Some time ago, there was a rumor on the Internet about the box office statistics of domestic films in the first half of 2012. In this table, the box office of most domestic films is really appalling, and the only profitable film is this "Golden Robbery". Although Ning Hao's blockbuster cost the boss a full 50 million yuan, the box office performance of over 100 million yuan in nine days of release is enough to prove that the money is worth the money. But having said that, although "Golden Robbery" also garnered laughter from the audience, it also made Ning Hao and the boss count the money to be soft. This reputation is much worse than Ning Hao's previous "Crazy" series. It may be because the last work "No Man's Land" has been delayed for a chance to be released. Ning Hao, who was thinking about making up for the loss, really didn't have the time to polish the script, so he came up with such a work in a hurry to fool things. This kind of attitude of making it clear to grab the audience's money is exactly the same as the name of the movie. So, walking out of the theater, many die-hard fans of Ning Hao couldn't help but lament, recalling the summer that made them "crazy" in 2006, and the stone that made them "crazy".
In the summer of 2006, a "three no" domestic comedy "Crazy Stone" with no name director, no stars, and no publicity stunts was released in a low-key manner. However, this small-budget film, which seemed to be uncompetitive among its peers, was surprisingly well received. Director Ning Hao got back a box office of 23 million with only 3 million yuan of investment, making himself synonymous with the new generation of directors. The film became popular with a group of powerful acting schools such as Guo Tao, Huang Bo, Liu Hua, etc., making them the backbone of domestic comedy films in the following years. And various classic lines in the movie are still repeatedly mentioned by the audience...
Many people have an indescribable surprise after watching "The Stone": it's like digging a gold brick from demolition of the house at home, going out on the light rail to pick up Zhang Dollar, watching a domestic TV series and suddenly seeing "Band of Brothers", and the family arranges a blind date It turned out that the object was Wang Zuxian. The success of "Stone" is due to many people. First of all, of course, it is inseparable from the painstaking efforts of Ning Hao himself and the creative team. According to Ning Hao's later recollection, it took nearly half a year to revise the script of the film alone. The four screenwriters of the film, together with Ning Hao himself, are locked up in a small room to eat and live together. Every day they do nothing else, they just sit and chat with each other and add any interesting ideas to the script. Grind into a "treasure jade". On the other hand, Ning Hao's success is inseparable from the help of another noble person. This person is none other than Andy Lau and Liu Tianwang. After Andy Lau set up his own film company, he started a program called "Asian Rising Star Directors" to sponsor six young Asian directors to make films. Among mainland directors, Andy Lau originally took a fancy to Lu Chuan, but with the success of "Kekexili", Lu Chuan has become a hot new director in China at that time. Andy Lau decided to leave the opportunity to other young people. By chance, Andy Lau noticed an award-winning film called "Green Grass" at the Hong Kong International Film Festival. He didn't expect a story that should have seemed boring but was told so wonderfully by the director. He wanted to know about it. director. In this way, Andy Lau and Ning Hao met. Andy Lau appreciated Ning Hao's talent very much, and soon decided to invest 3 million to shoot a new film for him, and this is "Crazy Stone". In order to repay Andy Lau's suggestion, Ning Hao also arranged a few interesting little bridges in the film. For example, Liu Tianwang's classic song "Forget Love Water" appeared twice in the film, and the brand Baleno, which Andy Lau once endorsed, was also repeatedly exposed in the film. As for the above gossip, if you are a die-hard movie fan in front of the TV, you may know more or less. But what you may not know is that the reason why the "stone" is so hot is that it is inseparable from a British director and one of his masterpieces, which is Guy Ritchie and his "Two Smoking Guns".
Eddie has a quick mind and is a great poker player. With the support of three friends, Eddie took a huge sum of money to participate in the high-stakes gambling game of the underworld. In order to pay off the gambling debt, Eddie and his friends racked their brains, and finally figured it out on a group of drug dealers, and bought two large smoking guns for the robbery. Don't want this group of restless drug dealers, who are thinking about the money of their drug supplier, and committed the robbery on the same day. After the drug dealers struggled to grab the huge amount of drug money from the drug supplier, Eddie and the others were lucky to enjoy the success. But they don't know that behind this seemingly simple robbery, there are more powerful characters involved. And the two big smoking guns in their hands also have many stories hidden behind them.
In 1998, the then-unknown British director Guy Ritchie took the only £80,000 he had in his hands to film his debut feature "Two Smoking Guns", which he had planned for two years. Surprisingly, however, this experimental, low-budget film featuring a large number of non-professional actors has since become a classic of black comedy in the minds of countless fans. With this film, Guy Ritchie turned into a leading figure in a new generation of British comedy. A large number of nonsensical dialogues and various bizarre coincidences in his works have become his most personal label. After that, Guy Ritchie collaborated with big names such as Brad Pitt and Gerard Butler, and filmed many excellent black comedies such as "Snatch and Rob" and "Rock Gang". The "Sherlock Holmes" series directed by him, the global box office of the two films has exceeded one billion US dollars. From the little-known poor boy in England to the hot money printing machine in Hollywood today, Guy Ritchie has spent ten years accomplishing the dreams that many directors could not achieve in their lifetimes.
When "Crazy Stone" was just released, most domestic audiences didn't even know there was a movie like "Two Smoking Guns", and they didn't know who Guy Ritchie was. As for black comedy, there were multiple lines. These complex and esoteric technical terms are narrated, and ordinary audiences have never heard of them. For audiences who have always read Stephen Chow's nonsensical comedy as a bible before, the surprise when they suddenly see such an unconventional comedy film can be imagined. But these days, with the development of the Internet, many things are like this. Once you become popular, you become popular, and then there will definitely be criticism, doubts and even accusations that follow. "Crazy Stone" quickly encountered this embarrassment. Many so-called senior movie fans who have read countless films, seeing that this film has become a social hotspot, can't sit still, and jumped out to pick and choose from "Crazy Stone". In fact, after all, the central idea of this group of people is just one point: there is nothing new in your "Crazy Stone", any nonsense dialogue, multi-clue narrative, all kinds of coincidental designs, including the use of music, all played by foreigners The rest can be found in "Two Smoking Guns". To put it bluntly, your Ning Hao's success is based on copying Guy Ritchie. To copy or not to copy? This incident also caused a heated discussion on the Internet at the time. It's a pity that the Internet at that time was not as developed as it is today, and Fang Zhouzi was not as successful as it is today. According to director Ning Hao himself, he himself admitted in an interview with the media that "Two Smoking Guns" was a film that had a considerable influence on him, and "Crazy Stone" indeed borrowed a lot from "Two Smoking Guns". The success element in The Big Smoking Gun. Overall, "Crazy Stone" is a tribute to the Guy Ritchie classic. If you look at the taijiquan of other people, it's really a good one. Reference, tribute, plagiarism, whether these words look or sound, the difference seems to be quite obvious. But if you think about it carefully, it seems to mean the same thing. So what is the origin of "stone" and "bong"? In the next film, let's take a closer look.
If you interpret the artistic achievements of "Two Smoking Guns" in detail from a professional point of view, it can be written into a brilliant academic paper. But even for ordinary viewers who know little about the art of film and television, it is not difficult to tell what makes Two Smoking Guns different. In general, the excellence of "Two Smoking Guns" is mainly reflected in the four "cool" characters.
The first is cool language: all the actors in the film speak a strong London accent, mixed with all kinds of witty and funny British foul language, and the humor of the language is almost everywhere in the film's dialogue.
The second is the visual cool: Guy Ritchie, who shot MV in his early years, has always attached great importance to the visual part of the film. The use of the lens and the design of the characters in the film are quite fashionable and modern. Clean and neat editing makes the rhythm of the film lively and comfortable.
Musically cool again: Guy Ritchie is once again showing the side he once was as a music video director. From the beginning to the end, the movie broadcasts very exciting music with the screen. Various music styles, including British rock, heavy metal, punk, and jazz, are included. It is really enjoyable for the eyes and ears.
Finally, the structure is cool: the plot of the film is complex but not cluttered, and the plot development is interesting but not absurd. Several gangs intertwined dramatically to form gripping scenes.
After talking about the four "cool" in "Bong", if you look back at "Crazy Stone", you will be surprised to find that these four are the same in "Stone".
In terms of language, "Crazy Stone" is simply a "dialect made out of one pot": Chongqing dialect, Tangshan dialect, Qingdao dialect, Cantonese, and Mandarin appear in "Rock" in turn, and almost every dialect has a paragraph in the film. Classic lines. "Crazy Stone" made the mountain city of Chongqing, making Chongqing dialect a favorite dialect of the people all over the country. However, when it comes to the most famous line in the film, it has to be the sentence "I'm hitting your lungs!"
And in the visual aspect of the film, there are also many similarities between the two films. Interestingly, Ning Hao, like Guy Ritchie, was also a MV director before he became famous. He once filmed the MV for the famous song "Acceleration" by famous model Qu Ying. Such a common experience may be doomed to the familiarity between "Crazy Stone" and "Two Smoking Guns". Even if you're a layman who doesn't know anything about pictures, shots, and editing, when you see the final split in "Crazy Stone", you'll realize it's somehow related to "Two Smoking Guns" .
Speaking of the music of "Stone", this is another highlight of the film. The music in "The Stones" is more humorous than the explosive and exciting Britpop in "The Smoking Gun". Whether it's the remixed "Four Little Swans", or Dao Ge's hilarious cell phone ringtones, or "Forget Love Water", which appears just right, the audience under the screen can all laugh back and forth. In any case, in the soundtrack of "Crazy Stone", what people can feel is the rebellion and publicity in the bones of a young director.
And if it comes to the basic structure and plot design of the film, it is undeniable that this is the most similar place between the two films, and it also leaves a handle for the "stone" plagiarism of "bong". On the whole, the death of man-made wealth is the common theme of the two works, and the basic plot of the two films is also that many groups of forces are chasing around a key item. In "Bongs", the four major forces of gamblers, drug dealers, gangsters, and drug suppliers launched a fierce confrontation because of two large smoking guns. When it comes to "stone", the priceless jadeite has also become the object of competition among the four groups, but this time the people who compete for the stone have been replaced by factory security guards, local thieves, international thieves and the son of the factory director. As for the similarities in the details of the two films, I am afraid there are too many to enumerate. For example, there are nurses in "Bongs" and can tricks in "Stones"; two groups of people in "Bongs" live next door, and so does "Stones"; after Eddie loses money in "Bongs", the scene becomes violent After the old bag in "Stone" realized that the jadeite had been dropped, the picture effect was almost the same. There are so-called "professional" people involved in both films, and the "professional" people finally killed the boss behind the scenes by accident...
If Andy Lau, who boldly used the newcomer Ning Hao, is the so-called "Father of Stone", it has provided a solid enough material foundation for the success of this film. Then Guy Ritchie's "Two Smoking Guns" can be regarded as the "Mother of Stones", which directly gave birth to the inspiration for the birth of the film. That said, it's only natural for a mother and a son to look alike, but is it possible to treat a mother and a son as the same person just because they look alike? From today's point of view, "Stone" did draw on all the highlights of "Bong", but director Ning Hao made it a localized transformation suitable for Chinese audiences, which finally made "Stone" a success. If it is just a simple copy and imitation, it may be difficult for "Stone" to achieve today's reputation. As a director who grew up in the disc era, Ning Hao was able to come into contact with a large number of excellent foreign films on his film journey, and these films naturally became an important source of his creative inspiration. Ning Hao himself said that in order to make a good commercial film in China, you must first learn. What to study is to study foreign genre films. You don't even know how to copy and copy, so how can you talk about originality?
When it comes to borrowing, "Crazy Stone" borrows far more than the movie "Two Smoking Guns". If you're an attentive moviegoer, you'll feel a sense of deja vu in the following clips. Seeing the scene of the international thief Mike entering the lobby of Luohan Temple from the roof, is it familiar to you? Does the attire of Doge and his gang when they steal remind you of the dark knight in Gotham City? At the end of the film, the scene where the old bag fights the international thief in the elevator seems to be a little similar to the chartered public and the chartered wife in Star Lord's "Kung Fu". This is the crazy Ning Hao, although he is only the son of a steel worker, although he is only a technical secondary school graduate, although he has not undergone the systematic and meticulous academic training in the film academy, but relying on his love for movies , but he succeeded in subtly implanting his favorite films into his works, creating a comedy classic that is at least unique in the Chinese film industry.
If one day in the future, Ning Hao can meet his idol Guy Ritchie, and the two of them share their own growth experiences and film journeys, it is estimated that he will be like Chef Fan in the sketch of this mountain. The last sentence, "Big brother, fate!" Although one is a post-60s generation in the UK and the other is a post-70s generation in China, these two men have many similarities in their pursuit of movies. Let's not talk about anything else, just talk about the casting of the film. Guy Ritchie's films, whether it's an early black comedy or a later "Sherlock Holmes" series, are all about men first and full of masculinity. And when it comes to Ning Hao, being the heroine in his movie is a very sad thing. Not to mention, the role is pitifully small, and the image is basically horrible. Tao Hong, such a pretty big name, ended up killing Ning Hao in the end. No way, who made these two directors have a soft spot for men's plays. As for the use of male actors, both Ning Hao and Guy Ritchie have their own set of experiences. And this kind of experience has already begun to emerge in their respective famous works. If you don't believe me, let's analyze it carefully.
1. The green leaves are brighter than the safflowers, and there are big names in the supporting roles.
Strictly speaking, there is no real protagonist in "Crazy Stone", and among the various male characters in the film, almost every actor has dedicated at least a wonderful time in his limited playing time. A performance and a memorable line. Now that they're all doing so well, who's going to end this "crazy" movie has become a head-scratching problem. Ning Hao, who is good at digging out talents, once again showed his uniqueness in casting. He handed over the task of finishing to Huang Bo, who didn't have many roles in the film before. And Huang Bo did not disappoint Ning Hao. He was dressed as a sharp brother, with bread in his mouth, and the scene of running wildly on the overpass pushed the "madness" of the film to the extreme. Perhaps it was the will of God, when "Crazy Stone" became "Crazy Racing" three years later, the first character to appear in the film was still the one who was not tall, with small eyes and a smirk on his face. The Qingdao boy. It's just that Huang Bo at this time has become the absolute male number one in this film, and after the tempering of the "Crazy" series, Huang Bo has also jumped from an obscure and wretched man to a contender in the current domestic comedy films. The "first brother" who was invited.
When it comes to the big names who came out of the supporting roles, the one in "The Smoking Gun" is even more well-known. Hard-faced, muscular, kung fu, and his signature bald head, action-movie fans around the world now know the man named Jason Statham. And what you can't imagine is that today's action king, the debut of the year was such a black comedy. Speaking of which, the relationship between Jason Statham and Guy Ritchie is somewhat similar to that of Huang Bo and Ning Hao. Both of them became famous by supporting roles with few roles, and then got the opportunity to play the leading role. Ning Hao gave Huang Bo the male lead in "Car Racing", while Guy Ritchie boldly used Jason Statham to star in his second work, "Snatch and Steal". With this rare starring opportunity, both actors were able to further their respective acting careers. Needless to say, Huang Bo, Jason Statham relied on Guy Ritchie's films as a springboard to break into Hollywood in one fell swoop and became a household-name action movie star.
2. Don’t panic if you don’t have a star, you have your own noble people to come to the rescue. There
is a popular saying on the Internet. Whether it is “stone” or “smoking gun”, it is the kind of movie full of diaosi: the director is unknown and the investment in the film is limited. There are no big names in the film, and it's all about gamblers, liars, and drug dealers on the fringes. But it would be a big mistake to say that there is no bright spot in the cast of these two films, no star flavor.
Let's start with Guy Ritchie's "Bong." Audiences who are familiar with gossip in European and American entertainment circles know that Guy Ritchie's identity is not only a famous director, but also has a famous title, "McDonald's brother-in-law". From 2000 to 2008, Guy Ritchie and the diva Madonna went through an eight-year marriage. The reason why Guy Ritchie and Madonna met and fell in love back then had something to do with this "smoking gun". There is a seemingly inconspicuous little character in "The Smoking Gun". The father of the protagonist Eddie, the owner of the bar, has few shots and only appears for a few minutes. But his actor Sting has a lot of background. Forming a famous police band and winning three Grammy Awards may be a little far off for us Chinese audiences. And if it comes to Sting's masterpiece, I believe that few people have not heard it, it is the ending song of "This Killer Is Not Too Cold". With a deep personal relationship, Guy Ritchie pulled his friend Sting to make a cameo appearance on his debut. In the film's subsequent release, Guy Ritchie met Sting's friend Madonna in the music industry, and the two fell in love. It is said that the place where Guy Ritchie and Sister Mai spent their honeymoon after their marriage was Sting's mansion in England, which shows that the relationship between the three is extraordinary.
Seeing that his idol back then could recruit such a great celebrity to save the scene, Ning Hao naturally wanted to follow suit. However, Ning Hao couldn't invite an international superstar like Sting after all, so he decided to take a stab at the sword, and came to Wan Lu, which was a little bit red, and found a relatively big-name actress to support the scene for "Stone". In the original script, Brother Dao's girlfriend played a very important role in the film, but Ning Hao's idea was to find Xiao Tao Hong to play it. Unexpectedly, when the script arrived at Xiao Taohong's house, before Xiao Taohong could see it, her husband Xu Zheng read it first. After reading the script, Xu Zheng was full of praise, and took the initiative to find Ning Hao and asked for a cameo role. In this way, Xu Zheng stole his wife's job, and he became the most famous actor in "Stone". What is especially commendable is that Xu Zheng's performance in "Stone" does not take a penny, and he really made a friendly cameo. In this way, Xu Zheng and Guo Tao, Huang Bo, and Liu Hua formed an iconic landscape in Ning Haoli - "The Ugly Brothers". In the next few films of Ning Hao, Xu Zheng almost did not fall. In this year's "Golden Robbery", due to the schedule, Xu Zheng really had no time to act, so he entrusted Xiao Taohong to help the emergency, and it was considered that he returned the job he stole from his wife six years ago.
3. Players and workers appear together, not experts in the game
The reason why "Smoking Gun" was so impressive back then was that, in addition to the highly creative script and humorous dialogue, the individual performances of several leading actors were also an important plus point. But what you may not expect is that many of the actors in "The Smoking Gun" are not non-professional actors. In order to save costs, Guy Ritchie recruited his friends from all walks of life, including seven aunts and eight aunts. Among these people, there are band players, boxing players, models, and diving training. Regardless of home. Among these first "electric shock" newcomers, the most striking one is Vinnie Jones, who plays thug Chris. In the UK, where football and movies are equally developed, it is a common thing for a star to be electrocuted. Not to mention anything else, the two generations of Manchester United's iconic figures, "The King" Cantona and the heartthrob Beckham, have all had wonderful performances in the movie. But in the final analysis, their performance is purely a ticket. And this Vinnie Jones is concentrating on the development of the entertainment circle after retiring. In fact, as early as the player era, Vinnie Jones was a famous villain on the field. The fastest record he set for being sent off after three seconds in the opening game has yet to be broken. That alone, combined with his tough looks, gives you an idea of what kind of role he'll probably play in a movie. Today, although Vinnie Jones is not a first-line big name, he can participate in such Hollywood blockbusters as "60 Seconds", "Swordfish Action", "X-Men", and Nicolas Cage, Hugh Jack. Such an achievement is not easy for an actor who is halfway through his career to cooperate with an actor like Mann.
Coincidentally, there is also such a self-taught actor in "The Stone". That is Liu Hua, the actor of Brother Dao. There are countless impressive lines in "Stone", and quite a few of these classic lines are from the mouth of the witty Dao Ge. Similar to the unlucky Dao brother in the movie, Liu Hua in real life also experienced ups and downs before becoming famous. He was a soldier, a worker, and he went to sea. He was regarded as a "hutong stringer" who did not do his job properly. After entering the film and television circle by mistake, he played some inconspicuous small roles. Although they are familiar with the audience, almost no one knows what this middle-aged mustache is called. Unlike those young people who are new to the entertainment industry and only think about being famous and popular, Liu Hua treats acting purely as a job, just to make a living. And it was this simplicity and simplicity that moved Ning Hao and made him hand over the role of Brother Dao to Liu Hua, who was unknown at the time. With the help of Ning Hao, the inconspicuous stone of Liu Hua turned into a sweet pastry. It can be said that Liu Hua's unexpected popularity best explains what is called a late bloomer.
Some people like to compare Ning Hao to Guy Ritchie of the East. From the growth experience of the two, such a statement is naturally reasonable. None of them were born in a formal professional class, and they all have experience in the MV director's career. The famous works are all standing out in the case of not being favored by others. Judging from the direction of the two directors, Ning Hao seems to be following the road that Guy Ritchie has taken. After redefining the domestic comedy with "Crazy Stone", Ning Hao refreshed the new height of domestic comedy with a more fun "Crazy Racing" a few years later, just as Guy Ritchie finished filming The "Snatching" filmed after "Two Smoking Guns". But now, Ning Hao also has to face the problem that Guy Ritchie encountered in those days: Should he continue to spin around in a low-budget comedy? Or break through yourself and transform into a blockbuster director? Guy Ritchie chose the latter in this multiple-choice question, resulting in the billion-dollar Sherlock Holmes series. Although some people criticized Guy Ritchie for not giving up his famous brand for a little commercial benefit, however, as a filmmaker with lofty aspirations, shooting commercial blockbusters is the only way for every major director. So from this point of view, it seems reasonable that Ning Hao chose to shoot a "Golden Robbery" with a different style. Maybe the future Ning Hao will be farther and farther away from the comedy on which he is famous, but this does not prevent that "crazy stone" from becoming a shining gem in our hearts forever.
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