1978 Synthetic Writers

Chapter 655 Stephen Chow

"Need someone?"

Xiang Huaqiang was taken aback. "What Boss Jiang wants is..."

Jiang Xian didn't answer directly, but smiled and said, "Boss Xiang wouldn't be reluctant to part with it, would he?"

"Maybe."

Mrs. Xiang interjected, "Our Yong Sheng has only just been established, and we are in dire need of talent. Every employee is a pillar of Yong Sheng, so it's only natural that we're reluctant to let them go."

"Yes."

Originally feeling a bit embarrassed, Xiang Huaqiang quickly added, following Xiang Tai's lead, "The people at Yong Sheng are all brothers who helped me build this empire. I wonder which one Mr. Jiang is looking for?"

"Hehe, this person shouldn't be that important in Yongsheng."

Jiang Xian said with a smile, "Actually, I wanted to go to Li Xiuxian to ask for him back, but after asking Li Xiuxian, he said he sold this person to your Yongsheng."

Everyone knows about Li Xiuxian, right?

Even if you don't know this name, you've probably heard of the documentary-style detective film starring Wong Sir, based on a true story, a film that can be described as bizarre.

It was directed and filmed by Danny Lee.

Although Danny Lee is not as popular as Chow Yun-fat, as wild as Alex Man, or as flamboyant as Alan Tang, who dares to say that he is not a pivotal figure in the Hong Kong film industry?

He is a third-generation disciple of Chang Cheh, Chow Yun-fat's golden partner, and the "mentor" of younger generations such as Nick Cheung and Wong Sir. In short, without him, half of Hong Kong's police and gangster films would collapse!

This person is both a director and an actor.

He first learned his craft at the Shaw Brothers training class, where the renowned director Chang Cheh happened to see him. He casually pointed at Danny Lee, and the next day a producer approached Danny Lee to sign a contract. From then on, Chang Cheh became Danny Lee's mentor.

Afterwards, Danny Lee won the Hong Kong Film Award for Best Actor for his self-directed and self-acted film "The Public Servant," which propelled him into the ranks of Hong Kong's top directors.

When Jiang Xian mentioned the name Li Xiuxian, Xiang Huaqiang and Xiang Tai immediately realized who Jiang Xian and the person he wanted were.

Stephen Chow.

A few years ago, Danny Lee, who had risen to fame in the film industry, opened his own film company called Universal Pictures.

Universal Pictures primarily focuses on producing low- to medium-budget films, and in order to control costs, it invites second- or third-tier stars to play leading roles.

Coincidentally, Stephen Chow, who was still working as an extra, co-starred with Alex Man in an action film called "The Wind Chaser," which was also Stephen Chow's first film.

Because of this movie, Stephen Chow met Hong Kong actor Alex Man. Anyone who has seen the Young and Dangerous series should know that Alex Man played Hung Hing boss Chiang Tin-yeung. He was the one who acted opposite Fly in the famous scene in As Tears Go By. The first-person perspective of Jacky Cheung saying "You've eaten shit" was actually his perspective.

At the time, Alex Man had already made a name for himself in the Hong Kong entertainment industry. Seeing that Stephen Chow was a good actor, he recommended the 26-year-old actor to Danny Lee, who was recruiting second- and third-tier stars.

Danny Lee also felt that Stephen Chow was very talented, so he signed him to Universal Pictures. Stephen Chow's first film with the company was called "Final Justice", which won him the Golden Horse Award for Best Supporting Actor, and his acting skills were recognized.

Stephen Chow was also grateful for Danny Lee's promotion. However, when he signed with Danny Lee, Stephen Chow was just a low-level star, so the price was very cheap, and his salary was HK$70.

However, after he gradually started making some TV series and movies, Danny Lee effectively "sold" Stephen Chow to Win's Entertainment, which was founded by the Heung brothers.

Stephen Chow's salary was still paid by his former employer, Universal Pictures, but the films were produced by Win's Entertainment, and the box office revenue of his films was split equally between the two companies.

Afterwards, as a rising star, Stephen Chow began to be deeply associated with Win's Entertainment. In 90, Stephen Chow's "All for the Winner" unexpectedly ignited the market with its novel narrative and performance style, winning more than HK$4 million at the box office. The result directly broke the box office record of local films in Hong Kong at that time, and made Stephen Chow's signature "mo lei tau" performance style deeply rooted in people's hearts.

Stephen Chow also became the most box office guarantee among the actors under Win's Entertainment, with almost every movie he starred in becoming a box office hit, bringing the company a huge profit. The media even called him Win's Entertainment's "money printing machine".

Especially in 1992, it was said to be the year of Stephen Chow. In that year, he participated in the filming of as many as seven movies, including "Royal Tramp", "King of Beggars", and "Justice, My Foot!" He spent the whole year working long hours and under heavy workload. It is said that he often worked more than 18 hours a day.

However, in contrast to the enormous commercial value he created for Wing Shing, the salary he received for each film during this period remained at the same level as when he signed with Danny Lee—HK$70.

While this figure wasn't considered low in the Hong Kong film industry at the time, it was practically an insult compared to the hundreds of millions of dollars in annual income he brought to Wing Shing and his growing influence in the film industry.

Afterwards, Stephen Chow discussed salary with Win's Entertainment. The most famous story is that during an afternoon tea, Stephen Chow communicated with Tiffany Chen, one of the actual managers of Win's Entertainment, about the issue of film remuneration. When Stephen Chow asked for a raise, Tiffany Chen did not directly refuse, but instead mentioned the example of another film superstar, Chow Yun-fat.

She used the fact that Chow Yun-fat's salary for his masterpiece "A Better Tomorrow" was only HK$50 as a reference in response to Stephen Chow's request for a raise.

When Stephen Chow heard these words, he was eating a pineapple bun and did not offer any further rebuttal; he simply continued eating.

Of course, there's also a version of the story told by Mrs. Xiang herself. She said that back then, he wasn't famous yet and was only worth 30 yuan per film. Later, it went up to 70, 100 million, and then jumped all the way to 1500 million. We filmed more than a dozen movies for him, and he kept asking for more money. So we paved the way for him to keep getting paid more!
She said that TVB, Stephen Chow's agency at the time, could testify that his HK$1500 million salary was all received by TVB staff, and there was no such thing as HK$70.

Siu Yuk-yuen, who has produced several of Stephen Chow's films, also said that Stephen Chow's contract with Win's Entertainment was 300 million per film, and he signed ten films at once, which means that Stephen Chow's minimum income was more than 3000 million per film.

This led to many people taking sides to support Mrs. Xiang, including several film stars such as Nick Cheung, Simon Yam, and Sean Lau, who all stated that they were not familiar with Stephen Chow. Directors Johnnie To, Wong Jing, and Derek Yee also continued to criticize Stephen Chow.

There is a third theory that Stephen Chow was initially loaned to Danny Lee by TVB, and after his four-year contract with Lee expired, he automatically returned to TVB.

So, if the Xiang family wanted to hire Stephen Chow for a film, they had to comply with TVB's terms. The Xiang family could only approach Stephen Chow through TVB. If anyone was being exploited, it was TVB that was exploiting him. However, at that time, Run Run Shaw's position in the Hong Kong film industry was unshakeable, so no one dared to "threaten" Mona Fong and TVB. In short, the truth is now unknown, but Stephen Chow completely broke with Wing Shing and the Xiang family. He also left the company he had worked for for many years and which had generated countless box office successes. Records indicate that when he left the Wing Shing Building, he carried a box full of scripts.

The Xiang family directly blacklisted him, issuing a stern statement that no investor would be allowed to invest in any of Stephen Chow's films.

Despite the pressure, Stephen Chow used the startup capital he earned from Raymond Wong to establish his own Star Overseas Film Company and made two "A Chinese Odyssey" movies, which were box office failures, much to the delight of the Heung family.

In addition, Stephen Chow not only broke up with Winsung, but also with Danny Lee.

As is well known, in the movie "The Mad Monk" co-starring Stephen Chow and Johnnie To, Stephen Chow played a monastic who was banished from heaven to earth and reincarnated into a family surnamed Li, and was named Li Xiuyuan.

In one scene in the drama, someone came to cause trouble for Li Xiuyuan and wrote on the wall, "Li Xiuyuan, I swear to kill your whole family." The character played by Stephen Chow read the words on the wall aloud to the camera.

Although Ji Gong's real name is Li Xiuyuan, Hong Kong media interpreted this as Stephen Chow alluding to Li Xiuxian in order to vent his dissatisfaction.

Cheng Kui-an, nicknamed "Big Fool," who was personally mentored by Danny Lee, always regarded Lee as his benefactor. He directly criticized Stephen Chow, telling the media, "Li Xiuyuan is Danny Lee, especially Stephen Chow. I'm very dissatisfied with him. Back then, he was nobody, nobody knew him. It was my teacher who brought him up. Now he's famous, but he ignores his teacher and even shouted 'Danny Lee, I'll kill your whole family!' in a movie. If I had been there, I would have given him a good beating. If Stephen Chow truly respected his teacher, he would have discussed with the director changing the character's name. 'Stephen Chow's actions are too heartless. I hope he doesn't forget his roots.'"

Only the parties involved know the truth, but Stephen Chow is notorious for his poor interpersonal relationships in the Hong Kong entertainment circle.

Even when Stephen Chow was preparing to film "Shaolin Soccer", Qiangzi directly made a harsh statement, saying that anyone who dared to invest in Stephen Chow would be his enemy. As soon as he said this, many film investors were terrified. Faced with this film that was sure to make money, not a single person dared to reach out.

Finally, Universe International, a competitor of Qiangzi, stepped forward and invested over 2000 million yuan in Stephen Chow, allowing "Shaolin Soccer" to begin filming.

After its release, the film grossed over $4000 million in multiple countries and regions around the world, nearly 15 times its initial value in two years, making Universe International and Stephen Chow a fortune.

As a result, when he turned around, Stephen Chow angrily berated Lam Siu-ming, the boss of Universal Group.

"No one is worse than him. You can't do business with him at all. He'll always be the one who benefits. Although he's talented, he never cares about other people's feelings. In contrast, Mrs. Xiang is very loyal, frank and cheerful. If even someone as low-minded as Mrs. Xiang can't be friends with Stephen Chow, you can imagine what kind of person he is."

Of course, at this time, Stephen Chow was far from having the huge fame he would later achieve; he was just a small actor in the hands of Win's Entertainment. Those unknown things are all things for later to consider now.

"Stephen Chow?"

When Mrs. Xiang heard Jiang Xian mention the name, she hesitated for a moment, "How does Boss Jiang know him?"

"It was by chance that I saw his movie and felt that he was a perfect fit for one of our Jiang family's upcoming movie roles," Jiang Xian explained.

"I see."

Mrs. Xiang smiled and said, "To be honest, I quite admire this actor. Although he hasn't acted in many dramas, I think he's extraordinary. Some people's talents are visible, and this person has those qualities."

".Is it."

Jiang Xian grinned, secretly marveling at how sharp Mrs. Xiang's eye was. It seemed that getting Stephen Chow out of them wouldn't be so easy.

Sure enough, Mrs. Xiang then said:

“Mr. Jiang, if you want to use him to make a movie, we can borrow him first and pay him the normal fee. But we still hope that he can stay in Yongsheng for the time being.”

"Alright."

Jiang Xian nodded calmly, showing no sign that he was willing to compete with Mrs. Xiang for the actor named Stephen Chow.

The more effort he puts in, the more easily someone as shrewd as Mrs. Xiang will discover his true intentions and the less likely she is to release Stephen Chow from Win's Entertainment. It would be better to retreat in order to advance; this might be the only way to bring about a turning point in the matter.

"I'll definitely talk to him about it tomorrow, telling him that someone so famous appreciates him. He'll be overjoyed," Mrs. Xiang said with a smile.

"Hehe." Jiang Xian smiled faintly, not lingering on the topic of Stephen Chow, and quickly changed the subject. "It's funny, I've been in Hong Kong for so long, and I've always been staying in hotels. I don't have a place to stay yet. Now that I'm going to develop my career in Hong Kong, I'm afraid I need to find a place to live as soon as possible. I wonder if Mrs. Xiang has any recommendations?"

"A house?"

Mrs. Heung thought for a moment, "Wealthy people in Hong Kong like houses near Victoria Peak. I wonder if there are any for sale there. There are some other nice places, like Kowloon Tong, a traditional luxury residential area with good scenery and close to the commercial district. Recently, Yangming Villa has also become quite famous, but it's a bit far from the city center and the transportation isn't very convenient."

Mrs. Xiang mentioned a few places, then patted her chest confidently, "Buying a house is a big deal, don't rush, I'll ask my friends to inquire about it for you later."

"Thank you so much," Jiang Xian said, looking a little embarrassed. "It's my first visit today, and I've already troubled Mrs. Xiang with her help. It's really..."

That's what they say, but that's just how social skills work.

As the saying goes, asking for help is a shortcut to making friends. If you want to make friends with someone, ask them for a favor.

If you don't bother me, how will I know what you need? How will I communicate with you? And how can I possibly bother you?

If you ask someone for help, and they help you, they will think of you first when they need help in the future. Through these interactions, relationships will quickly become closer.

After chatting with Zhu Lin for a while longer at the Xiang family's house, the two of them returned to the hotel in the Xiang family's car.

Jiang Xian then explained his plans and his understanding of the Xiang family to Zhu Lin.

(End of this chapter)