much.
The "Once Upon a Time" series is of course not without flaws. In fact, the looming emotional scenes between Liang Kuan and Thirteenth Aunt in the first film were, in Li Yi's opinion, completely unnecessary.
Of course, if it really needs to be filmed, the cast of the "Once Upon a Time" series is also crucial. Fortunately, Li Yigang has just finished filming "One Knife, Fall of the City", so the original cast is actually completely fine.
Although there may be some differences from the original lineup, it is the best lineup currently available.
Wu Jun or Zhao Qian, who is more suitable for Huang Feihong?
In fact, Li Yi thinks Zhao Qian is more suitable, because Wu Jun is more suitable for rough roles, such as Wang Wu, while Zhao Qian is just the opposite.
From the setting of Huang Feihong.
He is not only a great master, but also a doctor himself due to his family background. It can be said that Huang Feihong and Da Dao Wang Wu are completely different types.
Huang Feihong cannot be played by someone who looks rough and crazy at first glance. He has a scholarly family background and the elegance of the Xinglin family. Zhao Qian is more suitable for this.
When Li Yi was rewriting the script of "Once Upon a Time", the more he wrote, the more he felt that this series was really rare.
It can be said that whether it is the world in his memory or the world he lives in, this series is unique.
Not only in terms of business, but also in terms of theme and art, it can be said that "Once Upon a Time" should be regarded as a masterpiece.
It is not a purely commercial movie, otherwise it would not be known as the Once Upon a Time in China series of movies.
But it’s not a pure art film, otherwise it wouldn’t be possible for the series to come out again and again.
And each one can be said to have achieved high success both at the box office and in terms of reputation.
On the other hand, what is lacking in the current Chinese-language film industry is this type of movie.
Because today's Chinese film industry has actually fallen into a strange circle.
What weird circle?
Main theme movies have become the most mainstream in the market, which is of course not a bad thing because audiences love to watch them.
But this is not a good thing, especially for the diversity of movies.
Because it can be said that this is one extreme going to another extreme. In the past, main theme movies have been repeatedly ignored. It can be said that many people saw it and thought, oh, it is a main theme movie, and immediately thought it was a bad movie.
But what about now?
As long as you make a main theme movie and the plot is not too outrageous, you can basically get good box office results.
As a result, it started to go to extremes. Because of the coercion of the market and capital, it is usually difficult for you to treat problems with a more objective attitude in movies.
Everything must serve the market.
Some people may say that the audience loves to watch it!
However, once there are too many themes of any type, aesthetic fatigue will inevitably occur.
In fact, this trend has already begun to emerge. Main theme movies are still the most popular type of movies on the big screen. However, in fact, this is the dividend of the audience's surge in national self-confidence.
But the audience is not stupid. Maybe at the beginning, people can resonate with this kind of movies, but over time, these kinds of movies appear on the big screen in the same way.
So some doubts began to appear, but they were soon drowned out by some extreme people, or by the public relations of the film's producer, those critical and critical voices.
But can the criticisms and doubts that have been temporarily covered up really be treated as non-existent?
This has also led to the fact that although the box office of subsequent main theme movies still seems to be good, in fact, both word-of-mouth and box office have begun to decline to a certain extent.
Another reason why Li Yi likes the "Once Upon a Time" series is that its spirit is the main theme, but at the same time, it looks at some more sensitive issues from a more objective perspective.
Of course, for movies such as the "Once Upon a Time" series, where Chinese and Western cultures collide, directors from that era in Hong Kong did have more unique conditions.
In the 1980s and 1990s, there were some excellent descriptions of this period from both sides of the Taiwan Strait and the three places.
The main reason lies in the history of Hong Kong Island. It has been a port for hundreds of years and the Chinese and foreign countries have been mixed. Here, the tug of war between tradition and modernity is much stronger and earlier than anywhere else in China.
In Li Yi's view, in fact, a simple sentence of cultural collision is far from summarizing the essence of the "Once Upon a Time" series.
The reason why he likes this series is that the film comprehensively shows the life profile and spiritual roots of Chinese people from all walks of life in an era of fragmentation and renewal.
After reprinting the script, Li Yi immediately invited Mr. Yuan Ba, Mr. Yu, Zhao Guangming, Wu Jun, Zhao Qian, and Li Yi's old friends to come over and read the script.
"The script was produced so quickly?" Zhao Guangming and others were a little surprised.
Li Yi distributed the printed script to everyone.
Everyone looked down.
The more they looked, the more serious, surprised and stunning the expressions of Master Yuan Ba and others became!
They are knowledgeable and can tell whether a script is good or bad.
Although it is said that a good movie cannot be made simply by having a good script, but in Li Yi's case, if there is a good script, it is difficult to make a bad movie.
After a long time, Yuan Baye sighed: "It's amazing! This script!"
After Zhao Guangming closed the script, he sighed with emotion: "I haven't seen such a good story in a long time!"
Everyone else also looked at Li Yi like they were looking at gods.
"How did you come up with the idea? There are three films in the series. The key is that although they are of the same origin, the themes of each film are different, but they are all amazing!" Chen Wen said with a look of amazement.
.
"Compared with the lines in "One Knife," I feel that the lines in "Once Upon a Time" are better!" Zhao Qian also said.
"There's one scene I like the most.
Huang Feihong and an admiral stood on the bow of the ship.
They looked into the distance. In the distance, the dark clouds were slowly dispersing.
The admiral said: "Golden Mountain? Is there a golden mountain in this world?"
Huang Feihong said: "If there are really gold mountains in this world, why do those foreign ships come to our port?"
He paused and then said: "Perhaps, we are already standing on the Golden Mountain."
It feels really good!”
"The Once Upon a Time in China series, what a Once Upon a Time in China series!" Zhao Guangming once again praised the script.
"The key is that it's not just the character Huang Feihong who shines here, but the other characters also shine!
The heroine Aunt Thirteen is really the most special one I have ever seen. Compared with the vases in current movies, this vase is so different." Chen Wen added.
Qin Yiran on the side was extremely excited at this moment.
She likes the role of Thirteenth Aunt so much. The princess in "Butterfly Lovers" doesn't appear in many scenes, and "Butterfly Lovers" is also a very pure men's drama.
It can be said that women, such as princesses, are only used to embellish the tender side of the hero in the movie.
But the Thirteenth Aunt in "Once Upon a Time" is completely different.
Of course, the more important thing is that some of Li Yi's plot settings in the script also make people unable to help but think of that scene after reading it.
This is only a written script, not a shot-by-shot script, but it is enough to make people look forward to it.
"However, in order to film this scene, the fighting scene is very important, and the style will be completely different from the fighting style in "One Sword Allure". When the time comes, I will need your help and help from Mr. Ba and Yu Laoduo to think about it." Li Yi
Said with a smile.
"It's really like this. In your setting, Huang Feihong is a grandmaster, but he is completely different from the grandmasters in our traditional impression in the past. He is not the kind of unsmiling and majestic grandmaster. On the contrary, from the content of the script,
It seems that he is a "naughty boy". It is really difficult for such a person to show the style of a great master through his martial arts, moves, and movements!" Yuan Baye said, stroking his mustache.
"It's hard to do it, but do it!" Mr. Yu said calmly.
"That's natural! However, it's been a long time since I encountered such a challenging action design, tsk tsk!" Yuan Baye said with a smile.
They were also delighted to see that the action design and move design of a movie can be said to be closely related to the plot, core themes, and character settings of the movie.
You can just imagine, if Huang Feihong still follows the rules, how can he be highlighted as a great master?
Grandmasters are called out by others, not appointed by themselves. In the same way, in a movie, the director can say that this character is a grandmaster.
But you have to design it to make people think that this is a great master. Simply put, his image, his kung fu, etc. must match those of a great master.
Different movies will have different martial arts routines, and even different characters.
For example, Chen Zhen in "Fist of Heroes", his fighting skills are indeed strong enough when played, but they are never suitable for Huang Feihong. Why?
Because it doesn’t match Huang Feihong’s character, nor does it match the character of his great master!
Although Li Yi had the original movements as a reference, the specific design of the movements still relied on Yuan Jiaban and Yu Lao.
At most, Li Yi can put forward his own ideas and requirements from the sidelines, but he still needs to rely on them and the actors to realize them.
Speaking of actors, Li Yi looked at Wu Jun and Zhao Qian.
"After reading the script, what do you two think?" Li Yi said with a smile.
Wu Jun and Zhao Qian looked at each other, and then Wu Jun said with some distress: "I feel that Zhao Qian is more suitable for the role of Huang Feihong than me."
"I think so too! However, I think you are quite suitable for the role of Nalan Yuanshu in the second part. What do you think?" Li Yi said with a smile.
Wu Jun nodded without much hesitation: "I have no problem!"
Li Yi nodded.
"However, this film requires a lot more supporting characters than "One Knife"!" Yuan Baye said with a rather worried look on his face.
In fact, his worries are not unreasonable.
In "Once Upon a Time", although the fighting scenes are mainly about Huang Feihong, in fact, many of the characters in it have very high requirements.
For example, Yan Zhendong in the first part, Nalan Yuanshu in the second part, and Gui Jiao Qi, etc. It can be said that the requirements for actors are not generally high.
At least at this stage, it is really difficult for the Chinese film industry to find the right people.
Especially Gui Jiao Qi, this character can be said to be the most distinctive character in the entire series.
The key is that this role has even higher requirements for actors than Huang Feihong to some extent, especially in terms of skills.
