The chief director of "Journey to the West" Yang Jie once described the Tang monk played by Xu Shaohua as 'dignified, beautiful, and unrestrained. During the filming, Xu Shaohua left the crew in desperation because he was studying in college, leaving deep regrets to the audience, and even caused a big discussion about 'going to school or acting is more important'.
But this well-known thing has changed because of a cheap lie of Ma Dehua, the actor of "Journey to the West". Ma Dehua said that Xu Shaohua left the crew because he was dissatisfied with his salary that was 5 yuan lower than other leading actors, not the academic reason that the audience thought. So what was the truth about Xu Shaohua's departure from the "Journey to the West" crew?
At that time, CCTV was preparing to shoot four famous novels, and allocated 79.5 million yuan for "Three Kingdoms" and 7 million yuan for "A Dream of Red Mansions", but only 2 million yuan for "Journey to the West", which was the most difficult to film. The original remake was successful. At that time, many people persuaded Yang Jie to give up, but director Yang Jie was stubborn and wanted to prove to everyone that even with only 2 million yuan, she could still produce top-notch works.
Later, with the assistance of many parties, Yang Jie successfully completed the shooting task. One videographer and one video camera traveled all over most of China, and finally completed this work after all kinds of hardships. The number of replays of Journey to the West More than 3,000 times, breaking the Guinness Book of Records. At that time, Sun Wukong found Liu Xiaolingtong, the son of Zhejiang Shao Opera master Liu Lingtong, Zhu Bajie found Ma Dehua from the Northern Kunqu Opera House, and Sha Seng found Yan Huaili, a drama actor from Beijing Renyi. 'The Tang Monk actor has changed three people successively. The three people are - Wang Yue, Xu Shaohua and Chi Chongrui.
The first Tang monk Yang Jie found was Wang Yue, a student from Beijing Film Academy. For Wang Yue, who is still a student, it is a very rare opportunity to receive the invitation of Yang Jie, the director of CCTV's "Journey to the West" crew. At that time, Wang Yue also shaved his hair for better shooting, put on monk clothes, and lived in Fayuan Temple in Beijing for a while. It is because of his observation and experience that he is closer to the Tang monk in the original work, both physically and psychologically. Later, Wang Yue filmed some clips one after another, but during the filming, Wang Yue received an invitation to make a movie. At that time, Wang Yue thought that making a movie was more promising, so he resolutely submitted his resignation to the crew. But unfortunately, the movie was not released later, and he did not become popular.
Although Yang Jie made a reservation, it was still to no avail, so he urgently found Xu Shaohua, the second Tang monk actor, to come to the rescue. At that time, Xu Shaohua was well-known to the audience because of the movie "Essential Change", and because of his handsome appearance, he was called "China's No. 1 Niche" by Hong Kong media. With a standard face of an ancient handsome man, he has captured Tang Seng's dignified, gentle and refined very well. He is also the actor who best fits Tang Seng's imagination in the audience's heart, but Xu Shaohua regretted his resignation after only 8 episodes. At that time, Xu Shaohua was admitted to the Shandong Academy of Arts, saying that he wanted to focus on his studies and did not want to delay filming for too long. In the end, the actors had to be replaced again.
When Yang Jie was suffering as the actor of Tang Seng, he met Chi Chongrui from the Broadcasting Art Troupe, so he invited Chi Chongrui to play the role of Tang Seng. Chi Chongrui has followed director Yang Jie unswervingly since then. There were no replacements after the filming of the TV series. Because of this, Chi Chongrui has also become Yang Jie's most admired actor, so almost all of the series of activities related to the 86 edition of "Journey to the West" were attended by Chi Chongrui.
Xu Shaohua's departure was thought by all audiences to be due to academic reasons, but Ma Dehua, who played Zhu Bajie, revealed in a show that he had been hidden for 30 years. At that time, due to the shortage of funds and the serious shortage of actors, it was often one person who held multiple roles but received a pitiful salary. It was precisely because of the low salary that there were more discord among the crew members.
When filming "Daughter's Country", most of them were literary dramas, so Xu Shaohua's role was very important, but at that time Xu Shaohua's salary was 10 yuan less than Liu Xiaolingtong and Ma Dehua, Xu Shaohua was dissatisfied and found Yang Jie's theory , but Yang Jie went to say 'how can you compare with them, how much they have to suffer for sticking masks? ’ So after some quarrel, Yang Jie reluctantly agreed to give Xu Shaohua a five-dollar increase, but it was still five yuan less than the two’s salary. Xu Shaohua left the crew together and went back to school.
But this interview was finally picked up by netizens because Ma Dehua wanted to draw attention to a fabricated lie. Later, Li Hongchang, the associate producer of "Journey to the West", and Wei Huili, who played 'Miss Gao', also confronted Ma Dehua in person, saying, ' Xu Shaohua became very wealthy after finishing the Hong Kong film "Fine Change" in 1983. Can he resign for a mere 5 yuan? Your slanderous words and behind-the-scenes rumors are too much! ’ Ma Dehua could only sneer at this, ‘I’m talking nonsense, just be a fart! '
In fact, as long as you understand the shooting background at the time, you will know that Ma Dehua's rumors are untenable. At that time, Liu Xiaolingtong was just a student of a certain opera troupe in Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province. Ma Dehua was just a small group performer in the Beijing Kunqu Opera Troupe. Performing small roles in dramas.Relatively speaking, Xu Shaohua had already skyrocketed because of the filming of the movie "Essential Change", and Xu Shaohua was also regarded by Hong Kong media as "the first niche student in mainland China" because of "Essential Change".
And Xu Shaohua's resignation at the beginning has always been a matter of regret for everyone. Later, in the autobiography of the cast and director, this matter was not mentioned, especially director Yang Jie, who even mentioned Ma Dehua in his autobiography If Xu Shaohua really resigned from the role of Tang Seng because of 5 yuan, how could she not mention it at all?
Because Xu Shaohua has always been relatively low-key, he seldom gives interviews to the media, but every time he is asked about the feeling of filming "Journey to the West", Xu Shaohua is always grateful and said, "Participating in "Journey to the West" is my whole life. Greatest honor! ''The "Journey to the West" crew, with so many old artists and big names, are not afraid of hardships, they don't care about personal gains and losses, they are dedicated to making good shows and are willing to devote themselves to art. I benefit for life. ' It can also be seen that he did not fall out with the drama because of the 5 yuan salary.
But when it comes to the three Tang Monk actors, the future development is quite dramatic. At that time, Wang Yue resigned from "Journey to the West" to make a movie, but later the movie was not released. Wang Yue also failed to become popular, so he returned to China. He worked as a part-time teacher in the Academy of Chinese Opera. Although he also made a lot of film and television dramas later, his influence did not surpass that of "Journey to the West". The last Tang Seng actor almost became the spokesperson of Tang Seng. Later, he quit the circle for love and married Chen Lihua, the richest woman who was 11 years older than him. After marriage, he followed in his wife's footsteps and went into business. Now he is worth over 10 billion. .
And Xu Shaohua is even more dramatic. Last year, he was photographed in the appearance of a Tang monk in various small cities to make money. As a national first-class actor, Xu Shaohua's current situation is inevitably regrettable, but it can be seen that Xu Shaohua, who loves to do public welfare, goes It's not all about the money. Maybe he just used this method to fulfill his acting dream.
What would you like to say about the current situation of the three Tang monks?
