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Last week, the greasy and fat director Wang Jing suddenly announced on Weibo that he would be shooting the sequel to the 93rd edition of "Eternal Dragon Slayer: The Demon Sect Leader".
Moreover, this boss does not take the usual way. Compared with other people's secretive and secretive official propaganda routines, Wang Jing directly announced the starring lineup of the sequel on Weibo and attached a set of makeup photos.
Let's take a look at the actors of the sequel in Wang Jing's mind:
Lin Feng as Zhang Wuji, Wen Yongshan as Zhao Min, Qiu Yinong as Zhou Zhiruo, Chen Zihan as Purple Shirt Dragon King, Donnie Yen as Zhang Sanfeng, Gu Tianle as Zhang Cuishan, Zhu Chenli as Yin Susu, Liu Haolong as Song Qingshu, Xu Jinjiang as Golden Lion King, Fang Zhongxin as Bright Left Envoy Yang Xiao , Huang Haoran plays the blue-winged bat king, Luo Yingjun plays the white-browed eagle king, Guo Zhenghong plays Kutou Tuo, Liang Teng plays Mie Shitai, Tian Qiwen and Lin Zicong play Huashan Er Lao, and Shi Yanneng plays Cheng Kun.
It has to be said that such a cast is luxurious!
In addition to the 41-year-old Lin Feng who plays Zhang Wuji, the high-spirited martial arts king, who is a bit wild, other familiar names such as Donnie Yen, Louis Koo, Xu Jinjiang, Fang Zhongxin, Luo Yingjun, Tian Qiwen, Lin Zicong, Shi Yanneng, etc., can be said to be left in the history of Chinese films. They have given their special imprint.
However, I think the 93 edition of "The Demon Sect Leader of Heaven and Dragon Slayer" is not inferior in lineup.
At that time, the "Kung Fu Emperor" Jet Li, plus a group of female leading actors who still use their looks and temperament to hang most stars in the entertainment industry after 27 years: Zhang Min, Qiu Shuzhen, Gigi Lai , Sammo Hung, Wu Zhenyu, Zou Zhaolong, Tian Qiwen , etc. Supported by powerful actors.
It's just, it's strange to say that even with such a lore lineup of actors, with Jin Yong's popular IP "Eternal Dragon Slayer" and Wang Jing's genius director's idea, this film should have been the hit of the year, but in the end it didn't even hit the streets. left.
I have always felt that among Hong Kong directors, Wang Jing is one of the directors who can balance the roles of directors and businessmen.
Sitting behind the monitor, he can shoot nonsensical classics that open his mind, such as "The Lu Ding Ji", "The Tricky Expert", "The Variety Star King", and "Nine-Rank Sesame Official".
When he began to be rigorous, he could produce masterpieces such as "New Shaolin Five Ancestors", "God of Gamblers", "Money Empire", "Chasing the Dragon", "No.
As a businessman, he has a very high acuity. In the 1990s, Wang Jing shot a large number of movies imitating the "God of Gamblers" series. The basic plot logic is like a mold carved out. Funny, character behavior can basically be guessed.
But Wang Jing never tire of it.
Since the beginning of the 21st century, Wang Jing's journey to the north has always been unclear, and his film works have not been liked by mainland audiences as expected. "Great Shanghai" and "Money Empire", which were filmed at the time, were well received by word of mouth and at the box office. It could be said that they all failed.
Unexpectedly, 2014's "Macau Wind and Cloud" suddenly became an annual box office miracle.
It is indeed a miracle, the word of mouth is so bad, it actually won 525 million box office, ranking 8th in the box office list of domestic movies that year.
The success of the film at the box office stimulated Wang Jing's keen sense of businessman. He seemed to realize what kind of works he should shoot in the mainland.
So in the next 2 years, Wang Jing made two sequels of "Macau Wind and Cloud" in a row, and the word of mouth was worse than the other, but the box office was better than the other.
Therefore, it is not difficult to see that in the conflict between art and money, Wang Jing will choose the latter without hesitation.
So, we can probably understand why the 93 version of "Eternal Dragon Slayer: The Demon Sect Leader" clearly left a tail for shooting a sequel, but after 27 years, Zhang Wuji and Zhao Min did not wait for the Dadu contract, because from the beginning, It's a failed movie commodity.
Aside from the box office issue, there are several points worth paying attention to.
As a result, in 1993, Wang Jing and Jet Li were very busy.
In this year, Jet Li filmed "Tai Chi Zhang Sanfeng", "Fang Shiyu Sequel", "New Shaolin Five Ancestors" and this "The Demon Sect Leader of Heaven and Slaying the Dragon", the latter two of which were cooperating with Wang Jing.
Wang Jing is a well-known "quick hand" in the circle, and can make a movie for you in a month.
Due to the tight schedule and heavy tasks, Jet Li eventually parted ways with Wang Jing due to work pressure and salary distribution.
Second, just the year before, Jet Li's agent Cai Ziming was shot and killed, which became a major incident in the entertainment industry.
This incident had a great impact on Jet Li. Later, he began to try to avoid the unpredictable situation in Hong Kong, and spent most of his time in Beijing (in fact, the 93 version of "Eternal Dragon Slayer" was basically filmed in Beijing). Enter Hollywood.
Thirdly, the biggest reason for the poor reputation and box office of the 1993 version of "Eternal Dragon Slayer" is that the audience thinks that the plot has changed magically .
Moreover, many details in the film are unclear. For the audience who have read the book, it is relatively easy to understand, while others can only rely on their brains to make up.
Indeed, when I look back at the 93 version of "Eternal Dragon Slayer" again, the most impressive ones are only the blackened Zhang Wuji, the good-looking and good-looking heroines, and other characters who are full of wretchedness.
In Jin Yong's original novel, Zhang Wuji is a simple child who is hesitant, has no opinion, and advocates truth, goodness and beauty.
And Wang Jing thinks this is not good, it is not worth watching.
Zhang Wuji can be like this:
Since childhood, he has been carrying blood and deep hatred. Although he is loved by his masters and uncles and uncles in Wudang Mountain, because of his identity, Song Qingshu's generation is full of prejudice against him, and even Zhou Zhiruo, who represents the beauty, has partnered with others to bully him.
Such a person with great bitterness and hatred has created the black-bellied version of Zhang Wuji in Wang Jing's eyes.
As a result, he will learn the Jiuyang Divine Art by using the aggressive method, and he will play hard to catch and eventually sit on the position of the leader of the demon sect.
Frankly speaking, there is nothing wrong with such an adaptation (as long as the original author Jin Yong agrees), it gives the audience another interpretation of the characters that breaks the convention.
Just like the wretched Huashan Second Elder in the play, Zhang Sanfeng, who swears but pretends to be serious, and Zhou Zhiruo, who looks innocent but is full of lies.
This kind of treatment is actually in line with Wang Jing's understanding of nonsense, everything is unconventional, and everything is unusual.
Later audiences will gradually discover that the nonsense of those years is actually a self-deprecating attitude of the creators, used to satirize reality.
In the film, Wang Jing shows the ugly faces of a group of decent people naked. Compared with Jin Yong's original work, he ripped open the so-called filth of the so-called decent people.
And just last week, after Wang Jing announced the cast, he immediately updated the dynamic to reveal the plot direction of the sequel.
Darker than version 93! If the 93 edition is the cultivation path of the black-bellied teenager, the sequel is the peak of the king and the revenge of the black-bellied teenager.
Therefore, Wang Jing is a businessman, and a smart businessman.
He knows what the audience likes to watch. Among the regrets of watching movies after the 8090s, the 93 version of "Eternal Dragon Slayer" is impressive.
The protagonist played by Jet Li with a fierce face and a black belly actually did not disgust the audience, but got more sympathy and even hoped that he would succeed (it really is a society that looks at his face).
Now, probably after hearing the netizens' appeal for the sequel to this movie, Wang Jing saw a commercial point. When the audience did not have many new movies to watch for a long time, the official announced the cast. , plot and filming progress, the sequel to the 93 version of "Eternal Dragon Slayer" is already on the way.
However, as the title says, I wasn't really looking forward to this sequel.
In fact, looking back at the 93 version of "Eternal Dragon Slayer" carefully, in addition to the unconventional plot settings and wonderful actors' acting skills, the biggest loophole is the plot.
Jin Yong's original work is full of details. Therefore, it is very difficult to use Zhang Wuji to fight against the six schools from birth to Guangmingding. The plot is concentrated in a movie of more than 90 minutes.
At the beginning of the film, a lot of voiceovers were used to fill in the background of the plot, including simplifying the relationship between Zhang Cuishan and Yin Susu and Xie Xun, and lack of explanation for the background of the six sects besieging the Bright Summit. , the roles of Zhou Zhiruo and Xiao Zhao appeared too hastily.
In particular, the two characters, Zhou Zhiruo and Song Qingshu, have basically become tools for the plot, and their characters seem to be here to entrap Zhang Wuji.
This also sacrificed the classic scene of Zhou Zhiruo's anger and blackening because of Zhang Wuji's repentance of marriage in the original work, and also made Song Qingshu's inner transformation lack a logical basis.
And the biggest protagonist in the whole film is actually Xiao Zhao (after all, the actor Qiu Shuzhen was Wang Jing's girlfriend at the time).
As for the role of Zhao Min, to a large extent it relies on the halo of the protagonist of the original work and Zhang Min's style interpretation, so that she can compete with the role of Xiao Zhao and win a place.
In fact, if I ask the post-80s generation who popularized the 93 edition of "Eternal Dragon Slayer" on the Internet, their biggest impressions are only the black-bellied Zhang Wuji and the cute Xiao Zhaohe's domineering Zhao Min.
The picture of Zhao Min looking back at the white horse is probably the most perfect Zhao Min (or the lover in a dream) in the eyes of many people.
At the end of the film, Zhao Min flew away and turned back to the words that Zhang Wuji said:
"If you want to save the six factions, come and find me at most."
Although this was an agreement between Zhao Min and Zhang Wuji, but because the sequel to the 93 version of "Eternal Dragon Slayer" did not come, it became the memories and thoughts of the post-8090s group.
Because of regret, this film was regarded as a classic and was mentioned again and again. It's hard to say whether these people really want to see Zhao Min and Zhang Wuji reunited in Dadu.
It's just that in the past 27 years, the post-8090s have also grown up, got married and have a family. The innocent child at the time, after being beaten by society, seems to have understood the reason for Zhang Wuji's black belly, or he has also learned some black-bellied methods.
After all, the past is the past. If there is no regret of not seeing the sequel, it seems that my heart will be more empty.
Just like Zhang Wuji, if he hadn't suffered the death of his parents since he was a child, and carried hatred and cold eyes, he would probably ring the bell for a lifetime on Wudang Mountain, recite the Heart Sutra for a lifetime, and practice Tai Chi for health throughout his life.
The most important thing is that it looks like a remake or a sequel of a classic Hong Kong film is basically a dog-tailed sequel (this sentence is purely personal opinion, if there are similarities, you have a good eye).
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