Special feature of 1905 film network "From the beginning to last night, it took 282 days to fulfill a martial arts dream. “On February 4th, after the meeting in Shenzhen, I wrote in Weibo with emotion.
From an old partnerJing WongA proposal, to meet the global audience after the filming is completed, Donnie Yen is personally involved in the whole process, with multiple roles such as producer, general director, starring and martial arts director, just to create a martial arts film with personal characteristics.
Since The Legend of Dragon in Qiao Feng was launched on the New Year’s Eve, the box office of the three platforms has reached nearly 30 million a week, and the total account has surpassed the box office of the same period in history. The film also performed well in overseas cinemas, winning the box office champion of Malaysian New Year film and the first box office of Chinese New Year film in Singapore.
Dare to adapt classic works, Donnie Yen had predicted the controversy and doubt, but he also believed that only by facing challenges directly and constantly innovating can martial arts films be by going up one flight of stairs.He hopes to combine the boxing of "Zhen Kung Fu" with the chivalrous character, and make the spirit of China’s martial arts and a "superhero movie" belonging to Chinese.
"Shooting Jin Yong is not afraid of controversy"
Create a unique Qiao Feng
As we all know, Tian Long Ba Bu is one of Jin Yong’s most influential representative works. Before Biography of Qiao Feng, four films and six TV series have been made.
Once the news that Donnie Yen played Qiao Feng was exposed, it caused a heated discussion. Some viewers pointed out that his appearance was quite different from that of the Khitan man, and some netizens bluntly said that the remake of Jin Yong’s works was "feelings are greater than content".
In this regard, Donnie Yen has long been psychologically prepared: "If you shoot Jin Yong, you will definitely be challenged and controversial, and even the audience will not like it, but history tells us that if you don’t dare to take the next step in all artistic creation, it is impossible to have something new."
He also admitted that although his appearance is quite different from that of Qiao Feng, a northern man depicted in the novel, he wants to show Qiao Feng’s dashing chivalrous spirit and interpret it in the way of "Donnie Yen".
Therefore, it is not so much a remake as a re-creation. "I don’t give myself too many shackles, and I don’t want to imitate Qiao Feng in the novel. I want to use my experience in making action movies to reinterpret this character and make a martial arts film in 2023."
The original novel of Tianlong Babu is 1.5 million words long and has more than 230 characters. How to condense it into a two-hour story has become the biggest problem in the adaptation of the script.
Donnie Yen and his team decisively cut the complexity and simplify it, and chose to make a biography of Qiao Feng, the "strongest warrior", which is the first time in the film adaptation of "Eight Dragons".
In Donnie Yen’s view, the charm of Qiao Feng’s character comes from his complexity: not only his martial arts, but also his aboveboard personality and incomparable inner strength. No matter how wronged he is, he will bear it one by one and never change his mind. This resonates with him deeply.
Donnie Yen accepted an exclusive interview with 1905 Film Network.
"Over the years, maybe because I am a relatively straightforward person, people who don’t know me sometimes have different views," Donnie Yen said. "My favorite line is that Qiao Feng said to his Shaolin disciples,’ Since everyone thinks of me like this, I have nothing to say.’ This is what I really want to express, reflecting some social status quo through movies. "
"Martial arts films must have martial arts"
Making China’s superhero movie.
"Martial arts films must have martial arts, or they will become magic films."Donnie Yen’s action style is sui generis, and he is famous for his quickness and ferocity. This time, he also strives to combine "Zhen Kung Fu" with Jin Yong’s martial arts to create a unique action style.
At present, there are many martial arts films and martial arts dramas that only pursue the beauty of the picture. Many actors only rely on hanging Weiya and posing to complete the shooting. Faced with this phenomenon, Donnie Yen admits that it has pose the sense of texture and temperament that martial arts films should have.
"Martial arts films are not magic films. Actors must have martial temperament and martial skills before they can perform the inner things of the fighters. "
For this reason, in the action design of Biography of Qiao Feng, Donnie Yen particularly emphasized the sense of texture and realism. He should not only keep Qiao Feng’s classic moves, such as lowering the dragon’s eighteen palms and beating the dog stick, but also integrate the fighting style of Zhen Shi, so as to implement the unconstrained martial arts world in Jin Yong’s words.
Among them, the most obvious change is "Qiao Feng uses a sword", which has also caused controversy among many netizens. In this regard, Donnie Yen once responded: "Qiao Feng uses the sword" has a clear source in the original work, and Qiao Feng’s use of different weapons in the film also shows his mentality at different stages.
"When he lost his representative power, he was at the low point of losing his loved ones. Where did his weapon come from? The sword represents Qiao Feng’s life test, which makes the audience feel the status and mentality change of this character more intuitively. "
Martial arts films, which are a combination of history, action, emotion and other elements, used to be a business card of China’s films, but they have gradually declined in recent years.
The "Biography of Qiao Feng" received a warm response overseas, which also encouraged Donnie Yen. He believes that the charm of martial arts films lies not only in the passionate action scenes, but also in the chivalrous spirit and cultural heritage behind them.
"China has such a long history that we can only find the’ root’ of culture by taking the audience back to the past. The reason why martial arts look good is because of its traditional accumulation and cultural thickness. "
Before the filming of Biography of Qiao Feng began, Donnie Yen said that he wanted to make "China’s superhero movie". Now, he explains to us that the so-called superhero is more capable and responsible than ordinary people, and such a "chivalrous man" has always been in martial arts films.
"To build a superhero in China is to put the commercial elements in the Hollywood superhero films that the audience likes to watch in the martial arts films, or to enlarge the original things in the martial arts films, so that young people can feel that the China martial arts films are equally cool!"
"keep fighting"
After 41 years of debut, I am creating a "peak period"
"I’ll play as long as he wants, and keep playing!"In the film, this line by Qiao Feng is impressive, and it seems to imply Donnie Yen’s own voice.He responded with a smile: at first, it was completely necessary for the plot, and later it was invisibly combined with my mentality.
Similar to Qiao Feng, Donnie Yen’s road to fame is also a process of constantly answering questions and challenging himself.He still remembers shooting more than ten years ago.Kill the wolf.andThe fuseSometimes, facing the media, he needs to explain repeatedly why he integrated MMA mixed fighting technology into action design, and he also heard many incomprehensible voices.
But because of his persistence, this style has finally become the object to be imitated by fashion action movies at home and abroad."At that time, I told them that this is a new martial arts film style, and I believe it will become a necessary technology and trend of fashion action movies all over the world in the near future."
The same is true of the process of acting. "Everyone says why you want to shoot Ip Man. Your movements are obviously the style of fuse, so you can’t play Wing Chun."
However, Donnie Yen refused to believe in evil, closed his door for nine months, and practiced hard to chant spring songs. In the end, continuous shooting’s four works made him the most representative role.
I have been in the business for 41 years and I have been playing for 41 years. Donnie Yen admits that he also has moments of injury and fatigue, but his love for movies makes him unable to stop. "If you love something, you can always export it and you can’t stop."
In his view, for an action actor, what matters is not only skill, but creative ability, that is, the combination of martial arts, acting skills, wisdom and experience.
From this point of view, he bluntly said that he was in the "peak period" of his creation. "I have more creativity and experience than before, and my skills are still there. I want to shoot more years, shoot more films and try to see how long I can play!"