Hong Kong Entertainment 1979: A Beating Up the Manager at the Start

A week later, filming for "A Better Tomorrow" officially began.

Under Li Jiangbo's leadership, the crew completed their prayers and began filming.

This time, Li Jiangbo brought along Chen Xunqi, a big shot, and the assistant director was the same assistant director who had worked with him on erotic films before.

He was also one of the directors favored by Lee Han-hsiang, the pioneer of erotic films.

There's not much to say about the earlier shots; they're all basic shots. Just follow Li Jiangbo's shot breakdown.

The preceding scenes are almost all arranged in sequence. First, Dillon's character, Song Zihao, is awakened by a nightmare in the hospital, in which his younger brother, Song Zijie, is shot and killed.

Most of the shots here are medium and close-up shots, showing simple, basic operations.

If Lan Naicai takes Li Jiangbo's detailed storyboard and still makes a terrible film, then he shouldn't even bother working in the film and television industry.

Next, Chow Yun-fat's character, Little Ma, is eating at a roadside stall, but is chased away by the police because of the stall. To pay the vendor, Little Ma quickens his pace and gets into Sung Chi-ho's car.

He then smeared the sauce from his fingers onto Song Zihao's body.

Tan Cheng, the driver, is played by Lawrence Ng. He was an extra at TVB when he was spotted by Li Jiangbo and signed to Time Pictures.

Speaking of Ng Kai-wah, he is definitely a representative of the pretty-boy villain type in later generations, especially his role as Fong Tong-king in "Hail the Judge," which left a deep impression. His portrayal of Zhang Wuji in the 01 version of "The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber" was also quite good.

He also has an older brother named Wu Qiming. Wu Qiming played Ding Wangxie in "The Greed of Man," a villainous character with relatively good acting skills.

Li Jiangbo originally wanted to cast him, but unfortunately he couldn't find him and didn't know where he was.

The counterfeit money ring's printing den was filmed on the first floor of an office building that Li Jiangbo rented. The three of them came here.

Next came various demonstrations showing how counterfeit money is printed and how it is presented on a computer.

The footage here is actually quite expensive; Li Jiangbo spent nearly 200,000 yuan on it.

This includes computer rentals and office building rentals.

Then came Chow Yun-fat's most iconic scene: lighting a cigarette with a banknote.

Looking at the busy film crew, Li Jiangbo beckoned Zhou Runfa to his side.

"Director Li, what's the matter?"

Li Jiangbo stared at Zhou Runfa in a suit, his vision blurring. It was as if he were seeing the real Chow Yun-fat standing before him.

Zhou Runfa was quite uneasy. He had worked with Li Jiangbo before, but that was a TV series, not a movie. He wasn't yet a box office poison.

After a while, he took out a real US dollar bill and stuffed it into Zhou Runfa's hand, saying, "Count it with a real bill later, and remember to act domineering."

Zhou Runfa looked at Li Jiangbo with a surprised expression. "Director, really? You're really using real money to make this?"

Li Jiangbo nodded. "The props are so fake, they're completely unusable."

"Really?"

"Really!"

Li Jiangbo noticed Zhou Runfa's hesitation and added, "What? What are you worried about? If you're worried about spending money, then step aside and let me waste less money."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Runfa nodded vigorously, "Yes, Director, I guarantee it will be done in one take."

A moment later, Chen Xunqi ran up to Li Jiangbo.

"Director, you can start filming now."

Li Jiangbo nodded, walked behind the camera, and shouted, "All personnel, get ready!"

"Session 21, let's get started!"

"Click!"

As the clapperboard sounded, Little Ma, wearing sunglasses, pulled out a banknote with one hand.

As the lighter's flame drew near, a real US dollar bill slowly ignited.

Little Ma picked up the lit banknote and brought it close to the cigarette he was holding in his mouth.

The flames on the banknote slowly ignited the smoke.

When the banknote was half-burned, Little Ma shook the burning banknote in his hand, casually threw it away, took a deep drag of his cigarette, and exhaled a cloud of smoke.

"Click! Passed!"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Runfa hurriedly stomped on the burning banknotes.

After finally putting out the fire, he picked up the remaining half of the banknote and walked over to Li Jiangbo.

"Director Li, there's half a ticket left, with a complete serial number on it. You can exchange it for $25!"

Li Jiangbo stared blankly at the small half-note in Zhou Runfa's hand. This Zhou Runfa is really something! He even had time to stomp out the burning banknote with his foot as he walked past.

It's unbelievable that he could even think of exchanging it for $25. If you told me he hadn't planned that shot, Li Jiangbo would never believe it.

Li Jiangbo was puzzled. This didn't seem like the arrogant and domineering Da Zui Fa that people would criticize in later generations.

What he didn't know was that Afa and his girlfriend Alian had broken up because of certain people in the gang. Alian married a gang leader from the United States, and Afa even attempted suicide for Alian.

After that, Alpha's personality changed drastically, becoming the kind of person that was criticized by later generations.

The others exchanged bewildered glances. They had also realized that the banknotes Zhou Runfa used were not props, but real US dollars.

But based on this point alone, Director Li's consideration is very thorough. He was willing to spend real money to make the film, which shows how determined he was to make a good movie.

Now, they have full confidence in the film.

Filming continued, and after packing the props and money into a box, Song Zihao and Xiao Ma took the money to the basement.

Finally, when Little Ma gave Tam Sing-kin a shot, Ng Kai-wah didn't act well.

Li Jiangbo immediately shouted "Cut!"

"Ah Hua! Look at the person in front of you when you say your lines. You're talking to a person, not a camera."

Wu Qihua nodded humbly, "Understood, Director."

"Let's do it one more time, turn on your mic!"

This time, Ng Kai-wah's performance was correct, but the lines just didn't sound right, and his facial expressions were also off.

Li Jiangbo called for a stop again and stepped forward to carefully explain the scene to Wu Qihua.

After finally getting it right on the third try, Li Jiangbo felt somewhat helpless.

However, to be fair, of the four characters, Dillon played the best role, followed by Alfa, then Leslie Cheung, while Lawrence Ng was still a greenhorn.

Li Jiangbo can only be trained slowly. If he can't even play a villain in one movie, then no matter how successful he is in other roles, it will be a drop in the ocean.

The following scenes are very simple, mostly just camera work, with only one shot inside the car where Little Ma steals Song Zihao's cigarette.

Then came the scene of the two making a deal with the foreigner. After filming this scene, it was time to leave work.

After confirming that the filming was finished, Li Jiangbo told everyone to call it a day.

Ng Kai-wah also helped with the tidying up; he really wanted to act well. After all, he was already in the industry, and he didn't want to go back to being an extra.

Li Jiangbo sat in his chair, thinking. At this rate, they would be filming gunfight scenes in a couple of days.

He was a little uneasy, mainly because he needed to use stuntmen he wasn't familiar with. He needed to come up with a way to establish rules for the stuntmen in the Yuan family troupe.

It's not that Yuen Woo-ping's team doesn't listen to Li Jiangbo, it's just that there are always a few bad apples in any team who want to cause trouble and make a quick buck.

Yuen Woo-ping naturally dared not take such a step. When he went to the dock with Li Jiangbo to scout locations, he personally witnessed how Li Jiangbo's bodyguards dealt with those short mules.

Thinking of this, Li Jiangbo picked up the hotel phone and called Fei Bo from Yisheng.

Tell Fei Bo to be ready to call him anytime.