"The Legend": A seriously underestimated costume blockbuster, the pinnacle of Jet Li's acting skills

In 1973, "Horse" directed by Chang Cheh and starring Ti Lung, David Chiang, and Chen Guantai, was released in Hong Kong and earned HK$1.28 million, ranking 10th on the annual box office list.

Thirty-four years later, in 2007, "The Legend" directed by Peter Chan and starring Jet Li, Andy Lau, and Takeshi Kaneshiro was released, earning 27.5 million Hong Kong dollars in Hong Kong and 202 million yuan in the mainland.

The original name of "The Letter of Voting" was "Ji Ma", but in order to distinguish it from Zhang Che's version, the name was changed.

Objectively speaking, Peter Chan's remake is better than the previous one, it is quite delicate and romantic. At the same time, the three adults in the film are Judge Dee, Lord Jiang and Lord Chen. Peter Chan obviously pays tribute to Chang Cheh.

The 1973 "Jingma" has a Douban score of 7.7, and Chen Kexin's "Reporter" has a Douban score of 7.3. In fact, it is obviously seriously underestimated.

01. Pang Qingyun is not a selfish person, he is an idealist

The synopsis of the story is adapted from the horse assassination case, one of the four most mysterious cases in the late Qing Dynasty. Jet Li plays the assassin The man and horse Xinyi changed his name to Pang Qingyun. Andy Lau plays Zhao Erhu (Cao Erhu/Huang Zong) who was brutally kidnapped and murdered by his wife, while Takeshi Kaneshiro plays the "horse assassin" Zhang Wenxiang, who changed his name to Jiang Wuyang.

Over the years, Ma Xinyi has become the target of reviled people on the streets. The real Ma Xinyi in history was a serious Jinshi in the late Qing Dynasty. He had meritorious service in suppressing rebellions and became the governor of Liangjiang.

Jet Li in "The Call to Action" followed this setting. Liangjiang: including Jiangsu, Jiangxi, and Anhui, the governor has military, political, and supervisory powers.

As for the position of Governor of Liangjiang, Ma Xinyi’s predecessor and successor after his death were all well-known Zeng Guofan, which becomes very intriguing.

The reason why Ma Xinyi rose to prominence is because he did not come from any local power. At that time, the Hunan army was powerful and Zeng Guofan was in great power. Cixi promoted him to check and balance the Hunan clique.

In 1870, Ma Xinyi, the governor of Liangjiang, was assassinated by the assassin Zhang Wenxiang in broad daylight. Instead of escaping, he was captured without mercy.

The horse stabbing case shocked both the government and the public. Cixi personally questioned Zeng Guofan, but the truth has never been found out. In October 1871, Zhang Wenxiang was executed by Lingchi.

The key to the unsolved case is the struggle between the Hunan clique, and it is not a simple matter of brothers turning against each other because of women.

But among the simple-minded people, there will naturally be some good people who spread gossip. From then on, the story of a threesome of bloody brothers and a love triangle was born. There are popular novels about Pingjiang's unlucky life, and there is a spurred horse in Peking Opera. repertoire.

Chen Kexin's "Report of Voting" is also based on this aspect. On the surface, Pang Qingyun is a shameless villain who disregards brotherhood and betrays his oath for personal gain, but in fact he is an idealist. .

If he just wanted to get promoted and make a fortune, there would be no need to shout out the phrase "please be exempted from taxes for three years". What he guarantees is that every common person has enough to eat.

His ideal world is peaceful and everyone is not bullied. On this basis, the death of Xiaoqi and Gouzi is worth it, the death of 4,000 people in Suzhou is also worth it, and the death of Zhao Erhu is also worth it. .

In Suzhou, Zhao Erhu wanted to rebel. He could have killed him, but he couldn't bear to do it. In the end, the murderer was killed because the court could not tolerate Zhao Erhu and had to kill him.

The most exciting thing is Jet Li's monologue, which fully expresses his feelings. He also won the Academy Award for Best Actor with his wonderful performance. It can be said that "The Film" is the best actor in the film. Jet Li is the pinnacle of his acting career.

Zhao Erhu is not suitable for officialdom. He is just a reckless hero. For him, bandits are the most suitable. As for Jiang Wuyang, he does not really understand his elder brother Pang Qingyun. He naively thinks that as long as he kills a woman, The eldest brother and the second brother can go back to the past, but it's a pity that he doesn't understand that they are just pawns.

Pang Qingyun cares about his family and country, Zhao Erhu is a reckless hero, and Jiang Wuyang is the most affectionate. All three of them can be called "chivalrous".

It is a pity that the current situation and court politics in the late Qing Dynasty cannot tolerate chivalry - this is fate.

02. Jet Li's "sex scene", Takeshi Kaneshiro's three taboos for breaking the rules for Chen Kexin, Andy Lau actually remembered the past when the brothers turned against each other

Jet Li is a typical " "Star", but in this film, Jet Li is the one with the most "artistic" among the three brothers.

Chen Kexin’s impression is that except for Tsui Hark’s Once Upon a Time in the series and the innocent kiss scene with Rosamund Kwan in “Thirteenth Aunt”, he has never filmed any impressive love scenes. .

In the film, Chen Kexin arranged for Zhao Erhu's daughter-in-law, Liansheng played by Xu Jinglei, to finally appear on the big screen in bed.

If this is promoted as a "sex scene", the audience will definitely shout that they were fooled, because Jet Li is fully dressed in the camera, and he really just spent the night upright.

There is also a section at the back, but it’s so pitch black that it’s impossible to see clearly.

Jet Li mentioned in the interview the reason why he does not shoot sex scenes. He believes that this is a hot topic. If he never shoots sex scenes, there will always be topics. Ginger is still hot when he is old...

By the way, I would like to complain about the acting style of the third brother Takeshi Kaneshiro...

The one who gets the most fights in "The Proposal" is actually the third brother Takeshi Kaneshiro. He changed his image of a handsome and artistic guy and became so ruthless that it was scary. The famous scene in the film is the scene where Takeshi Kaneshiro cuts off the enemy's head and holds it in his hand.

Kill your sister-in-law. Anyone who messes with my brothers will be killed as a matter of fact!

Kill the eldest brother. Brothers who mess with my brothers will be killed as a matter of fact!

Chan Ke-sin spent two months trying to persuade Takeshi Kaneshiro to star in "The Name of the People" because "The Name of the People" violated the three taboos of Takeshi Kaneshiro not to take the role.

First, don’t do scenes where you have sex with other male protagonists; second, don’t do scenes in period costumes; third, don’t do scenes that are filmed in too difficult places.

The three male protagonists of this film, Chen Kexin, who has established a friendship with Takeshi Kaneshiro since "If Love", understands: "Takeshi Kaneshiro is a person who has nothing to do with the world. In fact, there is no real relationship with Takeshi Kaneshiro in this world. There is no fighting in the world, but it is just a matter of appearance. How can an actor not fight? So when there are more male protagonists and everyone competes, he will definitely suffer. It was an extremely difficult costume drama. Chen Kexin was already preparing to change roles. Takeshi Kaneshiro called and decided to star.

As for the reason why Andy Lau decided to take the role, he mentioned it in an interview with CCTV many years later: he was betrayed by a friend many years ago, and when he saw the first version of the script, he cried until he ran out of breath.

This past incident was not discussed in CCTV. Later, in "Kangxi Is Coming", he revealed to Xiao S that in 1991, at the age of 30, he and his friends formed their own Tianmu Film Company, but the good times did not last long. Tianmu Film Company's films later suffered losses many times, and Andy Lau owed a foreign debt of 40 million Hong Kong dollars.

Andy Lau originally thought that one of his friends in the media would help him keep it a secret - because once the debt was made public, all creditors would immediately come to run on it, and the company would go bankrupt in an instant.

But this friend truthfully reported that Andy Lau owed 40 million for the sake of his own future. Andy Lau became destitute overnight and was even taken to court by his partners. Andy Lau had to sign a three-year contract and receive a monthly salary of 400,000 yuan to pay back the money.

03. Peter Chan shot a big scene for the first time in his career, which drove Cheng Xiaodong crazy, and Jet Li acted as a "translator"

"The Legend" is the first time that Peter Chan directed a big-scene action film, but At the beginning, he still followed the working habits of literary films that he was accustomed to.

In the behind-the-scenes of the film, after Chen Kexin shot the scene in Mentougou, Beijing, the filming started in winter. The weather was freezing and the visibility was poor. During the first few days of filming, there were frequent car accidents and road closures, leading to the scene where the army rations were robbed. The original budget for filming the scene was 7 days, but it ended up being 4 times exceeded and it took a month to shoot.

Chen Kexin almost wanted to give up: "The first scene was dragged out like this, and I don't want to shoot it anymore. When I was frustrated, I even denied myself to the point of wanting to quit and let the investors change the director."

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There are an astonishing 15 assistant directors on the crew of "The Proposal". Six cameras were needed, and the war scenes were grand and astonishingly long. The director joked that "two people have to have 300 people in the background to fall in love."

Regarding the action design of the film, it is another bad thing. Because for some reason, Chen Kexin actually hired Cheng Xiaodong to be the action director - what Chen Kexin wanted was the realism of war, with the sword rising and falling, and the two armies fighting hand-to-hand. For example, in the Battle of Shucheng, Andy Lau and the enemy general, the scene where the two armies immediately went to war.

But what Cheng Xiaodong is good at is Tsui Hark-style elegant new martial arts. Cheng Xiaodong is known as the "King of Wires". He is best at multiple wires flying all over the sky. Chen Kexin asked him not to use a single wire, not to design a single fancy move, but to make everything "real". "

This kind of disagreement persisted throughout the four months of filming. Cheng Xiaodong was also a senior, so he was naturally dissatisfied with Chen Kexin being an outsider directing an expert. Thanks to the first actor of the crew, he is the most familiar with martial arts and is familiar with martial arts. Jet Li of New Martial Arts.

When Chen Kexin needed it, he told Jet Li to quarrel with Cheng Xiaodong.

Jet Li was naturally happy to oblige: "Xiaodong and I have been friends for more than 20 years. I can close the door with him and bang the table and bench, but you can't do that! You listen to me!"

The problem of action has been solved, but "Tou Mingzhuang" is still essentially a literary film, a literary war film with big scenes. 13 years later, when I watch "Tou Mingzhuan" again, I have to lament that it is a domestic cultural heritage. ! (Written by Mankei Wu)