Japanese Entertainment: From special effects actor to action superstar

Chapter 608 Old Wu, you should quit.

"Mr. Furuya, I've long admired your name. I never expected to finally have the opportunity to meet you."

"The slow-motion shots in that movie were absolutely brilliant. How did they come up with that? It was truly amazing."

"I heard that you personally selected the actors for many of the productions you chose. I've always thought you were the best judge of actresses in Japan."

The two talked at once, and Gu Ming listened for a long time before finally shrugging his shoulders.

"Actually, you don't need to speak English or Japanese, I can understand you even if you speak Chinese."

Wu Yusen is one thing, but to be honest, Gu Ming doesn't like to talk to him.

John Woo is truly a terrible person. Red Cliff and The Crossing are both awful films. John Woo has publicly expressed his discrimination against mainland actors.

Xu Ke had never heard of this—the person was actually Vietnamese! Yes, a genuine Vietnamese.

However, for a moment, Gu Ming still wanted to punch him.

Xu Ke from Biyang filmed "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" in Biyang! Gu Ming even wanted to ask him for thirty Hong Kong dollars to pay for the movie ticket.

Faced with their questions, Gu Ming had no intention of hiding anything.

"Special effects shots are all about spending money. As long as you have the money, there's no such thing as a bad special effects shot. To achieve the desired effect for that particular shot, we rented ten high-speed cameras, which cost a fortune and took more than half a month to film, all for those few minutes of footage."

"As for actresses..." Gu Ming paused, then waved his hand, "Let's change the subject. I think anyone with a good eye knows what kind of actresses are attractive; the key is how to film them."

He no longer has those worldly desires, and has completely lost all interest in women.

As he spoke, Gu Ming also looked at Xu Ke.

Tsui Ka is the only one in Hong Kong who can film actresses.

In "A Chinese Ghost Story", when Ning Caichen falls into the water, Nie Xiaoqian stretches out her foot to save him, with a string of bells hanging from her foot.

That's right, stretch out your leg!
Seeing that scene back then must have been incredibly moving for Gu Ming.

After exchanging a few words, Gu Ming understood the purpose of their visit.

Of course, they weren't looking for him to make a film. After all, John Woo is nobody now, and Tsui Hark is just a member of Cinema City, not an investor. The two of them had simply heard that he was filming here, so they came to pay him a visit.

Gu Ming didn't want to pay attention to Wu Yusen. Apart from occasionally responding to him, he was basically talking to Xu Ke.

"Cinema City, huh? I've seen your films, they're pretty good. That one, 'Aces Go Places,' has a Hollywood 007 feel to it, but it's our own Asian 007."

Xu Ke grinned, looking quite smug.

The Best Partner wasn't his doing alone, but he put in a lot of effort. Now, hearing such high praise, Xu Ke is quite satisfied.

"Speaking of which, the finished film is also related to the movie 'Cat's Eye.' The modern urban fashion sense is something that the popular Republican-era kung fu films of the past could not match. It was after watching that film that I realized that there can actually be excellent action films in modern times."

Wu Yusen waited anxiously on the side.

He really wanted to say something, but for some reason, the person in front of him seemed to have some prejudice against him.

Wu Yusen was puzzled.

Have the Japanese heard about his films always flopping? The thing is, the Japanese don't hire Hong Kong directors for their films, so why are they making trouble for him over that?

Seeing that the two were still talking, Wu Yusen finally couldn't help but interject: "Actually, I've also envisioned quite a few works. I've thought of many beautiful gunfight scenes, preferably with white doves, a church, and a tense scene of two people facing off..."

Gu Ming suddenly interrupted, "John, interrupting someone doesn't seem like polite behavior."

Wu Yusen hurriedly tried to apologize, but Gu Ming raised his hand again: "Judging from your accent, you don't seem to be a local from Hong Kong?" Wu Yusen scratched his head.

How could you even tell that?
"Yes, my ancestors were from Guangzhou, but they moved to Hong Kong a long time ago. Guangzhou is far inferior to Hong Kong; they couldn't even cure my father's illness there."

As Wu Yusen rambled on, Gu Ming listened and roughly understood the director's thoughts.

He didn't say much, only nodding occasionally to show that he was listening, before finally speaking.

"Actually, Brother Long recommended some of your works to me. I've seen some of your films. Your kung fu movies are terrible, but your comedy films actually have some funny parts."

Wu Yusen froze instantly.

He just doesn't want to make comedies!

However, whether it was at Golden Harvest or elsewhere, even at Cinema City, he was always involved in comedy film production.

The problem is that he doesn't want to film!
But now, Gu Ming's few words have left Wu Yusen somewhat conflicted.

What if he's actually better suited for comedy films?
Gu Ming didn't say much.

There's no particular reason, I just don't like director Wu. Anyway, A Better Tomorrow was adapted from an existing script, and Kurata Yasuaki even played a role in the original film, the character of Brother Hao.

This film was produced by Tsui Hark.

So even without John Woo, it wouldn't affect the appearance of A Better Tomorrow; at most, he would just spend some money to hire Tsui Hark to film it.

Director Wu should stick to his comedy career and should never try to make money in China with projects like Red Cliff and The Crossing.

Mainland investors' money is still money! Besides, when filming Red Cliff and The Crossing, the mainland gave John Woo the highest level of treatment. Who would have thought that this bald guy was just swindling money, using mainland money to promote various foreign actors he favored.

the most critical.

Both of these movies lost money!
Gu Ming stood up and casually clapped his hands.

"Want to go check out the film set? They're getting ready to start filming there too."

Xu Ke replied, "I couldn't ask for more."

Wu Yusen also quickly got up, full of suspicion like someone watching a comedy film, and followed closely behind.

……

……

By the end of February 1985, the main shots of the film had been basically completed. Even if there were any, they were not so important to Gu Ming and could be filmed again later. After all, the film would not be released until at least the summer.

After completing the main shots, Gu Ming and his team prepared to head to the United States.

The latter half consists mostly of battle scenes, with Ralph practicing martial arts and defeating various masters under the tutelage of the Marine Corps instructors.

Since the film itself isn't a kung fu movie that requires wire work and flying around, it saved a lot of trouble.

Gu Ming sat by the window, looking down at the passing Hong Kong street scene.

The intention was to save on costs, but it turns out that the film has to be completed in the US to qualify as a domestic production. As a result, the costs will most likely revert to the initial investment.

"This is really... tough!"

Gu Ming sighed softly.

Why are Americans so mean?
(End of this chapter)