Chapter 194 Walking the Path of Others
Chen Long will arrive in Hollywood in September.
In order to welcome Chen Long’s arrival, Los Angeles also designated September 2 of this year as “Chen Long Day”.
The "XX Day" in the United States often becomes the capital of some celebrity fans in later generations to brag about their own cooking. In fact, this thing is not valuable at all, and no one really regards this day as a holiday.
The United States is full of Chen Longri, and dragon fans are too lazy to brag about it.
Before leaving, Chen Long was shocked by Yang Ye's bad idea.
"Start a singing group?"
Yang Ye nodded with a smile: "Yes, you, me, A Biao, the three of us will form a singing group. The name is...Chinese Dragon Team."
"I said you tricked me into releasing an album last time, so I was waiting here."
"You know the H agency in Japan, where Yamaguchi Momoe works. , the leading big company, they named you two to help them release an album, and they won’t make any money at all?”
"Ah this..."
Of course you can make money! For Chen Long, as long as he can make money and doesn't break the law, he will accept any job.
After the millennium, this man returned to the mainland from Hollywood to make movies, and the mainland film industry bosses were shocked.
The next door cuts a ribbon and gives him the money. He doesn’t have the personality of a big shot in the film industry at all!
Actually, this is quite good. Don’t pretend, just act. You are an artist who pretends to be crazy.
Yang Ye continued: "Then I thought, it's too troublesome for one person to come out alone. It would be easier for three people to come out together as a singing group. If they are famous together, the sales volume will be higher. The money earned will be divided equally, and I will sing the song It’s all written. Do you want me to sing a few lines?”
Chen Long covered his face and said, “Sing it.”
“Wait for me to find an accompanist!”
Yang Ye turned over a record and put it into the record player. The dynamic melody immediately poured out.
Chen Long and Yuan Biao were stunned. Is the record ready?
But that thing was only used as an accompaniment, and was filled in temporarily by Yang Ye.
Following the dynamic melody, Yang Ye sang and danced while singing. The dance moves were skillful and had obviously been planned long ago.
Chen Long and Yuan Biao looked at each other and thought that they were well prepared.
Yang Ye sang while dancing: "Wanna hold you in my heart, Hold me dynamic. Falling in the dark makes my heart excited, forgetting everything in the world and getting lost."
The song is quite good, and the dance is also very dynamic. After singing the song, both Chen Long and Yuan Biao found it quite interesting, but... why was it in Cantonese?
"There is also a Mandarin version, let's do it again!"
Yang Ye jumped up again: "Don't wander around at midnight on weekends, come to Apple Paradise, welcome stray children. Don't be in a daze on the side, shout loudly together, to the loneliness Say BYEBYE at midnight..."
The same song, but with different words.
"How about this song?"
Chen Long and Yuan Biao nodded fiercely: "It sounds good!"
"Enjoyed!"
"I'll play the Japanese version for you again!"
Yang Ye played the record again and added a few more words in Japanese, singing three songs in a row.
"Let me tell you, I am a famous idol singer in Japan. This time I will take you two on your debut. I will sing three times on an album and I am guaranteed to become famous all over East Asia and drive thousands of girls crazy."
< br>Yang Ye is a bit ruthless. If he continues his coquettish operation, Japan's "Youth Team", Hong Kong's "Grasshoppers", and Taiwan's "Little Tigers" will all be eclipsed in the future.
Fortunately, Yang Ye just plans to release an album to gain popularity, so these three groups will not have no way out.
In 1985, Johnny & Associates launched a brand-new group "Boys", which officially debuted with an album "Qi Noodles Dance Party", which ranked on the Japanese record sales "Dragon and Tiger Chart" in the first week. first, and ranked first for seven consecutive weeks, becoming popular in the Asia-Pacific region.
In 1988, Hong Kong's Grasshopper began to release albums, and Taiwan's Little Tigers were also announced. Both were three-person groups, and both became extremely popular by singing covers of "Youth League" songs.
Yang Ye just sang Grasshopper's masterpiece "The Hot Woman" and the Little Tigers' masterpiece "Green Apple Paradise", which are both from the Youth Team's masterpiece "What's your name".
Yang Ye thought to himself: I debuted as an idol singer in Japan anyway. And what about Chen Long and Yuan Biao? When these two released records in Japan, they also followed the idol singer route, so I might as well start an idol group.
Don't laugh... Chen Long really takes the route of an idol singer in Japan.
His first EP "Marianne" is a lyrical pop ballad. On the cover of the record, this guy is wearing a white shirt and a brown sweater, with the hazy distant mountains in the background...
It's called a soulful person. People who are not familiar with it will never be able to associate it with it. This guy is an action star.
Later on, this EP sold hundreds of thousands of copies, and the record company went crazy with joy. They kept up their efforts and released a bunch of Japanese albums for Chen Long.
In those years, Chen Long often went to Japan to hold concerts, but his Japanese fans at KTV did not like Chen Long's Japanese songs. Instead, they liked to sing Cantonese songs such as "Drunken Master".
...
A majestic kung fu superstar who sings and dances, Yang Ye himself feels a little ashamed, but he is not serious about starting a singing group, he is just playing for fun.
Yang Ye said bravely: "Look, if we sing this song and dance this dance, once the album is released in Japan, I guarantee that countless Japanese girls will crawl into your bed crying."
Chen Long has played a lot with Japanese girls and knows the taste of food. He can't help but be a little eager to try it. He asked Yuan Biao: "A Biao, what do you say?"
Yuan Biao said: "I heard two A big shot.”
Yang Ye is only 26 years old now, Chen Long is 25 years old, and Yuan Biao is 22 years old. In terms of age, the three of them are still young, so this combination is not too inconsistent.
It’s just a bit embarrassing for their status as kung fu stars.
“Whether it’s successful or not, I’ll release an EP in Hong Kong first to test the waters!” Yang Ye said.
……
“Where is the promised martial arts album?”
Yang Ye took Chen Long and Yuan Biao to Baiyang Records. Zheng Donghan thought that Yang Ye was going to fulfill the record he promised last year, and he was very happy.
In the end, Yang Ye came to record an EP, and the three of them recorded it together. Did they agree to trick Chen Long Yuanbiao into making an album?
I have been making this cake for so long, and I have been looking forward to it for more than half a year, and this is it?
Liar!
Yang Ye originally promised to record a martial arts-style album when "Swordsman" came out, but now he has forgotten about it. He said with some embarrassment:
"Well, the album is still being created, I'm busy. However, some time ago, Jin Yong showed me the revised draft of his novel and asked me to make some comments. I read these novels and generated a lot of inspiration. I believe this The album will be released soon, just wait for my good news!”
Zheng Donghan turned into a manuscript rusher and said nonchalantly: “When will it be released?”
< br>"At the end of the year at most, can we record the EP first? My fans are very thirsty, let's quench their thirst first!"
The song "What'syourname" was not selected for this EP Instead of choosing a song, I chose another famous song "ABC" by the "Youth Team". This song has also been covered by Grasshopper.
The "Chinese Dragon Team" group formed by Yang Ye and Jackie Chan and Yuan Biao has the same dance music style as "Youth Team", "Grasshopper" and "Little Tiger Team".
Nonsense, the songs are all from the youth team, so what other style can they follow?
It will take another four or five years for idol singers to become popular.
Because MVs had not yet become widely popular at this time, the series of MVs that Yang Ye helped shoot for Teresa Teng's album "A Touch of Love" are considered the most famous.
If the MV is not popular, it will be difficult for fans to see the beautiful appearance of the singer, and they will focus on listening to the singing. If the singing sucks, how about releasing a Hammer record? So today’s singers are all talented.
In a few years, when MVs become popular, we will be able to see idol singers who do not rely on their singing skills, but purely on their appearance.
The most typical one is the Little Tigers, whose singing skills are terrible, but they are still the most popular group in the Chinese-speaking world and have been popular for decades.
So, this EP is not only released on Bakelite records, but also on video tapes.
The content of the MV is quite simple, it’s just dance music, just dance in front of the camera.
Of course the dance was demonstrated by Yang Ye himself, and Chen Long and Yuan Biao followed suit. It was very dynamic.
In addition, in order to reflect the characteristics of the three kung fu boys, some difficult moves were also added.
As the music ended, the three of them did a cool backflip at the same time, and the scene was frozen.
After spending a week and getting everything done, Chen Long left.
......
At this time, "The Swordsman" has entered its final stage, with a box office of 20.18 million, becoming the first local movie to have a box office of over 20 million.
The number of viewers of "The Swordsman" reached 2.51 million, setting a new record simultaneously.
"The Swordsman" has already been screened at Jiahe Cinema, and Baiyang Cinema has moved it to VIP halls for sporadic screenings, exclusively for fans.
Taiwan and Nanyang regions have begun to release films, where Golden Harvest makes most of its money.
Before, Jiahe was tricked by Yang Ye and vomited all the box office receipts from the Shaolin Temple re-release, costing Yang Ye more than 8 million. After waiting for several years, he finally saw the money back.
"Hundred Heroes" will be released in Hong Kong after "The Swordsman", and Momoe Yamaguchi also went to Hong Kong to promote it.
The box office of "Hundred Killers" in Japan reached 1.3 billion yen, the highest in Yamaguchi Momoe's career.
The box office of "The Swordsman" in Japan was 2.8 billion yen.
Given the popularity of Yang Ye in Japan, it has been suppressed for two years, but the box office has not increased but decreased. To be honest, it is a bit embarrassing.
However, this year is a small year for the Japanese market, and 2.8 billion has basically locked up the annual crown.
The reason... bumped into "Superman" head-on.
The two movies were in a close fight, and in the end "The Swordsman" won by a narrow margin.
They are all about flying into the sky and escaping from the earth, but Japanese audiences still prefer martial arts movies with similar cultures.
Killing "Superman" made Yang Ye very happy. "Superman" is the only superhero movie to win the annual championship in the Japanese market.
Now that the annual crown has been taken away by Yang Ye, if nothing else happens, the title of "Superhero Cemetery" in the Japanese market is completely confirmed.
……
"I'm sorry, Yang Ye is a liar."
On the promotional poster of "Hundred Men Kill the Girl", the heads of Yang Ye and Yamaguchi Momoe are the same size, and the two are still gazing affectionately on the poster.
Because of the good reputation of this couple, many viewers bought tickets to support them.
At the beginning of the movie, it still looked like that.
Yang Ye and Yamaguchi Momoe were training together in the mountains. Some scenes showed the affection between them, which looked very sweet.
Unexpectedly, a few minutes later, the plot suddenly took a turn for the worse, and Yamaguchi Momoe killed Yang Ye with a knife.
Ah this... the audience was confused.
It turns out that Yang Ye is not a leading actor at all, he is just a sidekick!
Despite this, the film still sold more than five million at the box office.
Xu Ke's "Butterfly Transformation" next door was a disaster. The local box office did not reach 1 million.
There are hundreds of thousands less than in the original time and space.
The movie "Butterfly Change", as Xu Ke's debut film, is quite good.
This is a suspenseful martial arts film, very ancient, giving people the feeling... I watched the episode of Kindaichi.
Generally speaking, it is a story about a man of letters who chooses to stay out of the world. "The world has nothing to do with me." After the protagonist patted his butt and walked away, he felt a bit of apocalyptic destruction.
The action scenes are a little rough but OK, the lines are a little wordy but the switching between different persons feels quite smooth.
The editing is also very bold. Tsui Hark's first movie was shot like this. It's really a genius!
It is a pity that compared with the rough action scenes in the movie and "The Swordsman", it is not an exaggeration to say that it relies on defense.
After the audience watched "The Swordsman" and then watched "Butterfly", it was simply boring, and it would have been a ghost if it had a good box office.
Although the box office was not good, Zou Wenhuai was not blind. He believed that Xu Ke still had talent, so he decided to continue to support him in making films.
However, Zou Wenhuai was a little confused when he saw the script that Xu Ke handed over.
Two farmers took a raft to an isolated island to sell chickens and ducks. The atmosphere on the island was strange. The two were frightened and suddenly attacked by a group of masked men. One farmer died and the other was killed. They were dismantled by the island's butcher and distributed as food to the hungry islanders. . It turns out that this island is under the jurisdiction of Dajiatou. I don’t know when the islanders began to eat human flesh. The security team is responsible for maintaining law and order and food rationing...
It is actually a movie about cannibalism. The taste is very strong. This is the quintessential cult movie.
And it’s not just about cannibalism, it’s full of various political metaphors. It uses an unknown village as a metaphor for the entire social environment of Hong Kong, and the indifference and contempt between people in it. Massacre is no different from the cruel struggle in reality.
Zou Wenhuai asked: "Why don't you continue to make martial arts movies? I think the martial arts dramas you shot on Jiashi before were quite innovative."
Xu Ke said somewhat depressedly: "Yang Ye has already made martial arts movies like that. I can't think of how to make them later. I'll just find another way."
After Xu Ke watched "The Swordsman", he didn't eat for a whole day. He felt that this movie... was the martial arts movie of his dreams.
But this movie... was made by someone else, which gave him an inexplicable feeling of despair.
Yang Ye has set up a huge mountain for martial arts movies. If he goes forward, he will only live in Yang Ye's shadow.
Just like Milk Cha Lun said: "I feel like I have been living in the shadow of Charlotte."
Or, just like Wu Jing's mood when watching "Fist of Heroes", Wu Jing felt : Jet Li has already made Kung Fu movies like this, how can I make them in the future?
It can't be surpassed, and there's nothing we can do about it.
In the end, Wu Jing found a new way and made a military action movie. Following the rise of the country, he reaped a wave of dividends.
And now, what is the result of Xu Ke taking a different approach?
He doesn’t know, but Yang Ye knows.
Still bloody!
(End of this chapter)