1990My Entertainment System

Chapter 83: Hong Kong Ghost Story in Kowloon Walled City

At this point, the Hong Kong film industry is in a mess!
There have never been so many high-quality films piled together like a meat grinder!

The purpose of making movies in Hong Kong is of course to make money, but the financial backers behind many film companies are not just for the sake of making money.

After all, the money earned from movies is insignificant compared to many industries, such as the stock market.

Liu, known as the Hong Kong stock market harvester, has long been famous. He can easily earn hundreds of millions of yuan in stock market operations.

If I make money by making movies, how long will it take me to make money?

Besides, making a movie is so risky, with low returns on investment, high investment, and a long cycle...

Many of the bigwigs behind film companies actually have a "movie dream"!
Really!

Moreover, they had conflicts over the film schedule, actors, subject matter, etc. over time and were always looking for a fight.

Not to mention old rivals like Shaw Brothers and Golden Harvest - Golden Harvest's Boss Zou left Shaw Brothers, and picked up a lot of good talents that Shaw Brothers didn't want, such as Bruce Lee and Sam Hui ~ and beat Shaw Brothers in the face!
Normally, harmony brings wealth, and each company's main releases are staggered to avoid bloodshed...

But the big guys are going to fight for this!

Let’s put making money aside for now, and suppress him first so that I can save face!

Look, even the movie about the giant dragon has been squeezed into the summer season!

Oh yes - the Hong Kong tycoon Liu mentioned earlier has also kept many Hong Kong female stars. Later, his kidneys were broken, so he replaced them with five or six... It makes people curious where those kidneys came from?
Among the female celebrities he has kept is Li Meiren, the one who filmed "Swordsman 2" with Xia Tian.

Yes, Li Meiren is actually in a relationship at this point. But that doesn't stop her from looking for a backup.
She had an affair with Li Huanggua and is still with this Liu Da. There is a reason why Xia Tian is arrogant and ignores her.

Xia Tian wouldn't ignore even a few blemishes on most people, but he really didn't even bother to look at this beautiful lady Li.

Oh, by the way, later on, Lady Li got married, and Xiangjianggou wrote the headline “Rich Family Bus Enters Rich Family”.

Most wealthy businessmen are reluctant to speak ill of their former female companions, but Liu is different.

Liu's character is not very good. After Li Meiren got married, he named the shopping mall and published a newspaper to wish her a happy birthday.
He also hinted that Lady Li asked him to buy expensive bags after marriage.

To be honest, she is considered a professional mistress in Hong Kong, but it is not normal for Liu to expose her secrets like this.

He wasn't targeting Lady Li. Basically, anyone who had been with him and then broke up would have to endure this. The scolding was quite harsh.
It also corresponds to that saying, that goes with that.
……

When I come to Hong Kong in the summer, I come to see the excitement, but I can only see it for a few seconds.

You can't just sit in the cinema every day to see who has the highest box office, right?

The main reason he came this time was to listen to Aying talking on the phone, and she accidentally mentioned that Hong Kong was planning to demolish Kowloon Walled City next year.

This place is really worth talking about!

This place has been mentioned in many Hong Kong movies, and it means a lawless place where no one is allowed to go.

Kowloon Walled City, whose history can be traced back to the Song Dynasty, was originally a stronghold for defending against foreign enemies.

When the Qing government signed the cession treaty, it stated that this piece of land in Hong Kong still belonged to China. But later we did not want to go deep into this place to disturb it or be regarded as a provocation, so it gradually became a lawless area between Hong Kong, Britain and the inland.

Inside, there were refugees, poor people, illegal immigrants, unlicensed doctors, gangsters... Illegally built shacks began to rise from the ground and grow wildly until they grew into a complex of 350 high-risk buildings with a height of 10 to 14 stories.

If it weren't for Kai Tak Airport being just 50 metres away, this complex would probably be even taller.

There was a popular saying at that time: "As long as you run into Kowloon Walled City, no one will chase you, including the police."

Kowloon Walled City is only 6 acres in size, about 2.7 hectares, but it was built to house a huge number of people, reportedly more than !
Even in the summer, the Xiangjiang River is already very crowded...

However, the population density of the Walled City was 190 million people per square kilometer, which was over 280 times higher than the density in Hong Kong during the same period. It was the most densely populated place in the world!
Fifty thousand people live in an area the size of two residential communities, sharing eight faucets and two public toilets (official data, private figures are unknown). Isn't that exciting?
It can be called the Night City test server!
By the way, many people regard Kowloon Walled City as a legend in the cyberpunk architectural world!

A cyberpunk sanctuary in the real world!

Due to the low rent and cheap prices, and the fact that there was no need to pay various taxes, most people who took refuge in Kowloon Walled City adapted to the anarchist life after experiencing the initial pain.

A resident of the walled city once said: "To be honest, I don't think Kowloon Walled City is that bad. It provides housing for the poor and a home for those who have no hope. Some people don't have ID cards, some people don't have money, but Kowloon Walled City takes them in. They need someone to save them." However, Xia Tian also wants to leave some video footage before demolishing the walled city.

How about making a movie in the Walled City?
Xia Tian found Jiu Shu, Cai Lan and Lan Naicai, "I plan to shoot a horror movie in Kowloon Walled City..."

Cai Lan was also surprised when he heard Xia Tian's words and asked hurriedly, "Are you going to film a movie in Kowloon Walled City too?"

Xia Tian was also stunned: What do you mean by "me too"? Who else?
After asking, I found out that Big Nose Dragon's new film was about to start shooting, and it was said that they planned to shoot part of it in Kowloon Walled City.

When I asked about the script, I found out it was called "Criminal Investigation Team".

Cai Lan is very supportive of Xia Tian's decision to make a movie, and he's willing to be the producer.
But I strongly disagree with going into the walled city, it's too risky.

"It's a mess in there, with lots of gangs and chaos..."

Xia Tian thought that since spontaneous order had been formed in the city, there was a way.

Instead, he became interested in the movie about the giant dinosaur.

In 91, in order to raise funds to purchase a venue for the Hong Kong Film Directors Association, the Association planned the movie "Twin Dragons". Dozens of Hong Kong directors, big and small, worked for free and it took a year to complete.

It’s the one that’s being released now, competing with “Justice, My Foot” and “Swordsman 2”~
If there were no "bug"-level movies like "The Banquet", then "Twin Dragons" would definitely be the movie with the most director participation. What's even more rare is that a movie with such a lineup also performed very well commercially.

The producer of "Twin Dragons" is Teddy Robin, the producer is Wu Siyuan, the screenwriters are Xu Ke, Huang Bingyao, Zhang Tongzu and Huang Yi, and it is co-directed by Xu Ke and Ringo Lam. It co-stars Big Nose Long Long, Zhang Manyu, Li Zhi, Teddy Robin and Huang Zhiqiang, and there are also dozens of directors of all sizes making guest appearances.

Oh, by the way, when filming Twin Dragons, Li Zhi and Dabilong had a steamy sex scene, and rumors of an affair started between the two of them… Thinking about Dabilong’s issues, I felt sorry for Li Lianjie for a second~
……

Xia Tian gave the script he had written to Uncle Jiu and the other two. When they saw it, they found out that the movie was called "Hong Kong Ghost Story"!
This script was adapted from a later game, and it's about a ghost-hunting team that goes deep into the Kowloon Walled City and experiences all sorts of strange events, with a lot of puzzle-solving involved...

Xia Tian was a master of writing and was incredibly familiar with film scripts. Even though it was just a script, the three of them were completely absorbed in it.

Even Cai Lan felt a little nervous.
As expected of a famous writer, this script is so scary! It's so immersive~
The script is full of ups and downs, from the handheld video recorder at the beginning, to the old lady and the ghost sister behind the scenes, none of them are good people!

In the end, even the protagonist has turned into a vengeful spirit and is trapped in the fortress...

Xia Tian drew detailed storyboards for several of the terrifying scenes. For example, in one scene, the lights in the corridor suddenly went out, and when they came back on, the walls were covered with distorted photos of human faces of all sizes...

Just looking at this picture gives me chills!
If this were made into a movie, it would scare a lot of people to tears in the cinema!

At this time, Cai Lan thought about it again and felt that this script was indeed suitable for filming in Kowloon Walled City!
It’s a match made in heaven… No, this script was written specifically for filming Kowloon Walled City!
You can’t get this flavor anywhere else!
"But it's not easy to film there!" Cai Lan whispered.

Xia Tian asked him, "Is there someone like the boss in there?"

Cai Lan nodded. "There are several gangs that don't interfere with each other, but now that they're going to be demolished, people are getting agitated..."

"I want to talk to them..."

"Talk?"

……

Out of hatred for the rich or just to pick a fight, the gang members in the walled city were unwilling to let the crew in to shoot the movie.

I also asked someone here in the summer, and they agreed to the same conditions as for the Big Nose Dragon.

The next day, the reply was: "I heard that Brother Tian'er is a good fighter? We are all very curious and want to see it for ourselves..."

Xia Tian was amused: "Want to have a fight?"

After all, the Big Nose Dragon family started to make a fortune in the 1970s and has deep roots in Hong Kong. Besides, the walled city is about to be demolished, so he is willing to pay some money to ask the bigwigs in the walled city to make some concessions.

The boss is also willing to give him face.

But when it comes to Xia Tian, ​​I don’t know if it’s simply out of envy, jealousy, or because they always see reports about Xia Tian, ​​many gang members want to test his weight!

There is a feeling that there is no first in literature and no second in martial arts.
Xia Tian smiled, very brightly: "Is there such a good thing? It's a deal, double happiness!"
(End of this chapter)