Tony Leung and Stephen Chow (Comparing who has achieved greater success, Stephen Chow or Tony Leung)

The story of Stephen Chow and Tony Leung has been circulating throughout the Chinese film industry. It is said that the two were good friends when they were young. Stephen Chow, who loves movies, has always regarded becoming an actor as his life ideal, while Tony Leung Chiu-wai did not have much interest in acting. Interestingly, in 1982, Stephen Chow enthusiastically invited Tony Leung to sign up for the "Hong Kong TVB Artist Training Course". As a result, Stephen Chow failed to apply, but Tony Leung passed the exam. But later, with the help of friends, Stephen Chow had the opportunity to study in a night training class. Although after graduation, both Stephen Chow and Tony Leung briefly served as hosts of a children's variety show called "430 Shuttle", but after a short stay, Tony Leung relied on his handsome appearance to become increasingly mature. His acting skills quickly made him famous in the entertainment industry.

Compared to Tony Leung’s dazzling stardom, Stephen Chow, who had single eyelids at that time, was not so lucky. His subsequent encounters, after he became famous, were filmed by him in the form of an autobiography and became his famous The masterpiece "The King of Comedy". During this period of time, the "professional" Stephen Chow received countless rolls of eyes on the film set and was ridiculed by another group of people who claimed to be "professional". While Stephen Chow was running into obstacles, Tony Leung had already become TVB's leading niche actor, and was one of the "Five Wireless Tigers" named by Run Run Shaw. When many fans later learned about Stephen Chow's experience and his relationship with Tony Leung, the biggest question was, why didn't Tony Leung help Stephen Chow at this time?

Since after becoming famous, the careers of Stephen Chow and Tony Leung Chiu-wai did not seem to overlap much, and both of them are taciturn in character, so ordinary viewers rarely get specific details from the two. However, from the subsequent achievements of the two people, as well as the details revealed by Stephen Chow in "The King of Comedy", the audience will find that Tony Leung had no chance to help Stephen Chow in that situation. With Stephen Chow's character and his pursuit of making movies, he would not ask Tony Leung for so-called help.

Through "The King of Comedy", we can see that Stephen Chow's biggest problem when he was playing a small role was that his acting concept was simply incompatible with the mainstream Hong Kong film industry at the time. As for Stephen Chow himself, he is not willing to bow to reality. In terms of form, he accommodates everyone, including the "leaders", directors, and photographers who perform small roles. Although Stephen Chow showed the most humble attitude when facing these people, deep down in his heart, he always insisted on his professionalism for movies. At this time, what Stephen Chow longed for was not Stephen Chow's personal recognition, he longed for What is most important is that the professional film spirit deep in his heart has been recognized. When we understand Stephen Chow's appeal and inner situation, we can easily analyze why Tony Leung, who was a child and a good friend, did not help Stephen Chow.

Before becoming famous and entering the entertainment industry, the friendship between Stephen Chow and Tony Leung was very simple. Like all childhood friends in the world, what drives them in everything is their congenial nature. Therefore, the mutual understanding between Stephen Chow and Tony Leung was obviously deeper than that of their other friends in the entertainment industry. So when Tony Leung realized that Stephen Chow was in such a situation, all he could do was to quietly watch the movements of his good friend Stephen Chow from a distance as a distant observer. Because although Tony Leung had become famous at the time, he was just an actor and he did not have the ability to change the entire environment of the Hong Kong film industry. What he can do is actually the same as Stephen Chow, maintain a positive attitude, work hard to be himself from a distance, and also bless his former friends.

Judging from the subsequent achievements of Stephen Chow and Tony Leung, their childhood relationship did have a mutual influence. You must know that their achievements in Chinese-language films are second to none. Tony Leung has become a well-known actor who shines in the international film industry, and Stephen Chow has become the eternal "King of Comedy" in Chinese-language films. They started their respective film careers in the late 1980s and early 1990s. After 10 years of development, they reached the peak of their respective careers at the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century.

After accumulating during the TVB period, Tony Leung began to try to enter the film industry in 1985. This choice was a common routine for many Hong Kong TV actors at that time. Those who had the same experience as him also chose him Andy Lau is regarded as a "thorn in the side". Once in a variety show, Andy Lau was asked the question "Who will you save first when Tony Leung or Chow Yun-fat fall into the river?" He hilariously replied "I won't save anyone. Without these two people, I have to How many movie stars there are." Although it was a joke, it can be seen how handy Tony Leung is in winning the Best Actor Award.

Tony Leung's film career is not limited to Hong Kong. In his early days as a film actor, he also collaborated with Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao-hsien. The two collaborated on works such as "Sad City" and "Flowers of the Sea" respectively. What really made a qualitative change in Tony Leung's acting career was his collaboration with Wong Kar-wai. Through a long shot at the end of Wong Kar-wai's masterpiece "Days of Being Wild", the audience saw Tony Leung's potential. In addition to changing Tony Leung, the film also changed Leslie Cheung.

Later, Tony Leung won the second best actor crown at Cannes in the history of Chinese films after Ge You because of his starring role in Wong Kar-wai's "In the Mood for Love".

In addition to this international best actor award-winning experience, Tony Leung is also the record holder for the number of Hong Kong Film Awards Best Actor awards. Since his filming, he has won a total of 5 Hong Kong Film Awards Best Actor awards. . Four of the works are from Wong Kar-wai, and the other is "Infernal Affairs", which is known as the pinnacle of Hong Kong films. The other male lead in "Infernal Affairs" is Andy Lau. It's no wonder that Andy Lau expressed his emotion in the show, "How can you be brilliant when you are already good?"

When talking about the comparison between Tony Leung and Stephen Chow, many people will say that the two have different styles. Stephen Chow is good at "nonsensical" comedies, while Tony Leung is better at literary films. In fact, Tony Leung has also tried comedy, and the sausage-mouthed Ouyang Feng he played in director Liu Zhenwei's "East and West" is also a classic image in Hong Kong movies, and this classic image was later used by Stephen Chow in "Kung Fu" imitated. What really pushed Stephen Chow to greatness was also the collaboration between Stephen Chow and Liu Chunwei. The film "Westward Journey" they collaborated with in the 1990s is the pinnacle of "nonsensical" comedy that is difficult to surpass in Chinese films. . For a period of time, this work was also dubbed a masterpiece of "postmodern"ism.

A large part of the reason why Stephen Chow was able to catch up from behind and surpass Tony Leung in popularity and recognition came from why Tony Leung did not help Stephen Chow back then. As good friends, they have no obvious conflicts or intersections in their careers, so their relationship in the film industry cannot be said to be opposition or competition. Judging from the details of Stephen Chow recommending Tony Leung to the interview training class, they have definitely had a profound exchange of attitudes about movies before. Although they do not judge their success or failure based on their career situation, deep down in their hearts, they must have had a secret rivalry. process. Their rivalry is not malicious or worldly. Their rivalry is about cherishing each other as friends, blessing each other as confidants, and using movies as a standard of life ideals to measure their respective respect for life and life.

It is their respective respect for movies and their indifference to their friendship that make them achieve extraordinary achievements in their respective film fields. Tony Leung Chiu-wai's best actor was given a soft hand, and Stephen Chow is a Chinese film wizard known as "one best actor a year, Stephen Chow for a hundred years". So if we really want to say whose film achievement is greater between the two, objectively speaking, it is difficult to draw a conclusion from different perspectives. But Zhou Youjun collected the opinions of netizens and most of them still think that Stephen Chow is superior. The main reason for this evaluation is that Stephen Chow has a more comprehensive and thorough understanding of movies. In addition to being an excellent actor, he is also an excellent director and screenwriter. Tony Leung, on the other hand, only focused on acting.

Although the two people have experienced different development processes in the film industry, it is gratifying that the two souls full of ideals, watching each other, have used practical actions and spent their lives to practice their ideals. their childhood movie dream. Let's use Tony Leung Chiu-wai's line in "The Grandmaster" to summarize the film careers of the two people - "If you never forget it, there will be echoes."