During this year's Shanghai International Film Festival, Donnie Yen was extremely busy: first, he appeared on the red carpet and ceremony of the opening ceremony; in addition, he also participated in the press conference of the new film "Fury·Crime", which will be released on Jul

The Paper reporter Cheng Xiaojun

During this year's Shanghai International Film Festival, Donnie Yen was extremely busy: first, he appeared on the red carpet and ceremony of the opening ceremony; then, as a promotion ambassador, he attended the activities of the "Belt and Road" Film Week; in addition, he also Participated in the press conference of the new work " Fury·Serious Case ", which will be released on July 30 and is also the posthumous work of director Chen Musheng . If there is any activity that can completely relax him, it may be the master class held on the afternoon of June 14.

Hosts Wei Junzi (left) and Donnie Yen

Donnie Yen, who took off the corset suit and dress of the previous few days and came to the master class in a sporty outfit, restored his usual casualness and straightforwardness; facing the professional Wei Junzi, a well-known film critic who studies Hong Kong films, started talking immediately, including his secrets from decades in the industry, who among his collaborators can inspire him the most, his thoughts on action movies, and his personal views on movies. Wait, tell them all one by one.

Donnie Yen

The most subversive thing about my understanding of Donnie Yen is that in the past, I always thought that he was a martial arts fanatic who loved actual combat. But after this conversation, I discovered that he is actually a movie fanatic - his starting point for designing fighting scenes was not The action itself, but the person itself, the question that always lingers in my mind is what kind of action is more appealing to the audience.

Members of the Zhen family Kenji Tanigaki

When they were enjoying their conversation, the two members of the Zhen family who were originally just sitting in the audience as audience - Kenji Tanigaki, the martial arts instructor of "Rurouni Kenshin", and Kenji Tanigaki, who have now come to the stage Actor Yu Kang was also invited to the stage by Donnie Yen to chat about interesting things from the past.

Yen's senior brother Tanigaki Kenji recalled that the two met when Donnie Yen was filming the TV series " Fist of Fury " (1995) directed by Chen Musheng. In his opinion, "The most valuable thing about Dan is that he is not bound by superficial experience and always wants to try new things."

Yu Kang, a member of the Zhen family

Yu Kang, who came from a martial arts background, revealed that the first time the two collaborated was in the film "千机成". He said that filming with Donnie Yen was actually very "painful" because "during the filming, Brother Dan kept pursuing things that we martial artists couldn't do. What impressed me most was that Brother Dan kept telling us, 'I don't want you to have martial arts reactions and postures, I want you to be real.'"

Just before the opening of this year's Shanghai International Film Festival, news spread like wildfire that Donnie Yen would join Keanu Reeves' popular Hollywood action movie series "John Wick". When it comes to accepting roles in Hollywood movies, Donnie Yen, who once deliberately gave up his American citizenship, admitted that he has both persistence and hope. He said, "Every time I take on a role in a Western film, I take it as an opportunity to show the charm of Chinese actors to the world."

[Dialogue]

I never thought about being an actor, but I fell into the industry in a daze.

Wei Junzi: I think we Today’s master class starts with Donnie Yen’s family background. Did your mother have a great influence on you becoming an action actor?

Donnie Yen : It has a certain influence. My mother practiced martial arts since she was a child in mainland China. Her sect is Tai Chi and Bagua Neijiaquan . I was born in Guangzhou, moved to Hong Kong with my family when I was two years old, and immigrated to the United States when I was 11 years old. At that time, my mother opened a martial arts gym and taught apprentices. She was also selected as one of the top ten martial arts coaches in the United States. Now she is older and retired.

I have been practicing martial arts with my mother since I was a child, but I am more naughty and like to explore different martial arts. Like everyone else, I particularly like Bruce Lee . I have watched his movies since I was a child. Later, I watched Jackie Chan Big Brother's movies, as well as many Hong Kong kung fu movies. But I never thought that one day I would be an actor. I only entered the industry by chance.

When I was 16 years old, around 1980, I stayed in the Beijing Wushu Team for more than a year. Later, I was going back to the United States. I stayed in Hong Kong for a while, and then I was discovered by director Yuan Heping. Yuen Woo-Ping and Jackie Chan filmed " Drunken Master " and "Snake Master", which changed the trend of kung fu movies.Later, they developed their own careers. Jackie Chan went to Jiahe and . Yuan Heping did not go to Jiahe, but he has a wish to make some more films that can surpass "Drunken Master" and "Snake Master". At that time, he wanted to make a new film called "Drunk Tai Chi", which required actors with good kung fu. Kung fu films at that time required actors to have a solid foundation, but he searched for several years and could not find one.

"Drunken Tai Chi" stills

We are really destined. It turned out that his sister was an apprentice taught by my mother. His sister told Yuan Heping that she had a child - I was seventeen or eighteen years old at the time, please meet him. Then, he took Yuan Jiaban out for tea, asked me a lot of questions, and arranged an audition. Two weeks later, he gave me a contract and said he was going to sign with me for three years. The first drama would be "Drunk Tai Chi". So, I stumbled into the industry, and today, I have been filming for nearly forty years.

伟君子: Speaking of director Yuan Heping, known in the industry as 八叶, the police and gangster action films he made in the mid-to-late 1980s incorporated some modern fighting techniques, which are different from traditional kung fu films. Films like "Witness" and "Money Laundering" are variations on Master Ba's actions, which are very fresh to our audience. We know that during that period you were already experimenting with action design in Yuan Family Class.

Donnie Yen : That’s right. In the early days, Hong Kong action movies led the entire film market, so they were divided into several segments. The Hung Family Class, the Cheng Family Class, , the Liu Family Class, , and the Yuan Family Class were actually very clearly distinguished. They paid special attention to traditional rules and were a bit quaint. smell. What can I say, if you come from this team, you have to stay there. I still remember when Sammo Hung brother came to film with me, he had to say hello to Yuan Heping first. We ourselves would never just go to someone else's team casually.

At that time, brothers Sammo Hung and Jackie Chan had strong support from Golden Harvest. Their films were very popular and they basically occupied the entire Hong Kong film market. As for Ba Ye, frankly speaking, there had been no filming for several years. Because the audience's tastes changed completely at that time. From the kung fu movies we made in the past, we suddenly turned to fashion action movies. It can be said that Ba Ye is very troubled. He hasn't made a movie in three years, and I haven't made a movie in three years. Later, he received a contract to film "Special Police Slaying the Dragon" with , the then- Debao Film Company. As a result, his fighting spirit came back. He said I want to take good pictures, but how can I take good pictures? For example, Jackie Chan's "a project " can take several months to shoot a scene, and a building is blown up in one fell swoop, but we don't have that much production money at all. I said, Mr. Ba, I have a way - because I was relatively young at the time and had a relatively straightforward personality. I dared to say anything and didn't know how to take into account his feelings - we couldn't compare with them. Those were piles of money. We have no money, so we might as well do it in our own style.

He asked how to create a personal style. I said, if you watch Bruce Lee's movies, in ordinary action movies, the camera will always cut to the person being beaten, whether it's him falling down or hitting something; but in Bruce Lee's movies, the camera will always cut to the person being beaten. Aim at him, regardless of how badly the martial artist was beaten. But you won't think he's not good-looking, nor will you think he's not powerful enough. That's entirely because of his personal charm. There was no MMA at that time, but when I was in the United States, I liked to study various fighting styles. I know what Hong Kong action movies are lacking now, and where they are not in line with international trends.

For example, previous kung fu movies were based on the language of lines, with horizontal and straight strokes and few curved lines; if you look at Bruce Lee's punches, they have curves, but if you look at Jackie Chan, he rarely throws real uppercuts . There is also POSE. In the past, I had to do POSE after performing a trick. I said this was not fashionable or realistic enough. For example, if I play a policeman, why do you still put on a pose when people have already fallen there? Similar to this kind of design thinking and method, I suddenly wanted to share it through movies.

Donnie Yen in "Slay the Dragon"

To be honest, at first, Ba Ye probably didn't want to try it. Later, when filming "Slay the Dragon", I kept giving him demonstrations and added some small movements, and he felt This one looks great. After "The Dragon Slayer" came out, people in the industry had a huge reaction. They wondered how Ba Ye could film that scene, and there were no props that Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung often used. I told Mr. Ba that we can shoot at the lowest cost. No money is needed. Just two people can create a style.

In " Slay the Wolf ", Donnie Yen and Wu Jing battled

Later this method was extended to when I filmed "Slay the Wolf". I wonder if you still remember the scene between me and Wu Jing. I remember that the producer asked me what props I needed to arrange, and I said no props were needed. It only required Wu Jing and I to fight. This cannot be done with props.

Jet Li and Tyson are the ones that inspire me the most to challenge

Wei Junzi: When it comes to the fight between two people, as movie fans, we especially like to take stock of classic action scenes. We are very curious about how the two masters can form such a tacit understanding.

Donnie Yen : Just like dancing, like tango , how two people can cooperate well is very subtle. For example, Jackie Chan, my first collaboration with him was in " Shanghai Noon 2", where I played a villain. Over the years, Jackie Chan has developed his own unique personal style. The stories will change and the characters will change, but Jackie Chan's fighting style is actually the same, such as blocking it with a cup, turning twice, jumping once, and flipping Somersault, wipe your butt - just kidding. When I play with him, I have to match his rhythm. He plays 12345, and I can never play 1234567. I need to find a balance point and try to express my personal style at the same time.

In "Shanghai Noon 2", Donnie Yen and Jackie Chan faced off.

Among the many people I have worked with, there are actually two people who can make me work hard to take on the challenge.

The first one is Jet Li, we are the same age, he is four months older than me. In "Once Upon a Time in China", he played Huang Feihong very well, but Tsui Hark asked me to play the villain in it just to create the strongest pressure on Huang Feihong, so at that time everyone It is to go all out and use the fastest speed. Jet Li is really fast. If he is faster, I want to be faster, and then he will be faster. Don't say it's half a beat too late or something went wrong. Even if it's NG, you'll feel embarrassed because everyone is pursuing perfection. Jet Li is indeed a formidable opponent.

In "Once Upon a Time: A Man Should Be Strong", Donnie Yen and Jet Li competed

and later in " Heroes ", which put more pressure on me. At that time, I was holding a long red tassel gun , and he was holding a sword. He was still fast, and then he did a circle and I had to do a circle twice as fast. So when he was approaching, I really used up all my explosive power to meet his sword skills: he might swing the sword three or four times in one second, but I had to make three moves under the three or four sword attacks. There were spears flying around, so the pressure was very high.

In "Heroes", Donnie Yen and Jet Li battle

The second collaborator who made me feel great pressure was Tyson. I have always been a boxing fan of Tyson, and I have watched him box since I was new to the industry. In Hong Kong at that time, due to the time difference, his games often started at four or five in the morning. I stayed up all night, trying to get through the boring boxing match ahead, and finally waiting for him to appear.

asked Tyson to shoot " Ip Man 3". I was very excited, just like a little fan. However, there is a problem, he is not an actor, so he will not hold back. I told myself that I must be very cautious, don’t think that you are making a movie, really think that you are fighting him in the boxing ring, a life and death battle, and don’t be a little careless. If you are a little careless, let alone KO, people will die.

On the other hand, Yuen Woo-Ping (action director of "Ip Man 3") follows a traditional theory when making kung fu movies, that is, when a fist comes, you cannot dodge immediately. You must wait until the fist is closest to your body before you can dodge. At that time, when Tyson came over, I could feel the wind from his punch, like the wind from a big truck rushing towards me. Wow, to this day, I still clearly remember that critical feeling.

Making movies is a way of conveying information.

Wei Junzi: Speaking of your collaboration with Ba Ye, there is one film that I like very much, which is "Once Upon a Time in Youth: The Iron Monkey King". The father of Huang Feihong, played by Donnie Yen, plays the shadowless kick in it. I feel that it has a very practical style and is completely different from the shadowless kick of that era. Later, the film became very popular abroad.

Donnie Yen : I like to study, study movies, and study martial arts. This is determined by my personality. At that time, "Once Upon a Time" was very successful, and I knew that Jet Li's shadowless feet were filmed and edited using wire-a-wire. What I'm thinking about is whether we can use the function of the machine to let everyone see the shadowless effect, but at the same time, we can also see the actor's own kung fu. Later, I thought of a way and told Master Ba that we could use the number of frames on the film and run 12 frames. As we all know, film runs 24 frames per second. If you adjust it slightly in the middle without cutting the lens, you can see my leg skills from beginning to end, and at the same time, it creates the feeling of shadowless feet on the screen.

Wei Junzi: There is another play, and there is a scene in it that made me applaud. In "Martial Arts", you and Hui Yinghong Hong Quan fought against two swords, and Nanquan was interpreted in a modern fighting way.

Donnie Yen : It is difficult to fully explain to everyone how it was designed in just a few words, because there is a lot of knowledge about action movies. I really spent decades studying it, and I am still studying it. It can be said that there is no fixed method. . Let me first talk about how to break through the realm of action. Simply put, I think filmmaking itself is a way of communication, just like speaking, dancing, and singing. How do you make it understandable, interesting, and exciting for the audience? First you have to control your rhythm. I summarized this theory early on, which is how I can make the actions I design make the audience want to follow it layer by layer.

For example, in "Martial Arts", I tried to make the audience feel that this person had to take action because the other party was forcing me to take action. Then the audience looked at why you didn't take action. When I actually took action, I tried to see how Hui Yinghong reacted. Then I Designing where she would continue to chase her, I began to lay out that kind of thinking. Basically, I introduce your emotions into my play, and then push your emotions higher and higher along the way. Stop at that position to let you take a breath and feel the entire scene and the entire emotion I designed at that time. Continue to push one more layer.

Wei Junzi: I think action movies have formed a practical trend internationally, including the "John Wick" series that you joined. But in your "Sha Po Lang" and " fuse ", you have actually demonstrated that style.

Donnie Yen : I think actual combat is not the best adjective. It should be described as high-quality action scenes. What is texture? That’s the best way to impress your audience.

"Ip Man" poster

"Ip Man" is a turning point in life

Wei Junzi: Speaking of the classic action hero images you have contributed to the audience in the past ten years, you cannot but mention the "Ip Man" series. What effect does it have on you?

Donnie Yen : It can be said that this is a turning point in my life. We as artists must be recognized by the audience. With market recognition, you can have more opportunities to try different works, different roles, and even new explorations of the entire movie. Without "Ip Man", I wouldn't have had many great opportunities.

I have never felt that any martial art is very difficult to master. The most difficult thing is how to play this character.We discovered that in fact, Ip Man himself did not have many interesting experiences, and director Wilson Yip wanted to film something, so he decided to give up filming from the perspective of a live-action documentary. Next, we have to reshape this character. We designed the comedic point that his wife is much taller than him to balance his overly tall image.

"John Wick" poster

Wei Junzi : In the "John Wick" series you are about to join, there is a very well-known action stunt team in Hollywood. Have you communicated with the director?

Donnie Yen : Not yet. I was very happy when their producer approached me. In addition, I think this is a platform that can help China speak out. In fact, every time I take on a Western film, I think it gives me an opportunity to let the world see the charm of Chinese actors. I told him, first of all, I thank you very much for inviting me, but I want to ask you two questions very frankly. First, my role and your content do not respect us Chinese people and Chinese culture. If you are disrespectful in any way, I will definitely not work with you. He said, we like Chinese culture very much, so what can we do? Then, I read the script and I felt pretty good about it. Of course, there is still room for communication.

In addition, I think there is another very important task. Today, I want to use my little influence, like a kind of soft propaganda, to make the outside world think that Chinese people are not so rigid, and that we can do anything you can do.

Wei Junzi: Finally, we leave some time for the audience to ask questions.

Audience : When I was very young, I watched "Kill and Dance" directed by you, and later your " Legend of Wolf Warriors ". I would like to know if you have any development plans as a director. .

"Kill, Kill, Dance" poster

Donnie Yen : No more. I think directing is a very hard job. After I finished filming "Martial Arts" with my good friend Peter Chan, he admired some of my artistic ideas and said, Zi Dan, you can direct it and I will produce it for you. I said, I don’t want to direct, because the past two movies cost me half of my life.

The cost of "Kill, Kill, Dance" was only HK$3.3 million. Until the end, I didn't finish filming the content in my script. So I had a lot of headaches when editing, and it took me three months to finish a story. We had no money at all at that time, so we rented the cheapest editing room and finally edited a more reasonable story. But what should I do if I don’t have money for post-production? I didn’t even have money for the soundtrack, so I spent 10,000 Hong Kong dollars to rent canned music, pay some royalties, and select some music. Fortunately, there was a very famous Japanese pianist at that time (Note: Nishimura Yukie) who appreciated my work. She composed one or two songs for me as the music for "Kill, Kill, Dance."

It was a very painful experience. These two movies made me feel very uncomfortable, and then my health became bad. During that period, I still smoked for five years because the pressure was too great. I also had no money. I only had one hundred yuan in my bank account. I had no money to pay my staff. Besides, I couldn’t accept movies for more than a year, so I just smoked. I feel like being a director is too hard. Now that I am older, I might as well forget it.

Editor in charge: Cheng Yu

Proofreader: Shi Jun