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

Li Jiangbo glanced at Lan Naicai, "Old Lan has a good eye for quality!"

The crowd surrounded Li Jiangbo as if he were a monster.

Chung Chu-hung even poked at the equipment in front of Li Jiangbo, then touched his chest muscles, looking at him with disbelief, "Brother Li? Is that a prop camera?"

Zhou Runfa and Dillon, who both knew the weight of the camera, watched Li Jiangbo, dressed in equipment and carrying the camera, walking around like a normal person, and silently thought to themselves:

Holy crap, are you even human?

Li Jiangbo slapped the groping hand off his body speechlessly. "Stageman! Clear the set immediately and get filming going."

Yuen Woo-ping, who was standing to the side, was dumbfounded. What kind of martial arts choreographer was he?

In Hong Kong, stuntmen are hired from triads. He didn't say anything; Director Lee was quite arrogant, managing to get triads to film his movies.

Upon arriving in Taiwan, Yuen Woo-ping thought he could finally put his skills to good use, but to his surprise, Li Jiangbo pulled out equipment that was simply unacceptable.

At this moment, Lao Yuan wondered if Li Jiangbo had invited the Yuan Family Team to form a martial arts group in order to undermine him.

This equipment was brought back from the United States by Zhao Dong at Li Jiangbo's request. He planned to use it to film the most popular gunfight scenes of the future as promotional material for the movie.

Add to that a DJ version of "The Rain Keeps Falling," and Li Jiangbo doesn't believe that Hong Kong people today can resist such an attraction.

He only wears this equipment for a maximum of half an hour to film; otherwise, he plans to use it to film all the gunfights.

Actually, this thing is just a stabilizer, used to stabilize shooting.

This thing was first used in the American films Rocky and Glory Road.

Li Jiangbo recalls that "Paths of Glory" even won an Academy Award for Best Cinematography, which shows how much this equipment helped the film industry.

A moment later, no matter how surprised the members on set were, Li Jiangbo still ordered the filming to begin.

Li Jiangbo followed Zhou Runfa in filming, and all the perspectives were from a first-person point of view.

Little Ma recorded in detail how he loaded the gun and how he fired it.

The camera first shows the door of a Japanese pub being opened, with a group of extras sitting on the floor smiling and looking towards the door.

The pistol was raised, the shot rang out, and the extra who betrayed Song Zihao was shot dead.

The man fell backward, followed by various shots showing Mark Gor killing people with every shot. This was completely opposite to the slow-motion scenes in John Woo's version of "A Better Tomorrow," emphasizing speed, accuracy, and ruthlessness.

......

Another half hour or so passed.

The gunfight at the Japanese tavern was finally over thanks to the cooperation of Yuen Woo-ping and his stuntmen.

Because the promotional video needed to be fast, accurate, and ruthless, Li Jiangbo didn't film the scene where Little Ma's leg is broken in a sneak attack.

After Li Jiangbo unloaded all the equipment, he sat down to the side and drank water in large gulps.

Lan Naicai ran up to Li Jiangbo and asked, "Director, can I give it a try?"

Li Jiangbo put down the bottle in his hand, let out a burp, and said, "Sure! But we'll have to film it again later."

"Still filming?" Lan Naicai asked Li Jiangbo with a puzzled look.

"Yes! This is a promotional video."

Lan Naicai nodded, walked up to the equipment, and picked it up.

As soon as Lan Nai picked it up, she realized it wasn't very heavy, only about fifty or sixty pounds. This equipment had significantly reduced the weight of the camera.

But after carrying the equipment for a few steps, he almost fell over; the equipment wasn't heavy, it was just too big.

After Lan Naicai put down the equipment, Yuen Woo-ping curiously picked it up as well.

Unfortunately, he met the same fate as Lan Naicai.

The problem is that people don't understand how the machine works. If a normal person wore this, they could last for ten minutes or so, and a stuntman could definitely last for half an hour. However, whether it can be filmed well is another matter.

They filmed the scene again until Little Ma, limping, killed the attacker, and then the scene was considered finished.

Next, the police were called in; this part wasn't particularly difficult. Li Jiangbo never used that equipment again, personally placing it in the car.

It was already 10 p.m. when the crew finished their work, and Li Jiangbo informed them that they could wrap up.

Everyone started packing up and heading back to rest.

the next day.

Because the prison scenes hadn't been finalized, Li Jiangbo gave the crew a day off. He wanted everyone to have some fun in Taiwan, and after filming the prison scenes, they could return to Hong Kong.

He then approached Leslie Cheung and asked him to teach him how to sing, as he planned to personally sing "The Rain Keeps Falling".

When Li Jiangbo took out the lyrics and music for "The Rain Keeps Falling" from his pocket, Leslie Cheung looked at him as if he were an alien.

"Director Li, is your pocket a treasure chest? How can you pull out anything?"

Li Jiangbo smiled without saying a word, wondering whether he should sing the song in Cantonese.

He remembers that the song was released in 09, and it didn't cause much of a stir when it was first released.

It later became popular again on TikTok. The song was remixed into a DJ version and paired with gunfight scenes from my time working in the Middle East, which was absolutely amazing.

The Cantonese version needs to have its lyrics rewritten. He gained a year's worth of music knowledge in the simulator, but that wasn't enough for him to write the lyrics for this song.

Leslie Cheung looked at the lyrics and music in his hand and hummed them softly.

The rain outside the window has been pattering for three days and three nights.

Just like my dearest you, you didn't answer my phone for three days and three nights.

Is this how you answer the question, "Is this relationship just going to end like this?"

I don't mind that you've fallen in love with him.

I'm just worried about whether you're doing well.

All these years, I've struggled so hard just for love.

For so many years, I've tried everything but still couldn't keep up with your changes.

Actually, I'm always like a child, I'll never grow up.

Unfortunately, you still left.

My dream has shattered.

......

Hmm! The lyrics are alright, but they're a bit unlike the current popular style.

After a while, Leslie Cheung put down the lyrics and music in his hand and said, "Director Li, do you want me to sing this song?"

Li Jiangbo shook his head, "I want to sing it myself."

Leslie Cheung was somewhat speechless. He could understand a director making erotic films, and he could even understand writing a song. But singing? Wasn't that a bit too far off-topic?

However, if Director Li has good talent, he should be able to master this kind of song in about a week.

Unfortunately, Leslie Cheung underestimated Li Jiangbo's talent, or rather, his superhuman abilities.

When Li Jiangbo walked into the recording studio and started singing, Leslie Cheung's eyes widened in surprise.

When Leslie Cheung sang it for the first time, he could tell that Li Jiangbo had conveyed the emotions of the song, although some parts were not handled very well.

Leslie Cheung gave Li Jiangbo a brief explanation of the points to pay attention to when singing the song.

For example: when to use vibrato, and when to tone it down...

On the second listen, Li Jiangbo was able to sing the song smoothly and emotionally.

Looking at Li Jiangbo in the recording studio, Leslie Cheung felt a pang of sadness. He really hadn't expected that Director Li could sing so powerfully!

Oh, Director Li! Why don't you just fly to the sky? Why don't you go underwater? Why don't you kiss a turtle mouth-to-mouth?

Just as Leslie Cheung was feeling sentimental, there was a gentle knock on the door of the recording studio.

Leslie Cheung turned around and saw that it was Cherie Chung, holding two movie tickets and wearing a floral dress, walking in.