Hong Kong Entertainment: The King of Kung Fu

The "Hong Kong Love Story" that Yang Ye mentioned is actually the king of Japanese dramas... "Tokyo Love Story"!
East Love, which was broadcasted in 1991, once set off a viewing frenzy across Asia and can be regarded as a godfather-level masterpiece among Asian idol dramas.

For the hit movie "Detective Chinatown 2021" in China in 3, Chen Sicheng specially invited the East Love heroine Suzuki Honami to bring back memories.

The 2023 hit Chinese TV series "Fang Hua" also specially selected the theme song of Dong Ai, "Sudden Love".

The influence of Hong Kong entertainment has gradually reached its peak in Asia. It is time to start idol dramas, add fuel to the fire and make it burn even more vigorously.

……

"If you meet a girl with crescent-shaped eyes smiling on the streets of Tokyo, that is the girl I loved. Her name is Akana Rika!"

Rika Akagi's brilliant smile once infected a generation and she was the dream lover of countless boys.

This character is so wonderful that even though Yang Ye changed "East Love" to "Hong Kong Love", she was still unwilling to give up her name.

Since we want to keep the name "Akaname Rika", then... we can only find an Sakura girl to play the role.

Fortunately, Hong Kong is an international metropolis, so there is nothing wrong with having a Japanese girl.

If you want to find an Sakura girl, the original lead actress Suzuki Honami is naturally the most suitable.

But Yang Ye was not familiar with her, she could not speak Chinese, and was not familiar with Hong Kong.

Not only does she have to know Chinese, she also has to understand Hong Kong, be beautiful, and have a sweet smile.

That’s a lot of requirements, but Akina Nakamori happens to meet all of them, so she’s the one!

……

There are only eleven episodes in East Love, with a total running time of just over four hours, which can be considered an extended version of the movie.

Since most Japanese dramas are shot based on seasonal time nodes, one episode is filmed and broadcast every week.

A season is three months, about 13 weeks, and considering the production time and post-season rest, there are usually about 11 episodes.

If Yang Ye is in charge, then just shoot it like a movie, finish it in one go, and then cut it into episodes to broadcast later.

East Love is actually very suitable to be made into a Hong Kong drama, because although East Love is an idol drama, it tells the emotions of ordinary people.

The characteristic of Hong Kong dramas is that... they like to focus on ordinary people, telling the joys, sorrows, anger and happiness of ordinary people, and are very lifelike.

No matter the protagonist or the supporting role, none of them is a perfect image. Everyone has his or her own strengths and weaknesses. They are living people who live happily and optimistically in the world.

To use the evaluation of some Chinese people in later generations... they have no vision and only focus on small people.

The person who said this... has forgotten that he is just a small person!
In contrast, later domestic dramas are extremely fake and out of touch with reality.

This doesn't mean that they like to film domineering CEOs or ancient idol dramas, but that when they film ordinary people, they often talk bullshit.

A clerk with a monthly salary of 3,000 yuan, carries a brand-name bag, lives in a large apartment, eats at Michelin restaurants, and the bathtub in his home is bigger than the one in an ordinary person's room.

That would be fine, but the interpersonal relationships are also extremely abnormal.

All your relatives are mean and selfish, including your cousins. At the very least, they will bully you and be jealous of you, and at the worst, they will frame you.

The whole family is made up of vampires. They ask the protagonist for money every day. If they don’t get the money, they will throw tantrums and do whatever it takes to get it.

Are you destined to be unlucky?

……

Yang Ye did what he said. He didn't have to worry about the post-production of "Diary of a Real Man" and he started working on the Hong Kong Love Affairs directly.

The first step is of course to localize it into Chinese. The Japanese names and life backgrounds have to be changed.

The heroine, Rika Akaname: dares to love and hate, is confident in herself, sunny and cute, bold and unrestrained, falls in love with the hero at first sight, is loyal and selfless, and devotes herself to the end.

Yang Ye decided to keep this name, so he could just make some slight changes to it.

In the original drama, Rika grew up in the United States. After returning to China with her father, she worked in a company in Tokyo.

At the beginning of the series, Rika applied to work in the United States.

At the end, because of the intervention of the male protagonist's secret crush and the approval of the transfer, Rika decided to go to the United States, and it ended in tragedy!
Yang Ye followed the setting in the comics that Rika grew up in Africa, and then changed it to her coming to Hong Kong after adulthood. The final ending was that she went to Tokyo, ending in tragedy!
This ending corresponds to the sentence at the end of the comic: "If you see Rika on the streets of Tokyo, please tell her, I love her!".

……

The male protagonist, Nagao Kanji: a country boy who came to Tokyo to pursue his dreams. He is innocent, simple, conservative and upright, a typical traditional moderate character.

He has a crush on his high school goddess, but lacks the courage to confess his feelings, and cannot truly understand or accept Rika.

Rika's nickname for Nagao Wanzhi is "Makuto" because Wanzhi and Maruko sound very similar.

This is easy. After the Chinese translation, the name is changed directly to Wang Zhi, and the nickname is still "Wan Zi".

The character of the country boy is retained. He is set to be from Foshan. He came to Hong Kong during middle school. After graduation, he returned to his hometown for two years due to family matters. Now he has returned to Hong Kong to work.

As for the candidate... it's Leon Lai, of course. He has a kind of handsome yet silly temperament. Women are annoyed that he is not smart, but also feel sorry for him because he is not smart. It fits the original version perfectly.

Just look at Li Xiaojun in "Sweet Honey" and you will know.

Damn, Akina in the original time and space was a huge fan of Liming and couldn't walk when she saw him.

Now let them pair up as a couple... Never mind, it’s just a movie!

……

The second male lead, Kenichi Mikami: the male lead's best friend from high school, studying medicine in Tokyo. He is a free-spirited person who likes to flirt with other girls. He, the male lead, and the second female lead are in a love triangle.

This kind of cool character can be played by Aaron Kwok.

In the original time and space, Aaron Kwok did not become famous until the 1990s. Now, thanks to the appearance of Yang Ye, he played Yang Kang in The Legend of the Condor Heroes, making him famous four years earlier.

The selling point of ATV's 86 version of The Legend of the Condor Heroes is the real fighting.

The two protagonists, Ho Ka-chun and Moon Lee, are both Yang Ye's apprentices, which is quite a gimmick.

Moon Lee was originally a first-line movie star, but her downgrading to film TV dramas caused an uproar, with Hong Kong media exclaiming whether Moon Lee had fallen out of favor.

For this reason, Yang Ye had to publish an article in Ming Pao entitled: "Li Saifeng is the Huang Rong in my heart!"

Yang Ye said in the article:

Among the female characters created by Mr. Jin Yong, my favorite is the smart and martial arts-skilled Huang Rong.

In my mind, among the younger generation of actors, my apprentice Moon Lee is the most suitable candidate to play Huang Rong.

Because A-man is just like Rong'er, beautiful, smart, and cute, and her skills are also excellent!
Although Ah-Man was already a popular movie star, I still tried to persuade her to play the role of Huang Rong.

All of this is done to present a wonderful "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" to the audience with the utmost sincerity.

In this film, in addition to A-Man, He Jiajin, who plays Guo Jing, is also my apprentice, and his skills are also amazing.

Huang Qiuyan, who plays Mu Nianci, is a swordsmanship champion, while Aaron Kwok, who plays Yang Kang, is a dancing master.

Thanks to their excellent basic skills, the four protagonists personally performed the various action scenes and insisted on real fighting without using any stunt doubles.

I can’t say anything else, but The Legend of the Condor Heroes is definitely the most exciting martial arts drama ever! ”

Yang Ye personally wrote an article to support "The Legend of the Condor Heroes", dispelling the rumors of discord between master and disciple.

When The Legend of the Condor Heroes was released, the audience found that it was indeed very different from previous martial arts dramas.

This version of The Legend of the Condor Heroes was filmed deep in the mainland, covering thousands of miles, taking in the grandeur of grasslands and deserts, as well as the beauty of the Jiangnan water towns, with real mountains and real waters in full view.

The four protagonists are not only good-looking, but also very skilled in fighting.

Moreover, the fighting scenes are not only well-done with martial arts and excellent actors, but also incorporate the latest computer special effects.

He Jiajin's personal image and ancient costume are both very good, and more importantly, his skills are very cool. His acting skills cannot be said to be very strong, but they are definitely enough. He is very suitable for playing that kind of heroic character.

In addition, his age is suitable, and when he appears on stage, he really gives people the feeling of a prairie boy, and he has received good reviews.

Of course there are also people who curse, which is normal as everyone has a childhood filter.

When the original version of Guo Jing played by Felix Wong came out, he was also scolded by Hong Kong audiences as a mentally retarded child, a fool and a fool, and what kind of acting skills he had.

As for Huang Rong, since Mi Rong'er had set a great example, when Weng Rong'er from the original time and space appeared, she was really scolded to the point of becoming autistic because her looks and acting skills were not as good as Michelle Yim's.

However, the ATV version was different as they invited Moon Lee to play Huang Rong.

Moon Lee had long been promoted by Yang Ye to become a well-known first-line movie star in Asia. The movies she starred in, such as the "Peacock King" series, "Kowloon Walled City", "Ong Bak" and "Female Ong Bak", were all box office hits.

It was actually a bit of condescension for her to play Huang Rong, but she was cute and a good fighter, so she was really impeccable.

Not only now, but also in the future, she is probably the Huang Rong with the highest configuration.

Because it is beautiful, cute and can fight, these three elements are really difficult to gather at the same time.

In this situation, even if some people have a childhood filter and feel resentful, they can only hold it in, otherwise they will be criticized to death by Moon Lee's fans.

On the other hand, due to Yang Ye's great influence in the Hong Kong entertainment industry, those film critics have to give Yang Ye some face and will not pick on his apprentice.

In this regard, Moon Lee has won a huge amount in terms of public opinion.

This is not like when Maggie Cheung was a newcomer when she played Huang Rong, the film critics were very rude and criticized her in their columns in all kinds of harsh words, so much so that TVB had to come out to defend her.

In addition, the two roles of Yang Kang and Mu Nianci are also good, and there is a group of veteran actors to support the performance, which ultimately resulted in a double explosion in word-of-mouth and ratings.

Unlike the 83 version of The Legend of the Condor Heroes produced by the original Time and Space TVB, although it had high ratings, it was criticized to the point of becoming autistic.

After the huge success in Hong Kong, the next step is exporting.

If ATV's top TV series cannot be exported overseas, it will be impossible to recover the cost.

At this time, the benefits of inviting Moon Lee to play Huang Rong came into play.

Moon Lee is a super famous female action star in the entire Asia-Pacific region, so as soon as this TV series was released, various regions rushed to get it, and even two TV stations in Japan bought the copyright.

By the way, because Yang Ye's "Swordsman" was a big hit in Japan, Jin Yong's novels were translated into Japan ten years earlier, so Jin Yong now has a wave of fans in Japan.

This is also one of the reasons why local TV stations are willing to purchase the copyright of The Legend of the Condor Heroes.

……

After Aaron Kwok played Yang Kang in The Legend of the Condor Heroes, it was logical for him to play the male lead.

As for movies, there are so many strong people in the Hong Kong film industry now, there is really no place for him.

In his original time and space, he could only act in some flopped movies, or play supporting roles, such as playing Liu Hua's son in Lei Luoli.

It was not until 1998 that he made a comeback with "Feng Yun Bi Xia", but by then the Hong Kong film industry was already nothing.

So even though his acting skills exploded later, his box office performance was still unstable and no one bought tickets for him.

If you pick up a big IP, you can make a breakthrough, but if you don’t have an IP, you will fail.

As for Aaron Kwok's current acting skills, he can only act cool. He plays a playboy in Hong Kong Love, which is not bad.

This is a TV series produced by Yang Ye himself, so it is not an insult to him to play the second male lead.

……

The second female lead, Satomi Sekiguchi: She is a high school classmate of the first and second male leads. She works as a kindergarten teacher and has a very gentle personality. She eventually gets together with the male lead.

The third female character, Naoko Nagasaki: A college classmate of the second male character, a lady born in Tokyo, lonely and yearning for freedom. She is gradually attracted by the sincerity of the second male character, and the two eventually get together.

Well, there are five people in this drama, two men and three women, except for the heroine who is alone, the other four are in two-on-two relationships.

But there is nothing wrong with this ending, because Maruko doesn't deserve the best Rika in the world.

For the second and third female roles, Yang Ye invited the sisters Anita Mui and Candy Cheung to play them. Of course, the character names had to be changed into Chinese names.

In fact, both of them are now able to stand on their own and play the leading female role in a drama. It would be a bit unfair to them to let them play the second or third female role.

However, Yang Ye is personally producing the TV series, so the cast must be more luxurious. Doesn’t he have any face?

……

Zeng Huaqian was driving the car with Anita Mui, and they were slowly moving through the crowded traffic.

Lan Jieying said strangely: "Ah Qian, you said... Why did Young Master Yang invite us to dinner?"

Zeng Huaqian said: "How should I know? Who cares? Are you not happy that the boss is treating you?"

Lan Jieying said: "That's not the case, I just find it strange."

Zeng Huaqian said with a smile: "Come to think of it, we were recruited to the company by Young Master Yang from the TVB Artist Training Class."

Lan Jieying said: "But even though he poached us, I haven't spoken a word to him yet. Have you?"

Zeng Huaqian said: "Yes!"

"When, why didn't I know?"

"At the company's annual meeting, he gave me a lucky money gift and said... Happy New Year!"

"Hey, does that count? I did talk to him, and I even shook his hand!"

"Eh...why didn't I? How does it feel to shake hands with the boss?"

"It's just a handshake, why are you being so crazy?"

"Just asking."

"Nothing, we just bumped into each other outside the bathroom and said hello and shook hands."

"Gone?"

"No more!"

"Impossible? You're so pretty, how could he be indifferent? Last time, a pretty boy rode his bike into a tree just to see you. I almost died of laughter."

"How can it be the same? Maybe Young Master Yang is a gentleman!"

"He's a gentleman? He has so many scandals!"

"You said it was a rumor!"

"I always feel that things are not that simple. According to Manager Chen, Young Master Yang happened to meet you on the street, and he took a fancy to you, so he asked Manager Chen to find out about you and sign you into the company.

Later, your career path was very smooth, and you soon played the leading female role, which shows that the company is promoting you. Doesn't Yang Shao have any intentions in this? But why didn't he see you for several years?"

"Hey, what do you mean by taking a fancy to me? You have a role to play as well. He hasn't seen you in the past few years!"

Zeng Huaqian shook her head and said, "Oh, I really don't understand!"

As they were talking, the car arrived at a gourmet restaurant in North Point, Hong Kong Island, where Yang Ye was treating the guests.

Zeng Huaqian parked the car and said, "Let's go in first!"

The two beauties walked towards the restaurant, one in front and one behind.

So, why did Yang Ye recruit them and then not see them for several years?
Because... he forgot! (End of this chapter)