Against the Current Hong Kong 1979

Chapter 133 "Chasing Girls" Sparks a Frenzy of Photographing (3rd Update, Please Subscribe)

When Tianxia Pictures started filming "Thirty-Six Strategies for Chasing Girls," the new film of the three giants of Fendou Pictures also started filming.

The new movie starring Michael Mak and his crew is called "The Mad Girl-Chaser," also known as "Invincible Girl Chaser." It tells the story of Shih Tien, who plays Shih Fa-long, who lives with his mother in New York's Chinatown. He is frivolous, considers himself a master at picking up girls, and only wants to have fun without getting married.

His mother was in poor health and forced him to get married within a year, and he could only marry a Chinese girl.

Having received an ultimatum, Shih Fa-long had no choice but to return to Hong Kong to stay with his aunt, where he and his cousin, Tak-chuen (played by Tsang Chi-wai), began their womanizing scheme. Unfortunately, Shih Fa-long's methods for picking up women abroad were completely ineffective in Hong Kong.

Next, several beautiful women appeared.

Unlike Zhang Shuai'an, Mai Guangtou and his group didn't directly seduce seven or eight beauties; instead, they carefully planned four different types.

However, these four types also draw inspiration from Zhang Shuai'an's "Chasing Girls".

One of the female characters was a childhood sweetheart type, and they went straight to Cherie Chung, since she became a sensation because of this type of role in "Chasing Girls".

The second is a dashing female police officer, whom they found Hu Huizhong to play in Taiwan.

Hu Huizhong was born in 1958 and her ancestral home is HA City, JS Province. She is only 22 years old this year.

She was discovered and cast in her first film, "Joyful Encounters," while she was in university in 1978. For this role, she received a Golden Horse Award nomination for Best Actress and won the Best Newcomer Award at the Singapore International Film Festival.

This can be considered a peak right from the start of her career. However, because of her resemblance to Brigitte Lin, she was once dubbed "Little Brigitte Lin" by the Taiwanese media.

Over the next two years, she also filmed several art films and gained some fame. However, in the field of art films, there were always two towering figures in front of her: "Brigitte Lin" and "Lin Fengjiao".

Hu Huizhong was quite dissatisfied with the title "Little Brigitte Lin". She said more than once, "You call me Little Brigitte Lin, which is an honor. But I am Hu Huizhong, and you still say that I look like Brigitte Lin, which is really underestimating me."

This time, she agreed to come to Hong Kong to act in a commercial film because Wong Pak-ming personally went to Taiwan Island to persuade her. He only said one sentence: "If you make art films, you will never surpass Brigitte Lin. But if you make commercial films and get far more box office revenue than her, doesn't that prove that you are better than her?"

Upon hearing this, Hu Huizhong immediately signed a contract for the film "The Madwoman of Guimagou".

Her most familiar screen roles later on were probably the policewoman in "The Inspector Wears Skirts" and Li Xiaohuan in the Jet Li version of "Fong Sai-yuk".

(Hu Huizhong)

The third is the star-studded actress Lin Xiaojiao, whom they directly invited from Taiwan to play the role.

This was actually an accident. Mai Guangtou's original intention was to cast Zhang Tianai in the role, whose name was Lin Xiaoxia.

Zhang Tianai was born in Hong Kong in 1959. Her parents are quite prominent figures in Hong Kong. She studied ballet from a young age and graduated from the Royal Academy of Ballet in England. She recently returned to Hong Kong and joined the Hong Kong Ballet. She danced on the night of the Miss Hong Kong pageant, causing a sensation.

Incidentally, her second husband, Mr. Xing, later became Brigitte Lin's husband.

(Zhang Tianai rose to fame with a dance performance in 1980.)

The news story features Lin Fengjiao, who is on vacation in Hong Kong when she runs into her ex-boyfriend. There are hints of reconciliation, and it seems their wedding is imminent.

Huang Baiming keenly sensed that this news could be used for hype.

So they went back to Mai Guangtou and the others to discuss replacing Zhang Tianai with Lin Fengjiao.

Mai Guangtou felt that Lin Fengjiao was a bit expensive, after all, she was one of the goddesses of Taiwanese art films, and she basically didn't accept films outside of Taiwan, so it would cost at least tens of thousands of dollars to get her.

Huang Baiming, however, felt that it wasn't necessary to spend so much. He figured that just having Lin Fengjiao make a cameo appearance and act in a few scenes would only cost around 70,000 to 80,000. Besides, since Lin Fengjiao wanted to get back together with her ex-boyfriend, she would definitely want to stay in Hong Kong for a while longer, and filming would be a good reason to stay longer.

Mai Guangtou told him to give it a try, and to his surprise, Huang Baiming's group actually guessed correctly. After a little consideration, Lin Fengjiao agreed.

(Rumors of Lin Fengjiao's romance in 1980)

The last character is Xiaohua, a gentle and lovely restaurant waitress, who is also the true female lead of this drama, "The Madwoman of Guimagou".

Huang Baiming went to Taiwan and selected an actress named Liu Lanxi.

Liu Lanxi, born in 1960, was spotted at the age of 16 and starred in a TV series, which brought her instant fame. The following year, however, she transitioned to becoming a TV presenter and singer. She released several albums, which sold quite well.

However, her screen image has always been limited, meaning she can only play roles of demure young ladies, either the female lead's best friend or the male lead's sidekick, earning her the title of "the eternal second female lead" from Taiwanese media.

This time, Huang Baiming directly offered her the lead role in "The Madwoman of Guimagou," which naturally excited her.

Once the cast was complete, bald-headed actor Mai immediately began preparations to start filming.

At this point, Huang Baiming hadn't actually finished writing the script yet; he had only written a plot outline and character designs for the four female characters.

However, this is nothing unusual in Hong Kong; writing scripts while filming is the norm on set.

This film is basically going head-to-head with Fatty Wang's "Thirty-Six Strategies for Chasing Girls".

Besides Fendou Pictures trying to capitalize on the popularity of "Chasing Girls," Shaw Brothers naturally couldn't resist joining the trend either.

Shaw Brothers was originally the pioneer of making fast-paced films, so how could they be content to lag behind this time?

At this moment, Gui Zhihong and Lan Naicai arrived at Shao Yifu's office.

"Sixth Uncle".

"Mr. Shao."

The two bowed respectfully in greeting.

Shao Yifu smiled and said, "Don't be nervous, everyone sit down."

Gui Zhihong and Lan Naicai exchanged a glance, then slowly sat down, only daring to sit on half of their buttocks.

Shao Yifu kept his head down, writing something, and didn't speak. Neither of them dared to open their mouths.

"I wonder what business Sixth Uncle has with me?"

Unable to bear the unspeakable silence, Gui Zhihong finally couldn't help but ask a few minutes later.

After finishing his work, Shao Yifu crossed his arms and asked softly, "Ah Hong, how many films have you shot since the beginning of the year?"

Upon hearing this, Gui Zhihong's heart skipped a beat. Was Boss Shao going to fire him?

Gui Zhihong honestly stated, "In March, 'The Killer of Ten Thousand Men' was released, in May, 'Evil Master' was released, and a few days ago, 'Evil' was also released—"

Shao Yifu then looked at Lan Naicai: "A-Cai, how long have you been a photographer?"

"It's been five years since 'Chen Mengji's Plan to Break the Beauty' in 1975."

Lan Naicai was flattered and surprised. He hadn't expected that Boss Shao would know his name and that he was a photographer.

Shao Yifu nodded: "I remember you were a laborer on film sets when you were a teenager, doing things like moving equipment and props. Later, you learned some skills from He Lanshan (Japanese cinematographer Nishimoto Masaru) before you started working as an assistant cinematographer —"

Lan Naicai was truly astonished. He never expected that Boss Shao not only knew him but also recounted his life experiences at Shao's company. He was deeply moved.

"It's time to give you a chance."

After Shao Yifu finished speaking, he pointed at Lan Naicai and said, "You've all probably seen 'Chasing Girls,' which has been a box office hit recently."

The two answered in unison, "We saw it!"

"Okay." Shao Yifu nodded and immediately instructed, "Ah Hong, you'll be the producer, and Mouse Boy, you'll be the director. I want you to make a film like this, with a budget of 50. The actors will be working at the studio and at TVB. Filming should be completed in about a month. Any problems?"

"No problem at all." Gui Jiehong was taken aback, feeling that this was a trivial matter for him.

"Mr. Shao, I—" Lan Naicai was a little worried. He had never directed a film on his own before and really lacked confidence.

Shao Yifu's gaze sharpened as he swept it towards him.

Lan Naicai shuddered, then immediately nodded: "No problem!"

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