Andy Lau, you don't have to worry about it anymore! Audiences across the country have witnessed your courage.
In this year's Spring Festival, Andy Lau's situation is indeed a little aggrieved. Looking back on last year, his collaboration with director Guo Fan on "The Wandering Earth 2" won 40 in the Spring FestivalThe box office of 2.9 billion has made him beautiful all year round and has become the "most beautiful boy" among Hong Kong stars! However, this year, he "booked" director Ning Hao, who is best at shooting comedies in the mainland, early, hoping to tailor a "Mr. Red Carpet" for himself.
However, it backfired. Seven days after the film's release, the box office only exceeded 80 million, far behind the current top of the list "Hot and Hot", which has already earned 2.5 billion at the box office. followed by "Flying Life 2", which was closely pursued with a box office of 2.2 billion. Even the highly anticipated "Bear Infested: Reversing Time and Space" has accumulated a box office of 1.3 billion. In addition, although Zhang Guoshi's "Article 20" is slightly inferior, the box office has also exceeded 1.1 billion. What's even more depressing is that these four best-quality movies have joined forces to divide ninety percent of the film schedule.
On February 14, "Let's Shake the Sun", which was slightly higher than the box office of "Mr. Red Carpet", announced the withdrawal, and the producer admitted in the announcement that "there was a major mistake in the selection of schedules" and had to withdraw. As for "Mr. Red Carpet", whether it can become the next box office dark horse, everyone is waiting to see. On Douban, the rating of "Mr. Red Carpet" is 68, although it is not too high, many netizens said that this movie was well made. It is worth mentioning that although director Ning Hao's last work "Crazy Alien" was a 2019 movie, it was also a dark horse in the Spring Festival stalls, winning 221.3 billion box office. Why did Director Ning Hao miss this time? Today, let's talk about this movie.
Andy Lau, the protagonist of the movie "Mr. Red Carpet", plays the role of Stephen Lau in the film, and the name concept cleverly combines elements of Andy Lau, Tony Leung and Stephen Chow. The similarity with Andy Lau is that Liu Weichi shows self-discipline and dedication. In the film, he sets an alarm clock on his mobile phone and performs exercises on time every day, such as planks, showing the persistence and hard work behind the artist.
Liu Weichi tried to avoid using stand-ins in action scenes, and personally got on the horse for horseback riding scenes, even if he was injured, he didn't mind. This kind of professional attitude coincides with Andy Lau, who has always been known for his seriousness. The audience can see that Lau Weichi has the shadow of Andy Lau, but also shows some unique personality, making him more than just "Andy Lau".
On the other hand, Liu Weichi showed a certain degree of conservatism in his concept, which was reflected in the shooting of an advertisement. He imitated Andy Lau's gun-playing action in "Five Tigers Break Up", but mispronounced it as "liao liao liao liao" when he said "666". This sparked a conceptual conflict between the choreographer and Lau, because Lau insisted on pronunciation correctly, believing that it was a performance of dedication to his work, while the choreographer thought that "liao liao liao liao" was more interesting, similar to Jackie Chan's "duang duang duang", which resonated more with the audience.
This scene subtly shows the collision between traditional ideas and current pop culture, showing the subtle relationship between old and more authentic ideas and new traffic laws.
The minds of the big stars seem to have been disconnected from this era of fashion memes, and they obviously can't keep up with the trends. This is not surprising, after all, they are already in their sixties.
Liu Weichi, as one of them, is known for his hard work, he lives a cautious life every day, for fear that he will be eliminated by this era and become an outdated "old man". However, unlike ordinary big stars, Liu Weichi also has some characteristics that are different from ordinary stars. He has an arrogant attitude, but this arrogance is not directed at others, nor does he like to make others do things, but he refuses to communicate with others.
He believes that people cannot communicate with each other due to "differences in identity, age, gender, etc.", so he simply chooses to close the door and not communicate with others. At home, even with his wife, he couldn't communicate, and even got into a divorce, but Liu Weichi also chose to be silent and just silently packed up his things. He even handed over his marital problems to his agent to deal with to avoid facing as much as possible.
In addition, Liu Weichi also seems very utilitarian. Although he has experienced ups and downs and has reached an age where he should be downspised for fame and fortune, he is extremely concerned about "face". Even though he is already wealthy, he still wants to win awards at film festivals, because he also wants this glory. The cause of all this can be traced back to a Hong Kong Film Awards ceremony. Liu Weichi was nominated for Best Actor, full of hope that the victory was in hand, but was stolen from the limelight by "Brother Chen Long" who starred in a rural movie, who successfully won the Academy Award even before he appeared. What's even more embarrassing is that during the award ceremony, Liu Weichi was also deliberately teased by the award presenter Wang Jing.
Although Liu Weichi has always maintained his demeanor and did not go crazy on the spot, he couldn't bear this breath. For playing the role of a farmer, he was full of desire in his heart: "Playing a peasant? I can do it too! So, he took the initiative to contact Lin Hao (played by Ning Hao), a director who specializes in literary films, and the two quickly reached an agreement and decided to shoot a film with a rural theme.
However, as soon as the movie starts, problems ensue. First of all, Liu Weichi has no experience in playing farmers, and after a few shots, the director is not satisfied with his performance. Secondly, due to the relatively high production cost of literary films, there is a shortage of capital budget.
In order to better experience the life of farmers, Liu Weichi decided to move to a three-star hotel on the one hand, and on the other hand, embarked on the road of life experience of raising pigs in the countryside. At the same time, he actively traveled around looking for companies willing to invest in to ensure that the film project could go smoothly. It seems that everything is going in an orderly and good direction.
However, because Liu Weichi, the director and the investor each held different ideas, communication was difficult, which led to the outbreak of various contradictions. Eventually, what was supposed to be a successful rural film project turned into a ridiculous farce.
All the characters in the movie are endowed with Ning Hao's usual humorous treatment, and each character and plot has unique and funny characteristics. For example, Liu Weichi walked the red carpet at the awards ceremony and found that his poster was not placed in the C position, so he quietly moved it to ** while people were unprepared. While dating the beautiful choreographer Summer (played by Rhema Sidan), he mistakes the power indicator of the TV for a camera.
The robot vacuum cleaner in the beautiful woman's home arouses suspicion, and she nervously intends to lock the robot into the toilet and insists on carrying it when she finally leaves. Director Lin Hao was very interested in this.
He chose to shoot films about rural themes, not out of artistic pursuits, but because he believed that to win the praise and awards of the jury at international film festivals, he must make films of the "big padded jacket" genre. This reflects China's understanding of "local characteristics", which has a simple and straightforward quality.
As for the image of the financiers of the film, they have deep pockets and do not know anything about movies, and only care about forcibly inserting advertisements in the films, or simply turning the movies into advertisements. Some financiers even said unashamedly: "The story of the movie is nothing to me." ”
The financiers insisted on appearing in the movie, everyone had dialogues and action scenes, and the forced intervention of the layman to guide the insider led to the gradual loss of control, and finally the contradiction broke out completely, becoming a movie about "Chuangfei Entertainment Industry".
Through this story, Ning Hao ridiculed big stars, literary film directors, film investors, publicity and public relations practitioners, movie fans, and melon-eating netizens, showing his unique insights into the entertainment industry. Another highlight of the movie is the joining of many stars, Andy Lau successfully invited Lin Xilei, Wang Jing, Leung Jiahui, Miriam Yeung and others to make cameos with the help of his connections, and Shan Liwen also played the role of Lau Weichi's agent Lin Weiguo.
Although Jackie Chan did not star in person, "Mr. Red Carpet" ushered in his cameo in the form of a "poster man", which added a special highlight to the film.
The film maintains the cold humor style of Ning Hao's comedy films, with a smooth narrative and distinct characters, which contains many highlights worthy of the audience's recollection. However, the route of "Mr. Red Carpet" deviated significantly from the audience's expectations.
Director Ning Hao did not try to replicate the successful model of "Crazy Alien", nor did he deliberately make a "family carnival" movie suitable for the Spring Festival blockbuster. On the contrary, he chose to be "willful", returning to the minimalist route he used to shoot literary films, and pulled Andy Lau into the ranks of this "willful".
Even a loyal fan of director Ning Hao had to admit after finishing "Mr. Red Carpet" that this film is incompatible with the atmosphere of the Spring Festival stalls and is unlikely to achieve good box office results. The pace of the film is slow, the plot progresses slowly, and whenever the climax is reached, it will even deliberately suppress the audience's emotions, making the overall tone appear very restrained.
As mentioned earlier, every character in the film is distinct and each plot is interesting, but there is a lack of connection between them. The transitions between the plots appear loose, which is also a manifestation of Ning Hao's directorial style, making people feel as if they are tasting a glass of wine, silky and elegant. However, the Spring Festival movies should be prosperous and lively to be more popular.
Working for a whole year, we ushered in a rare Spring Festival holiday. I was lucky enough to take the precious time to bring the whole family to the cinema and enjoy a relaxing and enjoyable movie time. Of course, we tend to opt for hilarious comedies or visually stunning blockbusters, while temperamental movies like "Mr. Red Carpet" may require more patience in comparison.
The film is based on Liu Weichi's shooting of rural films. Despite his great efforts and hands-on efforts, due to his personality arrogance and lack of communication, coupled with leaving the commercial film field he was familiar with, he eventually hit a wall and was unable to make achievements in new fields.
One of the scenes in the film depicts Lau Weichi filming a dangerous scene of falling off a horse in pursuit of a more realistic effect. In order to insist on authenticity, he refused to use a double and completed the scene himself. This should have been a performance of a senior actor's dedication, but Liu Weichi's eagerness to show the filming process on the Internet unexpectedly aroused the disgust of netizens. The focus was on the fallen horse, believing that Liu Weichi was committing "horse abuse".
The fermentation of * not only caused dissatisfaction among netizens, but also attracted the attention of animal protection associations, forcing Liu Weichi to have to apologize publicly. There are many similar episodes in the film, all of which highlight the fact that each of us tends to look at things from our own standpoint and from a narrow perspective. The lack of willingness and ability to think from the perspective of others is the deep-seated cause of all contradictions and conflicts.
Ning Hao experienced five years of silence after "Crazy Alien". He was inspired by his years of experience in the film industry to create this absurd story, which is actually the understanding and communication between people. The theme of this film is about relationships, and such themes may seem "profound" to some. But from another point of view, understanding and communication between people should be a truth that everyone can understand, so why make a movie to emphasize it? As Uncle Benshan said when commenting on the Spring Festival Gala: "The theme of the Spring Festival Gala should be happy, not educating people." Similarly, the theme of Spring Festival movies should be "happy", not in this festival of family reunion, where we spend money to buy tickets to go to the cinema and be "educated".
Now let's think about it, why did director Ning Hao choose such a not-so-popular movie during the Spring Festival? Is it because he is "exhausted"? Or is it deliberately contrary to commercialization? Looking back 20 years ago, although Ning Hao was hailed as China's most successful "ghost director", before working with Andy Lau, he also shot some minimalist literary works, such as "Thursday and Wednesday", "Incense" and "Green Meadow". "Green Meadow" was even nominated for Best Film at the Shanghai International Film Festival's Asian Newcomer Awards.
Andy Lau's "Asian Rising Star Mentor" program was originally a generously funded project, with an initial start-up capital of up to HK$25 million, all of which he personally undertook to bear. At the beginning, he generously allocated 3.5 million yuan to Ning Hao for the filming of "Crazy Stone". This decision seemed bold at the time, because the director was a little-known newcomer, and the leading actors Guo Tao, Liu Hua, and Huang Bo were not superstars at that time.
However, Ning Hao chose to jump out of the box of literature and art, bravely faced the market, and aimed the camera at ordinary people who suffered from the impact of absurd reality and could not keep up with the pace of the times. His works involve the revelation of human nature and desire, the analysis of beliefs and pursuits, and the audience has a strong resonance and identification with them.
After "Crazy Stone", Ning Hao successively launched films such as "Crazy Racing", "No Man's Land", "Heart Flower Road", "Crazy Alien" and so on. With his cleverly designed dramatic structure and unique personal style, he gradually established a synonym for the quality of "Ning Hao" in the hearts of the audience.
However, people are always eager to break out of their comfort zone, find their original intentions, and return to the original nature of creating films. "Mr. Red Carpet" became an adventure and attempt for director Ning Hao, marking his step into a new creative field. In this adventure, Andy Lau also obviously supported Ning Hao's creativity and resolutely starred in this movie.
Unlike other mainland stars, Andy Lau has been experimenting with different types of films for years, showing his quest for diversity.
He focuses on the potential and innovation of the script and the story itself, and does not care about success or failure. This attitude is reminiscent of his role as a farmer in the film, Liu Weichi, and the plot of his joining the plot of the farmer uncle in the family-seeking film "Orphaned" directed by Peng Sanyuan.
Although "Orphaned" was limited by the theme and story at that time, the market was not optimistic about it, and only achieved 21.5 billion yuan at the box office. However, looking back on the film now, the audience was moved by the sincere expression in it.
Andy Lau once helped Guo Fan and led him to obtain the adaptation copyright of Liu Cixin's science fiction work "The Wandering Earth" with the most ideal **, thus creating this science fiction classic. At the end of "The Wandering Earth", Guo Fan expressed his gratitude to Andy Lau through subtitles.
In last year's "The Wandering Earth 2", Andy Lau was invited to join again to play a quantum scientist Tu Hengyu who did everything to resurrect his daughter, contributing his own strength to Chinese science fiction movies.
At this stage, Andy Lau may not care too much about whether the movie makes money, he pays more attention to the performance itself. For director Ning Hao, Andy Lau is his Bole. "Crazy Stone" allowed Ning Hao to successfully gain a foothold in the film industry, and he has always been grateful and eager to collaborate with Andy Lau on a movie to repay his kindness.
Mr. Red Carpet shows a minimalist literary atmosphere with cold humor, although it may be a little "out of place" during the Spring Festival, but it is a masterpiece worth savoring. The cooperation between Andy Lau and Ning Hao can be described as a success. Ning Hao chose to insist on being himself, which is his persistence and the reason why Andy Lau chose him.
Maybe "Mr. Red Carpet" can't win the audience's popularity and market affirmation like "Crazy Alien", but at a time when the homogeneity of Spring Festival movies is serious, it is an outlier with rich connotations and rich layers. You can dislike it, but there's no denying that it's a good movie. After the prosperity of the Spring Festival, calm down and savor carefully, maybe there will be a different movie-watching experience. As the movie poster says, "Let the audience choose? ok！"Andy Lau has opened another path to superstardom. Although the final box office of "Mr. Red Carpet" is only 100 million, even if it loses the box office, Andy Lau's courage to be dissatisfied with the status quo and dare to try is not exactly what Chinese filmmakers need most?