Chapter 206 - Thoughts on Kung Fu

The negotiation ended unhappily, when he came out, Ecks complained that Lin Mingyang shouldn't have spoken so harshly, so that the other Gusta didn't even have a step to take, but Lin Mingyang shook his head, he knew that Gusta would definitely come back to him again.

As expected, three days later, someone came to the door, although Lin Mingyang's heart was prepared, but this time Gustav found a lobbyist to the head of the big, really let Lin Mingyang ate a shock.

As soon as they met Lin Ming Yang froze there, Jackie Chan laughed, he turned his head to Jet Li beside him and said jokingly, "Look Mr. Li, I told you that you're a bigger deal than I am, when A-Ming and I met for the first time, there wasn't this kind of excitement on his face."

Jet Li smiled faintly, "Big Brother Cheng is joking, Mr. Felix is so famous in Hollywood, dating stars even bigger than us, how could he be excited just because he met me?"

"Don't be polite, you two big brothers, both of you are big stars that I look up to, I was inevitably a bit surprised when they suddenly appeared together today, it made you two laugh!" A mouthful of Chinese accent from Lin Ming Yang this "foreigner" mouth, actually did not have a trace of sound and color abruptly, Jackie Chan not to mention, Jet Li is the first time to listen to Lin Ming Yang speak Chinese, naturally it is doubly affectionate.

After simple pleasantries, Jackie Chan waved at the two, smilingly said: "We sit down and chat!"

After taking his seat, Jackie Chan did not open the door to his intentions, but instead chatted with Lin Ming Yang, "Ah Ming, I haven't had a chance to congratulate you yet, after not seeing you for two years, you won two Oscar trophies in one breath. It's really a man for a man, when I was your age, I was still working as a stand-in actor in Hong Kong!"

Hearing Jackie Chan compare him to himself, Lin Ming Yang was secretly ashamed in his heart, he smiled modestly, "Just a fluke!"

Lin Mingyang's performance were aside Jet Li saw in the eyes, he and many Hollywood movie star cooperation, on the fame of those who certainly can not be compared to in Hollywood as the days of Lin Mingyang, but those people's frame of mind than Lin Mingyang to be much bigger, after the two comparisons, his heart to Lin Mingyang more and more good feeling.

Three people, Lin Mingyang and Jackie Chan previously known, chatting about a variety of topics on a lot less constraints, and Jet Li, after all, and Lin Mingyang just recognized, chatting he just occasionally inserted a sentence or two, the whole person appears to be more silent and reserved.

"The topics of interest to both sides soon finished chatting, Jet Li saw that the time was ripe, so he made a wink towards Jackie Chan.

Jackie Chan nodded knowingly, which was ready to showdown with Lin Ming Yang: "Ah Ming, in fact, we came here this time..."

"For King of Kung Fu?" Lin Ming Yang said in one word, Jackie Chan was fine, but Jet Li was astonished.

Looking at the two's confused expressions, Lin Ming Yang smiled and explained, "Other than that movie, what else could have made the two of you join forces? Lionsgate approached me before, and what makes me curious is that their partner is named J&J, I wonder if this company..."

"This company is the company that Mr. Li and I set up as a joint venture." Since Lin Ming Yang had asked, Jackie Chan immediately confirmed the matter.

Lin Ming Yang nodded, "So that's how it is!"

Jet Li attached great importance to this collaboration, and as soon as the words fell from Lin Ming Yang's side, he couldn't wait to ask, "So Mr. Felix has already read the script of that film?"

"I haven't read the script, but the general plot is clear to me!" Lin Ming Yang looked at Jackie Chan and Jet Li with a frank gaze, "To be honest, I don't think highly of that script!"

Jumping to conclusions without even reading the script, if this were to come out of someone else's mouth, Jackie Chan and Jet Li would have scoffed, and would have even felt that the person who said this was a bit arrogant and conceited, but these words came out of Lin Ming Yang's mouth, but Jackie Chan and Jet Li fell into a deep state of contemplation.

Who was Lin Mingyang? Winner of the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, the cumulative box office created by his screenplay has already exceeded 5 billion dollars, his screenplay and himself, are the guarantee of the box office of Hollywood blockbusters, or else Lionsgate, the American partner of the King of Kung Fu this time around, would not have gone to such lengths to try to invite him to join the movie.

So far, Lin Mingyang has not once missed, his comments are equal to directly declare the failure of the film, the original still full of confidence Jackie Chan and Jet Li, all of a sudden feel that the prospects of the film has become gray.

While Jackie Chan was secretly calculating the pros and cons of this collaboration, Jet Li was a bit reluctant, he opened his mouth and asked, "Mr. Felix, which parts of the script are not well written, can you be more specific?"

"Just call Mr. Li Felix, no need to be so polite!" Lin Ming Yang shrugged, "You can tell that the person behind the scenes planning this movie does have a familiar understanding and in-depth research of the history of kung fu movies in Hong Kong. Out of the planner's sincerity towards Hong Kong kung fu movies, and the fact that you two kung fu superstars of the Chinese world are finally able to have a painful fight in the same movie, I can give it a passing grade!"

"But the rather cluttered lines and lack of originality and imagination leave the story with nothing more to commend it than a very painful mishmash of oriental mythology and Hong Kong kung fu movie samples. The storytelling construct itself in "King of Kung Fu" is entirely Western, complete with a boy growing up through an adventure. There are weirdos, mentors, beautiful women, and facile villains in the process. It's fair to say that this is very flat imagery, a template depicted against video games and children's stories. The crowd's treasure hunt and the presence of the Five Fingers are also very reminiscent of the Lord of the Rings, and the scripted story is more magical than mythologically aware and flaunts its alien imprint at all times."

This meticulous analysis made Jet Li nod his head repeatedly, but Lin Mingyang didn't leave him much time to think as he continued:

"In reality, this movie is very much like most of the half-baked products that came off the assembly line in Hong Kong in the 1980s, with good lines but no good chapters. There are still a lot of shiny spots that can be pondered when you walk out of the movie theater, but unfortunately, it's a mediocre piece of work in terms of both the pace of the whole film and the overall story. Foreign audiences haven't seen many kung fu movies, so there's a sense of novelty for sure, but Chinese audiences are so picky that they won't be too surprised. If you two could have joined forces 15 years ago, and if Hong Kong director Tsui Hark had the heart to make this movie, wouldn't everything have been on a higher level?"

These words made Jackie Chan and Jet Li froze at the same time, when they thought about it this was indeed a pity.

Seeing their gloomy looks, Lin Ming Yang said with some emotion, "For me, I actually came to see 'King of Kung Fu' with anticipation and emotion, but also with regret and regret at the same time. All the fans of kung fu and martial arts movies have been waiting for this one for many years, and the higher everyone's expectations, the greater the disappointment will be!"

Jackie Chan interjected at this time, "Do you think this movie is likely to be a mess if it follows this script?"

Lin Ming Yang shook his head, "On the contrary, if this movie is made according to this script now, a big hit is impossible, just based on the two of you, this movie will be able to recoup its costs and even make a small profit in North America, but it's hard to say about China. The audience over there spends money to walk into the movie theater, and then see an unorthodox movie, what will they think?"

Jet Li was silent, but Jackie Chan suddenly asked, "If we ask you to be the screenwriter of this movie, how would you write it?"

Jet Li's eyes lit up. 15 years ago, Jackie Chan and Jet Li, who were only casual acquaintances, conceived of working together, but the local movie couldn't afford to pay two big stars, so it was postponed until this moment. American producers are wary of Chinese costume films, although Jackie Chan and Jet Li hold some say, but this collaboration has Lionsgate's say on the director and script.

Jackie Chan's proposal made Jet Li think of another possibility, if Lin Mingyang joined the movie and then offered to rewrite the script, how would Lionsgate react? Other actors Jet Li is not clear, Lin Mingyang is a "former" actor, he joined the movie and then proposed to modify the script is not once or twice, and the screenwriter is not well-known compared to the Lionsgate is probably more willing to accommodate the Hollywood star.

"In your two minds, what should this movie be like?"

Lin Mingyang's tone was a bit vague, but Jackie Chan still saw hope in it, and he quickly said, "Naturally, it's a kung fu movie, it's impossible for the two of us to get together and make a sci-fi movie, right?"

"The two of you have done quite a few movies in Hollywood, but which of them can be considered a real kung fu movie?"

Lin Mingyang's heartbreaking question made Jackie Chan and Jet Li's eyes appear blank, whether it was Jackie Chan's Peak Hour series, or Jet Li's series of movies in Hollywood, although they all showed their athletic and courageous hands, but in the true sense, these are not considered kung fu movies. There is no such thing as a kung fu movie in Hollywood, and most of the films Jackie Chan and Jet Li have appeared in have been labeled as action movies.

"Kung fu is what Westerners call it, and I know Chinese people prefer to talk about martial arts, but Westerners don't care about that. In their eyes, if there are still movies in China, then 'kung fu' must be the only theme," he says.In the 10 years between 1994 and 2004, among the top 10 Asian movies that made it to the top of the box office in the U.S., the No. 1 movie was Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon in 2000, which pushed to $128.1 million, and the No. 2 movie was Jet Li in 2004, starring his big brother, Hero, which made it to the top. The second is 2004's Hero, starring Jet Li, with $50 million, and the third is 1996's Red Band, starring Jackie Chan, with $32.4 million, all three of which are kung fu movies. You guys have acted in so many kung fu movies, in fact, I would like to know what exactly is kung fu?"

Lin Mingyang's question seemed a bit inexplicable, but actually asking it made both Jackie Chan and Jet Li in a difficult position, as the term covered a very wide range of content, and they themselves couldn't find a particularly appropriate and accurate explanation. In the face of reporters, they can always talk about this kind of problem, but Lin Mingyang wants is obviously not the kind of coping with the media's pretext.

"In fact, I've been thinking about this myself, and I'm worried that Westerners will be as tired of those old-fashioned martial arts movies, with their bamboo forests, jiuzhaigou, and overused bridges and action, as Hong Kong and mainland audiences are. Although American blockbusters have also been repeating the same formula - ordinary people in special function robes become heroes; the end of the earth always comes easily, all these are due to the insecurity and fragile tolerance of Americans for the heavens to favor them too much, but technologically advanced always let the audience in other countries to forgive the pale stupidity of the story. "

"I feel that when Chinese kung fu movies go international, the ambition should not only be limited to making foreigners clap their hands because of the novelty, but more importantly to make them understand the Chinese culture behind kung fu. If this cannot be done, then kung fu will always remain as a kind of accompaniment in Hollywood. Why did Hong Kong kung fu movies decline? I think the main reason is that after they have interpreted the kung fu movie film form to the extreme, they did not continue to dig deeper into the cultural connotations embedded behind it, which finally led to the decline of the whole genre."

"Jet Li's 'Huo Yuanjia' was released in the U.S. last year when I also watched it, I know that this film in China's local box office results are not inferior to Peter Jackson's 'King Kong', from the point of view of martial arts action, this film in fact, there is no big breakthrough, but why can you get the audience's favor, I think that the essence of the film is still because of the film reflects a kind of Chinese people's I think the essence is that the movie reflects a kind of patriotic spirit of Chinese people, which is the connotation of the whole movie."

"It's really not easy to make a kung fu movie with connotation, and westerners have always lacked sufficient knowledge about the connotation of kung fu, if I were to be the screenwriter of this movie, this is how I would arrange the entire plot." The entire discussion ended up turning into a one-sided narration by Lin Ming Yang, while Jackie Chan and Jet Li forgot to temporarily forget about their original intentions and listened with great interest.

"The whole story is related to a dream!" Lin Ming Yang had actually conceived the entire plot a long time ago: "The protagonist Jason is a college student, this night he had a strange dream, he dreamt that he went to a video store in Chinatown to buy kung fu movie disks, but unfortunately he encountered a robbery, the vicious robbers killed the store owner, Jason was so scared that he hid in the dim warehouse, in the darkness he unintentionally touched a stick, and was then taken to the mythical world of the world, and was then brought to the world of the mythological world. and is then transported to the mythical world of China."

Hearing this, Jet Li couldn't help but have a puzzled expression on his face, the beginning of this story of Lin Ming Yang's and the original play was just a change of form, the substance hadn't changed much. He was just about to open his mouth to ask, but Jackie Chan stopped him with a look.

Lin Ming Yang continued, "In the mythical world of China, Jason was inexplicably hunted down and killed, and then he woke up with a fright! The next day he told the owner of that image store in Chinatown about this strange dream, and the other person laughed at his whimsy. While visiting the warehouse of the video store, Jason found a stick that looked exactly like the one in his dream, and he curiously held the stick in his hand, but the magic didn't happen, and the owner of the store saw that he liked it, so he gave him the stick."

"On the way, Jason meets the gang of punks who often bully him again, and he is humiliated. Jason vowed himself to learn those kung fu in the movie and then teach these bullies a hard lesson."

"After returning home, Jason practiced blindly after Bruce Lee's martial arts moves in the movie, and finally lay down on his bed and fell into a deep sleep. He was back in that dream. Jason narrowly escapes being chased and then meets a character from Chinese mythology: Lu Yan, who is said to be one of the Eight Immortals and is well versed in Drunken Fist, and with his help, he escapes the forces of evil once again."

"Just as Jason begged Lu Yan to teach him kung fu, the dream suddenly woke up. It was already strange for Jason that this dream that could continue over and over again, and then something even stranger happened. A new neighbor moved in across the street from Jason's house, a Chinese man who lived alone and had just immigrated from China. Jason was surprised to find that his neighbor looked exactly like Lu Yan in his dream, even his name was word for word."

"Jason inadvertently saw the other person showing his kung fu hand, and combined with his strange dream, he decided that the other person was a real-life kung fu master, and then began to pester the other person, making sure to make him teach him kung fu. A lot of hilarious and interesting things happened during this period, and after this neighbor of Jason's showed up, he didn't have that dream again for several days, but no matter how much Jason pleaded, the other person just wouldn't agree."

"That night, Jason had continued to enter that dream, in the dream, Lu Yan promised to give him kung fu, just at this time, the silent and mysterious strong silent monk appeared, he told Jason a shocking prophecy: a messenger to return the legendary weapon to its owner, so as to rescue the Qi Tian Da Sheng who was trapped in the stone for five hundred years, and Jason is the prophecy of the messenger."

"Waking up the next morning, Jason is increasingly confused, and when he goes to school, he finds a new teacher at his school who looks exactly like the Silent Monk in his dream. Unlike Lv Yan in reality, Jason found that this new teacher took it upon himself to care about himself. And good news came from Lu Yan's side, who finally agreed to hand him Chinese Kung Fu after Jason's persistent efforts."

"One by one, the characters in his dream appear in Jason's real life. In his dream, he meets a vengeful warrior girl named Jin Yan Zi, and in reality, a Chinese girl who looks exactly like Jin Yan Zi is transferred to his school... At first, Jason thinks that it is the dream that guides him in his real life, but he gradually realizes that the dream is not the same as the reality. "

"In the dream he could easily learn the kung fu that Lu Yan had given him and beat the evil forces' assassins to death, whereas in reality he had learned kung fu for a long time and he hadn't even mastered the basic moves, he couldn't beat the gang of gangsters who bullied him and was made fun of by them. In the dream he grows closer to Golden Swallow, while in reality the Chinese girl ignores him... He gets confused about all this and then starts indulging in dreams as a way to escape reality."

"The silent monk in reality, who is also the new teacher at the school, notices Jason's problem and then takes the initiative to talk to him, he realizes that Jason may be suffering from a form of delusion and then takes the initiative to psychologically counsel Jason."

"With his help, Jason slowly understood the difference between reality and dreams, while Lu Yan also made Jason understand through a series of lessons that the connotation of kung fu is not bullying, but a spirit that inspires inner courage to face life with a positive attitude. Under the combined teachings of the two, Jason finally has the courage to face the reality of life. He defeated the evil strength and helped Qi Tian Da Sheng regain his freedom in the dream world, while in reality he bravely confessed to his beloved girl and used the kung fu he learned to save the gangster who once bullied him, and the other party was touched and then took the initiative to apologize to Jason, and through this dream, he finally understood how he should face all kinds of difficulties in life."