Text by Qiye
Editor by Qi Ye
On July 2nd, another superstar in the Hong Kong film industry died. The famous Hong Kong director Law Kai-yui passed away due to illness at the age of 70.
They are the youth of a generation, the memories of a generation, and a symbol of an era in the Chinese entertainment industry.
Although they have passed away now, their stories and "hard work" will always be passed down to the world.
Luo Qirui
Luo Qirui was born in Hong Kong, China, in 1952. He grew up living on Wynn Street, where countless people from the bottom of Hong Kong gathered.
Luo Qirui
During that period, although Luo Qirui's family's financial conditions were not wealthy and their environment was not as good as it is today, the days when his family lived together when he was young were the most unforgettable and nostalgic memories in his heart.
So much so that when he recalled it later, he said with emotion:
"The 1960s and 1970s were not only a very important era for Hong Kong to start developing and become active, but also for him personally. Many things in his life were The first time 'happened during this period'.
After graduating from high school, Luo Qirui originally wanted to study a film-related major, but at that time there was no university in Hong Kong offering such a major. In desperation, he chose the English Department of the University of Hong Kong.
Although this was very different from his original intention, he never thought that it would turn out to be a mistake and become a great help for him on the road to film.
During college, Luo Qirui was busy with professional courses, but he did not give up on his dream of becoming a filmmaker.
As the saying goes, love will eventually reverberate and hard work will eventually pay off. Not long after graduating from university, Luo Qirui was successfully admitted to the film department of New York University.
This seemed to be happy news, and he was finally taking the first step to pursue his dream. However, Luo Qirui did not feel relaxed at all at that time, because there was a very practical problem standing in front of him - did not money .
Studying abroad, no matter what era in China, many families cannot afford the cost, and the film Luo Qirui wants to study is a very expensive "art major", which undoubtedly makes his family not wealthy. Adding insult to injury.
As a member of the family, Luo Qirui naturally knew that his family could not afford for him to study abroad, but this did not stop him from pursuing his dream.
When he had no money, he worked part-time to save money. He worked as a bank clerk and in the advertising industry. After successfully going abroad, he also worked part-time and never asked for money from his family.
For an ordinary person who has no family background or financial support to go abroad to pursue his dream, this process must be very difficult and ups and downs.
Despite this, Luo Qirui has never thought of shrinking back and returning to China.
Perhaps it is because he is very firm about the goals he has set in his heart, or perhaps it is because he has met a like-minded life partner, Zhang Wanting.
Zhang Wanting
If you ask Luo Qirui what gives him the most sense of accomplishment in his life, in addition to his own works, his answer will definitely include the words Zhang Wanting.
Both are in a foreign country, both are at New York University , both are pursuing movie dreams, and they are both Chinese. Luo Qirui and Zhang Wanting got along very happily when they first met, and they soon became friends. Inseparable good friends, intimate lovers.
1981 was the first year the two met, and it was also the time when Luo Qirui directed his first TV series "Farewell My Concubine" .
When seeing this name, the first thing many people think of must be the movie version of "Farewell My Concubine" played by Leslie Cheung , but in fact, the version shot by director Luo Qirui was earlier than the movie, and even got 9.2 on a certain platform. super high rating.
In addition, people in the industry also praised this work. Among them, producer, producer, and film critic Tan Fei once commented:
"He is a person who knows Chinese traditional culture very well, so his works There is an Eastern style of delicate pursuit of human nature."
Tan Fei
It can be seen that the drama version of "Farewell My Concubine" will definitely be no less exciting than the movie version.
Since officially entering the film and television industry through the filming of "Farewell My Concubine", Luo Qirui has become famous in the industry.
Unlike him, Zhang Wanting entered this circle with her graduation work, the feature film "Illegal Immigration ".
In this work, Zhang Wanting serves as the director, and Luo Qirui and another classmate are the screenwriters. Since it is a personal low-cost production and does not have a lot of funds, the three of them worked together on the front and back of the film.
thought this was just a simple graduation work. However, to the surprise of Zhang Wanting and others, "Illegal Immigration" was bought for HK$5 million and was successfully released in 1985.
What is even more unexpected is that Zhang Wanting also won the 5th Hong Kong Film Awards Best Director Award .
Although Zhang Wanting never thought of becoming a film director at first, her talent and hard work in film can be seen from her graduation works and her subsequent cooperation with Luo Qirui. After
returned to China, the two co-created many classic works, such as "Autumn Fairy Tale", " Seven Little Blessings ", " Thieves of Time ", "City of Glass" and other emotionally moving movies.
Among them, the movie "Seven Little Fortunes" can be said to have made Luo Qirui famous. Not only did the film win many awards in the film industry, he also personally won the Best Screenplay Award at the 8th Hong Kong Film Awards and the Most Best Director Award and other awards.
At the same time, Zhang Wanting also became famous in the Hong Kong film circle with these films, and became a popular director and screenwriter.
In addition, the two have also collaborated with many film and television superstars, such as Sammo Hung , Cheng Peipei , Lin Zhengying , Chow Yun-fat , Andy Lau , Anita Mui , Sandra Ng , Simon Yam , etc. wait.
Among them, for Simon Yam, director Luo Qirui is one of the most important talents in his acting career, and he is also his mentor.
When he suddenly learned that Luo Qirui had passed away, Simon Yam found it difficult to accept the news. Later, he even posted a long text on social platforms to express his condolences for the teacher.
"My teacher taught me love and respect for my family, my career, and my life. I will take this persistence and vitality and continue to love the career we love. Time has stolen the past, but friendship and friendship cannot be stolen." Memory, teacher, go all the way."
On the road of film and television creation, Luo Qirui has been very productive in the industry for more than 40 years. Each of his works always brings a unique and novel look and feel to people, and it is easy to resonate with the audience.
The core of his plays is often the changes in the identity of male and female lovers, the gap and the inner feelings that can never forget their love. Although they mock human nature, they are limited to tender criticism.
In addition to small aspects of life such as love between men and women and family emotions, he will also expand the scope, trying to use an epic pattern to interpret the impact of the times on personal destiny.
uses movies to tell the changes of people and human nature in the long history from all angles and levels. This is probably Luo Qirui's lifelong pursuit of the goal in the film industry.
In the movie "Thieves of Time", Luo Qirui wrote such a classic line.
"You have to believe in something throughout your life, so that you can keep going one step at a time, one step at a time." This is the advice he gave to younger generations, and it is also the truth he has practiced throughout his life.
Ni Kuang
On the day after it was reported that Luo Qirui passed away due to illness, writer Shen Xicheng posted "Brother Ni left at noon" , which once again shocked everyone who had not yet calmed down.
At first, many people didn’t know who Shen Xicheng was talking about, until Hong Kong media reported that international superstar Jackie Chan then issued a message to express his condolences,
"I just learned that Senior Ni Kuang has also left. The Hong Kong talent in our hearts represents an era. I miss you so much."
Only then did everyone know that it was Ni Kuang, an old man who was known as the Four Great Talents in Hong Kong along with Jin Yong, Huang Zhan and Chua Lam7, who passed away.
Most young people today probably don’t know Ni Kuang, but a large number of them must have seen his creations, " Blue Blood Man ", " Six-Finger Piano Demon " , etc., and you should also listen to them One of his pen names was "Wesley" .
In addition to these, he also wrote the serialization of " Tian Long Ba Bu " on behalf of Teacher Jin Yong. In the novel, Azi 's eyes were "blinded" by him.
At that time, Jin Yong had to go to Europe for several months due to certain matters and did not have time to update "Dragon Babu", so he found Ni Kuang, who was writing in the office of "Ming Pao Monthly", to ghostwrite it.
Jin Yong told him to "play whatever you want, but don't write down the characters in the book" .
Later in the writing process, Ni Kuang disliked Ah Zi's paranoia, but he suffered from the original author Jin Yong's instructions not to write the character to death, so he disabled Ah Zi in desperation.
Speaking of this, some people may wonder why Jin Yong casually handed over his painstaking creation to Ni Kuang to write.
First of all, if you carefully understand Ni Kuang's life and works, you will find that his creative level and imagination are difficult for countless writers to achieve in their lifetimes.
Even Jin Yong sometimes feels ashamed. He once commented on Ni Kuang:
"The infinite universe, endless time and space, infinite possibilities, and the eternal contradiction between the impermanent life are woven from this head."
And long before Jin Yong asked Ni Kuang to ghostwrite "The Eight Parts of the Dragon", Ni Kuang started writing martial arts novels in 1958, including "The Black Heroine Mulan" and "The Six-Fingered Piano Demon" .
These two novels were deeply loved by book fans at the time, and their sales were increasing day by day. As a result, Ni Kuang's royalties increased from ten yuan per thousand words to one thousand yuan per thousand words.
writer Shen Xicheng once said frankly about this, "Hong Kong's famous writers' royalties, Ni Kuang said he was second, no one dared to claim first." , such high royalties were considered the "ceiling" level of in that era.
Furthermore, perhaps for most creators, it is a blessing in life to find a like-minded and close friend who is equally matched.
This is exactly the case for Jin Yong and Ni Kuang. They met through words and made friends through articles. Later, the two became close friends with decades of friendship.
Based on this, it is not surprising that Jin Yong would give "The Eight Parts of the Dragon" to Ni Kuang to ghostwrite it.
However, there is one thing about Ni Kuang that is worthy of surprise, that is, his writing path is completely self-taught, and his writing range is particularly wide-ranging.
In addition to his initial martial arts novels, Ni Kuang has also dabbled in detective, science fiction, gods and monsters, martial arts, romance, etc. Among them, the science fiction genres he wrote are particularly popular.
In 1962, with the encouragement of Jin Yong, Ni Kuang began to write the "Wesley" series of novels under the pen name "Wesley", and "Blue Blood Man" is one of this series.
There are a total of 145 Wesley novels in the series, and the total word count of his science fiction works exceeds 80 million words. It can be said that he has led the science fiction trend for thirty years.
"Blue Bloods" was successfully selected into 's "Top 100 Chinese Novels of the 20th Century" in 2000, becoming Ni Kuang's masterpiece of science fiction novels, and he was therefore called the "originator of science fiction" .
Although science fiction is one of Ni Kuang's many creations, science fiction is his signature, but Ni Kuang once admitted that he actually only had a little knowledge of science fiction, and even went to the "Children's Encyclopedia" to find information when he had no inspiration.
It was precisely because of the lack of relevant knowledge that Ni Kuang made a common-sense mistake in his writing. One of the plots was "Wesley fell into the 'Antarctic' and killed a ' white bear '."
Some readers specifically pointed out, "Where are the white bears in Antarctica? There are only penguins in Antarctica."
Then Ni Kuang wrote two sentences in large font in the newspaper column, "First, there are no white bears in Antarctica, and second, there is no Wesley in the world."
"Wesley" is originally a science fiction novel, and science fiction literally means science fantasy. It is entirely possible that it does not follow the changing laws of the earth today. After all, there are all kinds of wonders in the vast universe, and everything is possible.
In addition to writing novels, Ni Kuang has also created more than 400 movie scripts, mostly kung fu and martial arts films.
's representative works include " The One-Armed Knife" directed by Chang Cheh , and the kung fu film " Fist of Fury " he participated in in 1972. He specially created the classic character " Chen Zhen" specifically for Bruce Lee. image.
Although this film is very old, it successfully aroused a martial arts craze at the time and allowed foreigners to once again see the power of Chinese Kung Fu .
Like Luo Qirui, Ni Kuang has always been a "high-productivity expert" in and since his creation.
He claimed to have "written seven days a week, and wrote tens of thousands of words every day. His highest record was 4,500 words an hour."
Perhaps this sentence comes from other people and is bragging, but it is very appropriate for Ni Kuang.
friend Cai Lam commented on Ni Kuang, saying that he is a writing machine, "Ni Kuang is not a human, he is an alien" . In addition, he has also written serials for 12 media at the same time. He said that who can dare to compete with such high-quality writing speed? Competing, it is easy to tell the highest record of my writing.
As a writer, Ni Kuang is undoubtedly very successful, but as a husband and father in a family, he went through a period of disqualification.
Perhaps it was because he was young and inexperienced, or perhaps it was fame and money that made him start to "get carried away" and let himself go.
Even though he had a family, Ni Kuang went to various places of entertainment and entertainment without any taboos. During this period, there were many scandals, and he himself did not shy away from telling the media many times about his past affairs during interviews. history.
At this time, Ni Kuang was completely unaware of how much impact his behavior as a father would have on his children, so much so that his son Ni Zhen has now become a famous "playboy" in the entertainment industry.
Ni Zhen
But fortunately, the "prodigal son" also has a time to look back. In 1992, Ni Kuang decided to immigrate to San Francisco, United States with Li Guozhen to live with his wife.
Later, in 2004, after Ni Kuang finished writing the chapter of "Only Old Friends", he finally decided to put an end to "Wesley". He said that "his 'writing quota' has been exhausted, and announced that he would officially close the book.
If Ni Kuang's creative career in the second half of his life was extremely brilliant, and the first half of his life can really be described as "legendary".
mentioned before that Ni Kuang became a monk halfway through literary creation because he had a firm determination in his heart at the age of 16. Revolutionary ideal.
In 1951, in order to pursue his dream, Ni Kuang dropped out of school and left home, and went north to train for three months at the East China People's Revolutionary University. This school was established to train the police force and revolutionary cadres in New China.
Later he joined the Chinese People's Liberation Army and the public security police, and also participated in land reform and governance projects of the Huaihe River. Finally, he went to Inner Mongolia to reclaim wasteland.
This sounds like a very difficult job, but Ni Kuang, who is full of revolutionary passion, does not feel hard at all. On the contrary, he has been working diligently and performed very well.
If there are no changes later, there may be no so-called "Hong Kong's Four Talents" now.
It was the coldest winter since Ni Kuang arrived in Inner Mongolia. Due to the severe shortage of fuel necessary for daily life, in order to survive, Ni Kuang and his teammates dismantled a nearby wooden bridge and used it as firewood.
said it was a wooden bridge, but in fact it was just a few wooden boards temporarily placed between the river ditches. Originally, they wanted to build a new, strong bridge over time.
But I never thought that because of this incident, the secretary of his work unit, who had always had problems with him before, firmly believed that he was disrupting traffic, convicted him of "counterrevolutionary" , and was placed under house arrest in isolation for several months.
After this incident, it was natural that Ni Kuang could no longer stay in Inner Mongolia, so Ni Kuang followed his friend's advice and "escaped" on horseback overnight, and successfully smuggled himself to Hong Kong in July 1957.
Since then, he began his creative career.
html After years of hard work, Ni Kuang finally won the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 31st Hong Kong Film Awards in April 2012.Ni Kuang is a man who loves his life but does not care about it. He knows that he has dozens of problems, big and small. Doctors have also suggested that he be hospitalized, but he chose to refuse and even joked "It's okay to live over 60 years old." Make money, and die together with the pain." .
He even wrote a good epitaph for himself early on, "Think more about my good things during my lifetime, and don't talk about my bad things after my death."
Both Luo Qirui and Ni Kuang had ups and downs in the first half of their lives, but smooth and brilliant second half of their lives.
The difference is that Luo Qirui suffered from not having a good family condition, while Ni Kuang can be said to have reached a fork in the road in life and encountered obstacles.
No matter what the situation was, they finally realized their ideals with their own hands and created their own "legend".
