Entertainment: I am the peak

Chapter 76 Let’s fight! Let’s fight!

This guy is definitely here to cause trouble!

Li Qiutang had to think so.

It is normal for two films to have the same release date, but in the past, the release dates would usually be staggered by three to five days to give each other some space.

Just like "The Warlords" and "Assembly" have the same release date, but the two films are staggered by one week.

"Resurrection of the Dragon" was scheduled to be released on the same day as "No One" was scheduled for April 4. Li Qiutang could only understand that they wanted to fight.

In other words, they wanted to teach new director Li Qiutang a lesson by using Andy Lau + Sammo Hung + costume action blockbusters.

The media are like sharks that come after the smell of blood. April is traditionally a cold period, and the two films happened to be released on the same day. Isn't this giving them news?

This is indeed the case. Ever since the release date of "Resurrection of the Dragon" was scheduled, the main creators of the two films have been fighting openly and secretly under the instigation of the media. It can be said that it is a routine quarrel between competitors during the promotion period.

When Li Qiutang and Fan Bingbing were interviewed by the media, Fan Bingbing was still being polite - after all, she had a close relationship with Sammo Hung and it was not good to add fuel to the fire.

Li Qiutang was not polite and said bluntly: "They are not good at filming historical themes. If they choose to make up history and shoot a costume war film, it may be okay, but once they shoot real history, their shortcomings will be exposed."

"What's the shortcoming?"

"They are unable to understand the depth of history and the significance of ancient wars. They will superficially interpret the struggle between the two countries as a fight between two societies, and then use their rich experience in shooting street gangs to fit in.

“This is not a good way to film historical wars.”

Li Qiutang's words basically indiscriminately swept across all Hong Kong directors.

This is indeed the case. Apart from the older generation of Hong Kong directors who moved from the mainland, such as Chang Che and King Hu, who also have a sense of family and country and can shoot epic works of history and war, few of their younger generation directors are able to handle large-scale historical themes.

They cannot understand why the war started, and it would be even more disastrous if they filmed modern revolutionary wars.

"Resurrection of the Dragon" had previously caused heated discussions among the audience because of the flying saucer hat, and most netizens said they did not accept this style.

But director Li Rengang said that this style of helmet has historical basis: "In the Han Dynasty murals unearthed in Jin Province, soldiers of the Han Dynasty wore helmets of this type."

Well said, but historical facts are historical facts and audience acceptance is another matter.

"Film adaptations must of course respect historical research, but audience acceptance must still be put first. After all, this is not a historical documentary." Li Qiutang expressed his views on the UFO hat.

Today's reporters are not afraid of trouble at all and directly asked Li Qiutang: "So which of the two movies do you think will win in the competition?"

"If he offers 5000 million, I will offer 8000 million. I am very confident in our quality." Retreating at the critical moment of battle is a taboo in military strategy.

"What do you think, Bingbing?"

"I listen to our director." Fan Bingbing smiled. So the title of the press release after this interview was: "Exclusive interview with "No One" Li Qiutang: If they can't film historical wars well, they will definitely win at the box office.

It's no wonder that Li Qiutang's words were so harsh. The two films not only had the same release date, but also the same subject matter. Both were costume action films, one martial arts and the other historical war. In many cases, the audience would only choose to watch one of them, and Liu Dehua's appeal was indeed strong, so Li Qiutang had no choice but to pay attention to it.

It was also after this interview that the crew of "No One" released the character trailer.

Cheng Xiazi, Ni Yan, Qin Niang and Yuwen Ying, the four characters appear one by one. Cheng Xiazi's sharp movements, Ni Yan's pitiful appearance, Qin Niang's beauty and Yuwen Ying's sinisterness all give the audience different feelings.

Li Qiutang knew that the crew relied on Fan Bingbing and Huang Xiaoming for publicity, so the character trailer included highlights of the two.

Qin Niang danced barefoot, and Li Qiutang photographed her beautifully. The last scene of her in the trailer was a charming smile to the camera - just for this smile, Li Qiutang gave Fan Bingbing three layers of light and took two days to shoot. Fan Bingbing's face was numb from smiling - this smile received unanimous praise from her fans and passers-by - even black fans had to admit that she was indeed very beautiful.

Huang Xiaoming's Yuwen Ying has an upright posture, is dressed like a young man, and looks polite. But when the scene switches, he is holding a longbow and ruthlessly shooting his opponent. When the camera switches again, Yuwen Ying shows half of his face, which is dotted with blood, and his eyes are gloomy and vicious. He can be described as evil and crazy.

The Ming Cult members particularly liked this, saying one after another: "Without the big bearded makeup and hair dryer, Xiao Ming finally met a director who would film him."

Facing "Resurrection of the Dragon", Li Qiutang had to take the initiative in order to gain the upper hand. In the past few days, he has been taking the main creators to accept interviews from various media.

In an interview, Lee Jen-kang, the director of Resurrection of the Dragon, also talked about No Man's Eye. He showed the generosity and tolerance of a senior: "We are not competing with anyone. We are competing with ourselves."

But at the same time, they would also secretly say a few words: "New directors don't need to step on others to achieve success. It was very hard for us to be apprentices in the crew before. It took at least ten years of training before you could make a film independently. Now the environment is better, and you should cherish the opportunity more."

Then he talked about how exquisite the action design of "Resurrection of the Dragon" is, how the behind-the-scenes team is international, and how it has gathered big stars from both sides of the Taiwan Strait and Hong Kong: "We have many selling points, so we are not too worried about the results."

Li Qiutang certainly responded. In an interview with Fox Studio, he said: "It's just that they don't have a systematic college education, so they praise the master-apprentice system of the previous grass-roots team so much."

In fact, the system of traditional film studios in the mainland is similar. After graduating from college, you enter the studio and start as a production assistant. It takes more than ten years before you have the opportunity to direct independently.

But Li Qiutang selectively avoided mentioning this. Don’t ask. If you ask, I have not experienced the film studio era and I don’t know what a film studio is.

The current movie promotions are really sharp and confrontational, with people criticizing each other without any courtesy. It's nothing like what happened later, when everyone pretended and spoke hypocritical compliments.

Li Qiutang was interviewed today with Zhao Wenzhuo and Huang Xiaoming. Huang Xiaoming talked about his first time playing a villain. He said that he enjoyed the role very much: "It is very different to play a villain, and Director Qiutang taught me a lot of techniques to play a villain."

He also talked about how in order to play Yuwen Ying well, he watched dozens of movies at home: "I specifically picked villains to watch and see how they acted, and I also tried to find that feeling. I also learned the looks and expressions of those villains. Like this, like this, and like this." Huang Xiaoming showed off his coolness at the scene and amused the host and Li Qiutang.

"On my first day on the set, the director told me that everything I had learned was useless," Huang Xiaoming said with a wry smile. "I felt like the sky was falling. I had been studying for more than two months."

Li Qiutang took over the conversation: "Xiao Ming must have hated me to death at that time. I said that what I want is the feeling you have now, the hatred hidden in your heart."

"So director, you did this on purpose."

"I did it on purpose." Li Qiutang admitted shamelessly.

(End of this chapter)