According to Lighthouse Professional Edition, as of 22:50 on January 23, the pre-sale box office of the movie "The Legend of the Condor Heroes: The Greatest Hero" exceeded 200 million yuan, surpassing "Detective Chinatown 3" and becoming the fastest film in Chinese film history to exceed 200 million yuan in pre-sales during the Spring Festival.
The film is directed and written by Tsui Hark, starring Xiao Zhan, Zhuang Dafei, Tony Leung, Zhang Wenxin, Bayartu, Aruna, and Ada Choi. On January 23, the film's main creators gathered online to share behind-the-scenes stories in the form of a "New Year's Greetings Party" to unveil the mystery of this martial arts masterpiece.
Exploring the Contemporary Significance of "The Greatest Hero"
As a well-known martial arts classic, this new version of "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" is adapted from Chapter 34 to 40 of Jin Yong's original work. It tells the story of Guo Jing who, in the war-torn era, obtained the world's peerless martial arts "Nine Yin Scriptures" and "Eighteen Palms of the Dragon Subduing", which aroused jealousy from all sides and made him the target of public criticism, and from then on embarked on the journey to become a hero.
The scene of the "New Year's Party"
The film's chief producer Fu Ruoqing said that the filming of The Legend of the Condor Heroes was to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Mr. Jin Yong's birth. At the same time, he hoped to bring martial arts films back to the big screen with the help of Director Tsui Hark's deep understanding of Jin Yong's works, showing Chinese martial arts and chivalry. In Fu Ruoqing's view, Guo Jing is a "down-to-earth, determined and resilient knight", and Tsui Hark, who is well versed in Jin Yong's martial arts spirit, "is the best choice". When choosing the perspective of the film, he chose the "very important and accurate passages from the original novel to show the greatness of chivalry", which he highly appreciated.
Tsui Hark
For director Tsui Hark, who once pioneered a new era of Hong Kong martial arts action, Jin Yong is a treasure. What should the martial arts world that has haunted him since childhood look like is a fascinating subject that he will never finish solving in his lifetime. This time, Tsui Hark has devoted a lot of effort to digging deep into the "Eighteen Palms of the Dragon Subduing". He said frankly: "I have been curious about the Eighteen Palms of the Dragon Subduing since I was a child. When preparing, I focused on studying its moves, dynamics, power, and various situations when fighting with opponents."
Xiao Zhan, who plays Guo Jing, also revealed that the "Eighteen Palms of the Dragon Subduing" in the film will display different functions according to the combat situation. For example, the confrontation between Guo Jing and Ouyang Feng is full of aura; and when the "Eighteen Palms of the Dragon Subduing" and "Nine Yin Manual" are performed, the special effects of cyclone overlap and internal force externalization will surely feast the eyes of the audience.
During the live broadcast, the creators discussed in depth the spiritual connotation of "the greatest hero". Tsui Hark believes that "heroes are the Chinese people's yearning for a perfect spirit, representing justice and hope, and being able to fight against the forces of darkness, while also possessing the wisdom to distinguish right from wrong." Fu Ruoqing combined the current situation and said, "In ancient times, heroes helped the poor and the needy. In modern times, the soldiers guarding the borders, the angels in white on the front line, and other workers from all walks of life, their contributions interpret the contemporary spirit of heroes." Xiao Zhan also shared his understanding: "Heroes must have a sense of justice, not just personal heroism, but help others and care about the world. At present, every ordinary person who has justice in his heart and works silently is a hero."
There is something new about the relationship between Jing Rong Zheng
Tsui Hark once asked the lead actor Xiao Zhan to interpret the young Guo Jing with the aura of an "athlete" and a "rock musician". "It requires great dedication and at the same time, your own style," Xiao Zhan digested the director's request in this way. He also shared his understanding of Guo Jing in the live broadcast, "I think Guo Jing is a man with great righteousness, a very mellow heart, and the purest and most genuine. When I was playing him, the biggest challenge for me was that I wanted to understand what his inner spiritual world was like. Including his complex growth environment and social relationships, they will actually help him subtly on his way to growth."
Xiao Zhan
For Xiao Zhan, Mongolian lines are also a big challenge in his acting career. The way to deal with it is "to practice and form a kind of muscle memory."
Aruna, a Mongolian actor, plays Tolui in the film. Coincidentally, he is a descendant of Tolui's family. He said that he was excited but also felt pressured when he received the role: "It is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be in a film directed by Tsui Hark, but I am also worried about what my compatriots will think if I don't perform well." Aruna revealed that it was with his father's encouragement that he firmly accepted the role. "My father told me to go. In the past, he never made such a clear statement about what role I should play."
In addition to the righteousness of the country, there is also the love between young men and women in The Legend of the Condor Heroes. Guo Jing has to make a difficult choice between love, friendship and responsibility for the country. The delicate emotional entanglement between him, Huang Rong and Hua Zheng also adds rich layers to the film.
The Beggars' Sect leader Huang Rong interpreted the deep meaning behind the "Dog Beating Stick", and the scene instantly turned into a "Gang Leader's Performance Reporting Meeting". As a gathering place for underworld information, Tsui Hark jokingly said, "In fact, the Beggars' Sect is the IT people in today's society."
Zhang Wenxin, who plays the grassland princess Hua Zheng, revealed that her relationship with Huang Rong in the film "is a bit similar to the relationship between girls today. We help each other and appreciate each other. The appearance of Huang Rong made her see a different world."
At the same time, as a martial arts film, Zhang Wenxin revealed that everyone in the crew was very "cooperative" during training: "We conducted horse riding and martial arts training. Xiao Zhan also insisted on strength training during his rest time, and Duffy learned wire hanging and memorizing moves very quickly."
Stills
Tony Leung, who plays Ouyang Feng, has played many characters written by Jin Yong. This time his experience is that "Ouyang Feng is a very lonely person. His biggest friend and biggest enemy are both himself."
At the same time, Tony Leung revealed that his "look is very majestic this time, with a sense of oppression in height and width. When I put on the costume, I felt like I was Ouyang Feng." In addition, he also shared his feelings about working with Xiao Zhan, praising the professionalism and hard work of this young actor, who not only repeatedly practiced language, but also devoted himself to the scene, including a large number of action scenes and horse riding scenes. He maintained a very high professional level under difficult conditions, which made him feel that young people are formidable.
At the premiere, the suona played "Hello World" (one of the theme songs of the 1983 version of "The Legend of the Condor Heroes"), and the classic and familiar melody made Ada Choi exclaim "goose bumps", and she even sang along with "whoosh" and "ha" heroically.
Fu Ruoqing said that the beautiful emotions and martial arts spirit conveyed by The Legend of the Condor Heroes can touch the hearts of audiences of all ages and has strong cultural connotations and impact. "Chivalry can be said to be something that every Chinese yearns for. We hope that audiences of all ages can be awakened to the martial arts sentiment in their hearts."
