Huayu: Director started with art films

Of course, Lee Yi-su was well-known for the Young and Dangerous movie series, and he had watched several of them himself.

Relatively speaking, from a commercial point of view, the film was a huge success.

The first film, "A River and a Lake", had an investment cost of only HK$500 million and took 15 days to shoot.

It was released in Hong Kong on January 1996, 1, and earned an astonishing box office of over 25 million Hong Kong dollars in just one month.

It can be said that the cost has been recovered and even a profit has been generated just by the local box office in Hong Kong.

Not to mention the Taiwan market, the Southeast Asian market, and the copyright sales of videotapes, VCDs, etc.

It is no exaggeration to say that this movie has extremely high commercial value.

The fact that the series was able to be filmed up to the sixth installment in a row is enough to show how profitable this series is.

From a commercial perspective, this series has made a ton of money, but the negative social impact it has brought is equally astonishing, and the breadth and duration of its impact have almost exceeded everyone's expectations.

As a later comer, Li Yishu is naturally aware of the magnitude of the negative social impact this movie has brought.

It is no exaggeration to say that among the huge group of people born in the 80s and 90s, at least millions of people were influenced by this movie and embarked on the path of breaking the law and committing crimes, and it also indirectly affected tens of millions of people.

Movies about Hong Kong gangs have always been a time-tested theme, from the early "A Better Tomorrow" to various Hong Kong films after the millennium. This theme has always been popular with the public, but there has never been a movie that has caused such a great social impact as "Young and Dangerous".

Just because the "Young and Dangerous" series of movies adopts a realistic shooting style, there are so many teenagers who learn and imitate it.

Moreover, the first film of "A Gangster's River" was too gangster-like. After experiencing a series of "illegal and criminal" things, the gang members headed by Chen Haonan not only did not receive legal sanctions, but also successfully became the boss of Causeway Bay.

This seems so tempting to teenagers.

Fight and kill, not only will you have beautiful girls following you, but you can also become the boss of XX territory.

It’s so cool to have dozens or even hundreds of little brothers following me.

The last time I watched this series was in the millennium.

Now that she knows that this movie has been released in Hong Kong, Li Yishu feels a little heavy.

Li Yishu is not a nosy person. Out of respect for the fate of others, he never interferes in matters that have nothing to do with him.

But considering the huge negative impact brought by this series of movies, Li Yishu felt that she had to do something for the sake of domestic teenagers.

After all, no one, including the main creative team, cares about the huge negative impact that this series will bring.

After figuring this out, Li Yishu looked up at Johnnie To in front of her, pretending not to know what the movie was like: "How is the box office of this Young and Dangerous movie you mentioned?"

Johnnie To said: "It's very good. It was released at the end of January and earned 1 million at the end of February. I heard that the production cost was less than 2100 million Hong Kong dollars."

"Then it looks like it's a big hit. Our New World only made over 30 million at the box office, and the production cost was over 10 million."

"Yes, I heard that the crew of Young and Dangerous is already filming the second part."

Li Yishu looked at Huo Wenxi beside her and asked, "Is this movie available on VCD?"

Huo Wenxi immediately said, "There should be a videotape. The boss wants to see it. I'll call and ask."

"Well, give them a call and ask. If there is any, have someone deliver it now."

"Good boss."

Huo Wenxi got up and went out to make a phone call.

Johnnie To and Wai Ka-Fai were both surprised. Director Li was really decisive. When he heard that the movie was a box office hit, he immediately asked someone for the movie video to watch. No wonder he could become a world-class director at such a young age.

He has achieved great success in both art films and commercial films.

"Haha, Mr. Li is worthy of being Mr. Li. I now understand why Mr. Li's movies are so popular abroad."

Yang Shoucheng, who had been silent, was also shocked by Li Yishu's decisiveness. He said he would watch it and she did.

Lee Ye-su smiled faintly and said, "Any movie that is a big hit or wins awards is worth watching as soon as possible. I think directors fall into two categories."

Johnnie To blurted out, "Which two categories?"

"One is a genius type."

Lee Ye-su raised a finger and said, "A genius director doesn't have much learning experience, but only relies on his unparalleled genius and creativity to shoot wonderful films."

"I have met many directors of this type. The most representative ones may be American director James Cameron and mainland director Jiang Wen."

Upon hearing the names of these two people, Johnnie To and Wai Ka-Fai could not help but nod in agreement.

"Director Li, aren't you considered a genius director?" Yang Shoucheng said with a smile.

“Haha, I don’t think so.”

Li Yishu smiled. He was really not a talented director. If he was, he would not have wasted so many years and waited until the era of online movies to make a name for himself in this industry.

Hearing him say this, Yang Shoucheng and others laughed out loud, thinking that Li Yishu was just being modest.

Yang Shoucheng didn't talk much about this topic, but asked: "I know Jiang Wen. He made his first directorial debut with "Sunny Days". I watched it and liked it very much."

"I've heard of this Cameron, and I've seen his films The Endgame and last year's True Lies, but is he also a talented director?"

Li Yishu nodded and said, "Yes, he is indeed a talented director. You may not know that before Cameron became a director, he was just a truck driver."

"Truck driver!"

Yeung Sau-shing, Johnnie To and Wai Ka-Fai were all dumbfounded.

Hollywood movies have not become popular in recent years. They have been popular as early as the 1980s. However, not many of them are imported to Hong Kong. Most of them are circulated in the form of videotapes, and only some big productions are released.

Cameron shot films such as "Terminator", "First Blood", "Alien", "True Lies", etc., and established his status as a great director in Hollywood.

But who would have thought that before he entered the film industry, he was just a truck driver.

"Yes. He had never learned how to make movies systematically. Less than seven years after he entered the film industry, he made The Terminator. I heard that the budget of this movie was less than 700 million US dollars, but in the end, the global box office was about 7-8000 million US dollars."

Li Yishu said this and smiled again: "But don't look at Cameron as just a truck driver. In fact, his family conditions are very good. His mother seems to have studied art, so there is more or less some family influence." After hearing this, Johnnie To and Wai Ka-Fai breathed a sigh of relief. Although they have not been in this industry for many years, they all have a certain amount of cultural knowledge.

In their opinion, the truck driver may not be able to read or write, but at least his cultural level is definitely not high.

But if his family is well-off and driving a truck is just a personal hobby, then it can explain why Cameron can make so many box office successful commercial blockbusters.

Johnnie To did not forget about the other type of director and asked, "What about the other type of director?"

“The other type is a cumulative director.”

Lee Ye-su smiled and said, "Directors who accumulate experience may not be able to shoot eye-catching films in the early stages of their directing careers, but as time goes by, the more knowledge, ability, experience, etc. they accumulate, the more exciting the films they shoot will be."

"Of course, this does not rule out some people who have participated in multiple jobs such as assistant director on a crew before directing independently."

“Then I should be considered an accumulative director.”

Johnnie To laughed and said, "After so many years and following so many crews, it wasn't until A Lang's Story that I became truly independent."

In 1972, Johnnie To started working as a handyman at TVB and later entered the famous Artist Training Class. During the training class, Johnnie To often played supporting roles, such as bailiffs.

However, he knew that he did not have much potential as an actor, so after graduating from the training class, he moved behind the scenes, studied filming under the tutelage of Wang Tianlin, and started as the most junior assistant director.

It was not until 1980 that Johnnie To was invited by a good friend to direct his first film, "The Deadly Gold in the Cold Mountain and Clear Water". However, the film performed very poorly at the box office, so he returned to TVB to work as a screenwriter and director of TV series.

After that, he collaborated with Tsui Hark and shot some films, but he had not yet formed his own style. Moreover, there was a producer overseeing him, so Johnnie To was more of a film-making machine, shooting films according to the producer's ideas.

Even though he made box office hits such as "Happy Ghost" and "The Legend of Zu", Johnnie To has never directed a film independently in the true sense.

It was not until the literary and artistic commercial film "A Lang's Story" shot in 1989 that achieved a box office of 3900 million in Hong Kong, which completely made Johnnie To famous.

“Then I should also be considered an accumulative director.”

Wai Ka-Fai also nodded in agreement with this term. His experience was similar to that of Johnnie To. Both of them wasted many years before becoming successful. Although the films he shot afterwards had their ups and downs, they were always excellent works.

“Haha, actually I am also a cumulative director.”

When Li Yishu said this, Yang Shoucheng and the other two burst into laughter, thinking that Li Yishu was just joining in the fun and joking.

Seeing that the three of them didn't believe it, Li Yishu shrugged his shoulders. There was nothing he could do if these people didn't believe the truth.

Who makes him really an accumulative director?

After two or three decades of accumulation, and relying on a huge amount of film watching, including some shooting techniques and ideas developed in later generations, he has been like a fish in water in the past few years since his rebirth.

From the first "That Mountain, That Man, That Dog" to this year's "Red Cliff", Lee Yi-su has more or less used a vision that transcends the times to shoot these films.

Although the plot and editing were not ahead of the times, some details and color styles were impressive and also contributed to Li Yishu's achievement of winning four gold medals in Europe in six years.

Otherwise, do you really think that anyone can make a movie casually without any practical experience?
Before making movies, Jiang Wen had been an actor for more than ten years and he knew the crew configuration and work very well.

After they chatted for a while, Huo Wenxi came back and said that the videotape had been found and someone was on the way to deliver it.

Li Yishu naturally nodded with satisfaction.

After chatting about trivial matters and expressing emotions well, Li Yishu started talking about the film investment mentioned by the other party.

"Is there a script?"

"some."

Wai Ka Fai quickly took out a script from his bag.

Li Yishu took it and looked at it. The cover of the manuscript paper was handwritten with "Black".

"Underworld"?
He raised his eyebrows and opened it to read.

Seeing Director Li starting to read the script, Yang Shoucheng was not idle either. He took the initiative to lead Johnnie To and Wai Ka-Fai to chat with Fok Man-Hei, the current person in charge of ATV.

Movies and television almost complement each other.

Without the promotion by TV stations, it would be difficult for a movie to expand its influence and reach the audience.

Li Yishu only read the first few pages, and the movie "The Birth of a Star" popped into her mind.

This movie can be regarded as the pioneering work of Milkyway Image. Although it is not as famous as the later "Gunfire", this movie is definitely the signature of Milkyway Image.

The absurdity of its black humor, the superb metaphors, the wildness of its techniques, and the wonderful performances can almost be regarded as one of the biggest breakthroughs in Hong Kong films in the 1990s.

Gangster Agou faces two choices at the crossroads of life at the age of 32. One is to continue to fool around, and the other is to do something big and spectacular. The movie develops into two assumptions.

The theme of the film is absurd, and the character design is also very strange and interesting. Shot by the ultra-wide-angle lens that swings back and forth, it looks like the portraits in a funhouse mirror, with a clear anti-trend sentiment.

It satirizes and ridicules the popular gangsters and underworld phenomena, and also highlights the unpredictable fate in the ever-changing times.

"good."

Li Yishu interrupted the conversation and said with a smile: "This script is very well written. The structure of the script is a bit like Kietrovsky's "Blind Strikes"."

"Director Li is right. With this movie, I did pay tribute to the movie 'Blind Man'." Wai Ka-Fai's eyes lit up. He didn't expect that Li Yishu could tell which movie narrative he was imitating after just reading the script for a while.

"It's very well written. I like this script very much, but..."

Li Yishu looked at Yang Shoucheng and said, "The investment in this movie shouldn't be that big. Why didn't Mr. Yang think of investing in it?"

"Director Li, I do want to invest, but the company has had some financial problems recently, and we also need to prepare for the next round of financing."

Yang Shoucheng shook his head. He really wanted to invest, but he didn't have enough money. He had to invest in the filming of "Rush Hour" and also participate in Li Yishu's group financing. Even if the investment in this movie was not large, there would still be tens of millions of Hong Kong dollars.

And to be honest, the script is definitely good, but it’s a little bit lackluster.

The filming was divided into two timelines for the male protagonist. In the first timeline, the male protagonist died in a foreign land, while in the second timeline, the male protagonist became successful and dominated a world.

For ordinary audiences, this movie is a bit difficult to watch.

If it was Young and Dangerous, Yang Shoucheng would grit his teeth and scrape together some money to film it. (End of this chapter)