Hong Kong 1990: From stuntman to King of Kung Fu

Chapter 110 Filming Finished, Investment Invested

Upon hearing this, Huang Zhiqiang clapped his hands excitedly and said, "That's right, we should record Kowloon Walled City. I'll go find someone right now."

After saying that, he ran off excitedly.

In the afternoon, he arrived at the film set with a bald man who looked quite young.

"Mr. Tang, this is Lin Chaoxian, the director I invited to make a documentary."

Don't let his youth fool you; he's been working his way up from script supervisor to assistant director for many years, following in the footsteps of Chen Jiashang. He's very promising and talented.

Upon hearing the name, Tang Long couldn't help but glance at the other person a couple more times, surprised to find that Lin Chaoxian had also been bald in his youth.

"Since you think he's suitable, then let him film it. If you need anything, just go to Cui Baozhu, and I'll put in a good word with her."

"Thank you for giving me this opportunity, Mr. Tang." Lin Chaoxian quickly stepped forward to express his gratitude.

He's only 27, but he's already been working on film sets for over ten years.

He felt he was capable of directing films independently, but because he was too young, he was not trusted by investors.

Although he co-directed two films with his mentor Chen Jiashang, it is widely believed that this was Chen Jiashang's way of promoting his apprentice.

He originally didn't want to come when Huang Zhiqiang invited him to film a documentary about Kowloon Walled City.

Later, it was Huang Zhiqiang who enlightened him.

Tangde Film & Television is in a phase of rapid expansion and is in dire need of talent.

If you leave a good impression on Tang Long, you'll have a better chance of getting investment from Tangde Film & Television.

Although Huang Zhiqiang and Tang Long occasionally had disagreements and arguments while filming, he had to admit that Tang Long was not the kind of person who acted arbitrarily.

Even when we argue, I try my best to share my thoughts and persuade him, rather than forcibly suppressing my feelings.

Therefore, he had a good impression of Tang Long.

More importantly, Tang Long would mentor newcomers, with Tang Jili being the most typical example.

Their collaboration was announced and boasted about by Jackie Chan.

Many people in the industry now know that Tang Long and Tang Jili only met once and had a brief conversation before Tang Jili was appointed as the director of "Sha Po Lang".

The process was certainly not that simple, but at least it shows that Tang Long values ​​talent and doesn't blindly believe in fame.

After listening to Huang Zhiqiang's story, Lin Chaoxian felt that this was indeed an opportunity and gladly went.

"Work hard, and we can collaborate sometime."

Tang Long smiled and patted the young man on the shoulder, but in fact he was six years younger than Lin Chaoxian. The other man was born in 1965, while Tang Long was born in 1971.

But now, Lin Chaoxian is just a young man in front of him.

Lin Chaoxian felt no discomfort when he was patted on the shoulder; on the contrary, he was pleasantly surprised when he heard Tang Long's words.

Tang Long wasn't just saying that; he genuinely wanted to recruit Lin Chaoxian into the company.

Lin Chaoxian is the type who accumulates experience and then makes a breakthrough; he is the one who did the best in mainland China later on.

Since the company is expanding, it will no longer sign actors, but directors still need to sign a few.

Lin Chaoxian would be a good candidate.

Despite his youth, his abilities have been honed to a high level and are ready to be used immediately.

He just lacks opportunities now.

However, it's too early to recruit him now; we'll talk about it after he finishes filming the documentary.

After "Crime Story" moved to Kowloon Walled City, the filming schedule was already more than halfway done.

The following scenes will consist mostly of action sequences and gunfights.

Action scenes are Tang Long's forte, and he can fight very fiercely, perfectly presenting the effect that Huang Zhiqiang needs.

Therefore, the two rarely disagreed after that. After nearly half a month of filming, they had worked out their differences and the subsequent scenes were filmed very smoothly.

However, Tang Long didn't have much experience with gunfight scenes because it was his first time filming them.

Men have an innate love and fear of guns.

Before filming began, Tang Long checked each prop gun carefully and only felt relieved after confirming that everything was in order.

He didn't want to be mistakenly shot in the head with a real gun.

But shooting gunfight scenes is much simpler than action scenes. As long as you master the posture, know how to stand, and how to look cool, you'll be pretty much there.

Moreover, unlike Wu Yusheng's heroic films, this movie doesn't feature gunfights as its highlight.

In "Crime Squad", gunfight scenes are just embellishments and are not required to be too high.

So the crew finished filming the Kowloon Walled City scenes in just one week.

With this, all the scenes in Hong Kong have been completed, and filming for "Crime Story" is nearing its end.

The crew will head to Wanwan Huaxi Street to film another major scene.

Midway through the story, the police tracked down the criminal Ding Zhiguang, who was hiding in a building on Huaxi Street counting money.

Taiwanese police deployed a large number of officers to raid the location, resulting in a fierce gun battle between the two sides.

Huaxi Street is a famous old street in Wanbei, known for its tourist night market.

However, the area also had a complex security environment, which naturally matched the film's atmosphere of being a den of iniquity.

In order to film here, Tang Long specifically contacted Cai Songlin, a local bigwig in Wanbei.

If you rush into filming without first establishing good relationships with both the legitimate and criminal worlds, don't even think about starting production.

Even if you pay the money, don't expect to have a peaceful life forever. People will come over from time to time to cause trouble and take advantage of you.

However, with Cai Songlin's connections, there's no need to worry about these things anymore.

After paying the protection fee, local forces from Huaxi Street would arrange for someone to come and act as a guide.

The scenes on Huaxi Street mainly consist of gunfights, filmed entirely on location, featuring shootouts between police and criminals, and combat maneuvers between buildings.

Authentic, explosive, and uncompromising.

Huang Zhiqiang's beast-like directorial style is fully demonstrated here.

On the last day of October, filming for "Serious Crime Squad" was successfully completed.

Although Huang Zhiqiang is not a quick shooter, he is still quite efficient.

The film took only 28 days from start to finish.

After finishing their wrap party in Taipei, the crew was just about to return to Hong Kong when Tang Long was stopped by Cai Songlin.

He had no choice but to stay behind and let the film crew go back first.

"Is this Mr. Tang's first time in Taiwan?"

"No, I came here when I was still a martial arts instructor."

At the time, they were filming Tsui Hark's "Swordsman," and I was working as a stunt double for Xu Guanjie.

"Amazing! In less than three years, Tang Sheng has grown from a stuntman to a kung fu superstar."

Your story is even more legendary than Jackie Chan's or Bruce Lee's.

"Mr. Cai, you flatter me. I am nowhere near as good as Bruce Lee or Jackie Chan."

Tang Long had no idea what Cai Songlin's purpose was.

However, he is a very important partner of Tangde Film & Television, and he provided a lot of assistance during the filming of "Serious Crime Squad". Therefore, Tang Long still maintains enough patience with him.

After offering some compliments, Cai Songlin finally revealed his purpose: "Mr. Tang, I've heard that Tangde Film Industry is developing rapidly and has nearly doubled in size."

Our Scholars Pictures and Tangde Pictures are very good partners, and we are happy to see Tangde Pictures achieve good development.

However, I think that with the film market so good right now, Tangde Pictures can take even bigger steps.

If funding is insufficient, our Scholar Film Studio can provide it.

Upon hearing this, Tang Long met Cai Songlin's calm and collected gaze and smiled, "Mr. Cai, are you considering investing in Tangde Film Industry?"

"That's right, I have enough funds and you have strong production capabilities, making us a perfect match as partners."

With such a perfect combination, they could even dethrone Golden Harvest from its leading position.

I could even support you, Mr. Tang, in pursuing a Hong Kong cinema chain and, like Golden Harvest, listing Tangde Film & Television on the stock exchange.

"At that time, I will be on par with Raymond Chow and become a true Hong Kong film tycoon."

Cai Songlin's blueprint is very tempting.

If Tang Long hadn't known what Hong Kong cinema would be like in a couple of years, he might have agreed.

Ultimately, filmmaking is a business. If Tangde Film Industry can go public, it will transcend the realm of filmmakers and become a true industry capital.

At that time, making movies will not only earn you a little bit of box office revenue.

In later years, many film companies in mainland China saw their stock prices immediately hit the daily limit once a film became a box office hit.

Company shareholders sold off their shares and cashed out one after another. Later, the movie's popularity waned, the stock price dropped, and in the end, retail investors had to foot the bill.

Unfortunately, Hong Kong's film industry is set to collapse in two years, and cinema chains are also becoming sunset assets.

Forget about going public; Cai Songlin will definitely be the first to run away with his bucket.

He will withdraw the funds, leaving Tang Long with a complete mess.

Moreover, to be honest, Tang Long was also worried that Cai Songlin would try to seize control of the company after investing in Tangde Film and Television.

So instead of doing that, it's better to take advantage of the good market these past two years, focus on making movies and earning more money, and stop thinking about other things.

Tangde Film & Television's future lies not in Hong Kong, but in mainland China and overseas.

What we should do now is to accumulate more strength.

"Mr. Cai, what you're saying makes my heart pound. I never imagined that I, a stuntman, could become the boss of a listed company."

I feel incredibly fortunate to have achieved what I have today.

I am self-aware and know that my ability is limited to making only a few movies.

Going public is a very complicated matter, and I can't handle it.

So let's forget about the investment; it's good enough that our two companies continue to maintain our current close cooperative relationship.

Cai Songlin was somewhat surprised to hear that Tang Long had refused.

Young people like him are easily swayed and their eyes light up, their heads spinning.

Of course, Cai Songlin wasn't just trying to fool Tang Long, nor was he making empty promises.

This was a well-thought-out idea he came up with after learning about Tangde Film Industry in detail; he genuinely wanted to cooperate with Tang Long to take the company public.

Tangde Pictures is a young company, but thanks to Tang Long, it has a strong ability to produce high-quality content.

What he just said wasn't empty talk. He has the production capabilities and the money, and by working together, we can definitely make the company bigger and stronger.

Therefore, seeing that Tang Long refused, he couldn't help but try to persuade him several more times.

Seeing that Tang Long remained unmoved, Cai Songlin had no choice but to put the matter aside for the time being.

If I say anything more, it would feel like I'm forcing them.

He dislikes this kind of cooperation; he values ​​win-win situations. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to become the top scholar in the industry in less than ten years.

"Mr. Tang, since Tangde Film Industry doesn't accept the investment, let's just forget about it. Whether or not they invest, it won't affect the cooperative relationship between our two companies."

Since you've come to Hong Kong, I must do my duty as a host.

I've booked you a presidential suite at the Hilton Hotel. Please freshen up and rest first, and then I'll treat you to some Taiwanese cuisine tonight.

Tang Long finally breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this; he had been genuinely worried that Cai Songlin would not give up until he achieved his goal.

He had been filming for nearly a month and was a bit tired.

Since they've prepared a presidential suite, why not take it?

To save costs during filming, he stayed in a regular hotel with the rest of the crew, the only difference being that he had a single room.

Cai Songlin arranged for someone to personally escort him to the Hilton Hotel.

Tang Long went upstairs and opened the door. As soon as he took off his shirt, he saw a pretty figure standing in the living room.