You can always believe in Andy Lau!
The author of this article is a contributor @Nanasemaru
Movies are medicine and cannot be stopped
Emperor Film recently announced the list of films for 2022, and new news has been revealed for many major projects.
Among them, "Goldfinger", directed by "Peerless" director Zhuang Wenqiang and starring Andy Lau, Tony Leung and Cai Zhuoyan, released stills for the first time.
Dreaming of "Infernal Affairs"
Based on the "Carrie case" in Hong Kong in the 1980s, the film tells the short-term rise of a listed company to its liquidation. The original story involves a major corruption and fraud case that the Independent Commission Against Corruption traveled to eight countries to investigate.
The Independent Commission Against Corruption, financial crime, the outbreak and disillusionment of the dream of wealth… It is not difficult to smell the pure Hong Kong-style crime film atmosphere from these familiar keywords.
But the director, Zhuang Wenqiang, said that while the film was "packaged as a police and gangster movie," it actually told an "epic story."
According to media reports, the Emperor invested 350 million Hong Kong dollars in the production of the film, which is a rare high investment in Hong Kong films in recent years.
Of course, the most exciting aspect is the collaboration between Andy Lau and Tony Leung after 18 years.
The last time they starred in the same screen frame as "Infernal Affairs 3", this time "Goldfinger" two people are changing positions, Tony Leung will play the villain Cheng Yiyan, and Andy Lau will play the ICAC investigator.
Born in the "Wireless Five Tigers", they are both the brightest stars in Hong Kong’s film industry, but their styles and temperaments are quite different.
Especially in recent years, Wei Zai, a pigeon-feeding enthusiast who always has a three-point fairy air, has become more and more "the dragon sees the head but not the tail", while Hua Zai still maintains a tireless "model worker" physique.
Tony Leung’s early collaboration with Andy Lau on the 1984 edition of "The Deer"
The difference in mindset towards work is also evident in their mutual evaluation.
Tony Leung said of Andy Lau’s "workaholic": "If I kept working like Andy, I would definitely die."
And Andy Lau once said: "Tony Leung is a genius actor, and I am a good actor."
This is certainly the "stupid child" self-deprecation of Tianwang, but his hardworking fans who have been working hard for decades have indeed seen it.
Andy, who is already 60 years old, still has more than a dozen participating projects on his schedule running at the same time.
Today, let’s take a look at Liu Tianwang’s work schedule progress and new films to be released in the next two or three years, and see what other works are worthy of our attention besides "Goldfinger".
Mr. Red Carpet.
Andy Lau had long been known for his good story of Ning Hao in his "Asian Rising Star Director Program". However, the two people, who had a long history, had never found the opportunity to cooperate again as directors and actors for so many years.
Ning Hao once confessed: "Because I write about little people on the street, and Andy Lau is a star in Hong Kong… But I believe that as I grow up and he grows up, there are more possibilities for cooperation between us."
Finally, on February 22, 2022, 16 years after the release of "Crazy Stone", "Mr. Red Carpet" directed by Ning Hao and starring Andy Lau was launched.
The story of the film tells the story of the former Hong Kong star Liu Weichi (Andy Lau, played) in order to re-become "popular" and cooperate with a major domestic director for the film "Rural Teacher".
He went deep into the countryside to experience life, but his arrogance caused a series of endless farce. In the end, he realized that sincerity is the most precious quality, and his life was transformed and restored to beauty.
This story setting is obviously tailor-made by Ning Hao for Andy Lau, and may contain many reflections and deconstructions of Andy’s acting career (such as "The Crowd").
And the name of Liu Cixin’s novel "Rural Teacher" appears in the synopsis of the story. Does Ning Hao want to follow "Crazy Alien" to the original work of Da Liu with one dish and two meals? The film is expected to be released next year.
The Wandering Earth 2
"Wandering Earth 2" has been scheduled to be released on the first day of the new year in 2023, and the film started on October 13 last year. In addition to the previously disclosed Wu Jing and Andy Lau, Zhang Fengyi also appeared in the cast.
"Wandering Earth 2" boot scene, Zhang Fengyi, Andy Lau, Wu Jing appeared
The synopsis of the film is: The sun is about to be destroyed, and humans have built huge thrusters on the surface of the earth to find a new home. However, the road to the universe is full of danger. In order to save the earth, the young people of the Wandering Earth era once again stepped forward and started a life-and-death battle against time…
Earlier this year, director Guo Fan revealed in an interview with the movie channel that the filming of the film went smoothly, and "The Wandering Earth 2" will create a new and complex world view.
The crew asked experts from the Chinese Academy of Sciences to help sort out more than 100,000 words, which will be more diverse in terms of shape, design and scene.
It is worth mentioning that three years ago, "The Wandering Earth", which single-handedly pioneered Chinese science fiction films, paid a special tribute to Andy Lau in the closing credits.
"The Wandering Earth" credits
Guo Fan once expressed his gratitude to Andy Lau for his help to young directors and his contribution to Chinese film.
But some fans offered a more specific interpretation of "passing down from generation to generation": Andy Lau was the first to support a group of young directors – including Ning Hao, who provided a lot of help when Guo Fan was scratching his head over the stretched budget of "The Wandering Earth".
As for the film producer Gong Ge’s "empty-glove king" in an interview later, he verbally agreed to cooperate, which is another interesting story.
Although Andy Lau is likely to participate in the film as a special actor, considering Guo Fan and Gong Ge’s "obsession" with him and Wu Jing’s "past experience", the possibility of Andy playing more and more roles cannot be ruled out.
Detective Chinatown 4
The cameo of Andy Lau at the end of Detective Chinatown 3 was a big surprise, and his role as a member of the Q organization will obviously be the point person in the fourth installment of the series.
Director Chen Sicheng once said that this villain role requires a high degree of recognition. At this point, Andy Lau, the king of heaven, is very suitable in all aspects, and he himself also has the idea of playing the villain.
The film has not yet been finalized.
The Crisis Route.
Last November, the film "Crisis Route" directed by Peng Shun ("Escape"), which was produced and starred by Andy Lau, was completed in Qingdao.
The film tells the story of a luxury airliner that was hijacked on its maiden flight and finally saved from danger. The film creates the three-story cabin of the A380 according to the 1:1 real scale. The action scenes are also creatively designed for airplane seats, walkways, toilets, ventilation ducts and other enclosed spaces.
Andy Lau and Zhang Zifeng play father and daughter for the first time, and will join forces to fight against villains in the film, while Liu Tao will play a special role in his wife.
Andy Lau said that he had a tacit understanding with Zhang Zifeng as father and daughter, and they felt like a real family of three after running in with Liu Tao for a long time.
The film is expected to be nearing completion, with a release date to be determined.
"The Bodyguard Story"
In March last year, director Ding Sheng’s Weibo showed that the film should have entered the creative stage, but no specific details were disclosed for the time being.
Image source @Ding Sheng blog
The film tells the story of a professional bodyguard who encounters a series of dangerous situations while performing an escort mission.
In 2015, Andy Lau played a kidnapped star in Ding Sheng’s "Free Mr. Wu", and the character resonated with his real identity.
Ding Sheng once revealed that he only chatted with Andy Lau for more than an hour before the latter agreed to star in "Bodyguard Story", and the partner will be Jackie Chan, who worked together in "Private Junior" and "Police Story 2013".
Jackie Chan has already cooperated with Ding Sheng three times, the old partner, the new combination, especially the rare frame between Jackie Chan and Andy Lau, I wonder if it can collide with different sparks.
"The Bomb Locker 3"
In 2017, Andy Lau suffered a serious horse accident.
However, shortly after his comeback, he was struggling on the set of "Bomb Locker 2", and many action scenes were still in person, dragging heavy bomb locker suits to continue filming in hot weather.
The final box office of this film received double word-of-mouth, and it produced the strongest emotions of Hong Kong films in recent years with high completion. At the same time, it also broke Andy Lau’s own Hong Kong film box office record, so the third installment of the series was also logically put on the schedule.
Series directors Qiu Litao and Andy Lau have been partners for many years, and "close to the people" and "professional" are the two most commonly used keywords for director Qiu to evaluate Andy Lau.
Although "Bomb Locker 3" has been confirmed for production, no detailed production progress has been revealed yet.
The Seven Saints.
As early as January 2020, the "Seven Saints" movie series was announced to be launched. The first film will be directed by Ma Chucheng, produced and starred by Andy Lau, and the cast will also be joined by Zhong Chuxi and Li Chengru.
"Seven Saints" movie launch conference
"Seven Saints" selected the setting of seven sworn brothers such as Sun Wukong and the Bull Demon King in "Journey to the West", and Andy Lau’s role as Sun Wukong is expected to surprise many audiences.
But Andy Lau said: "In fact, I played a monkey when I first started acting. To challenge the role of Sun Wukong, I will focus on the emotional portrayal of the characters, hoping that the image of Sun Wukong will be more artistic this time."
The creative team wants to be one of the ambitious "Heroes of the East", but there is no further news about the film yet.
In addition to the above new films with relatively accurate information, Andy Lau also has a number of projects in progress.
For example, "Two and a Half Dads" and "Angel of War Epidemic" have been filmed, as well as "Fight the Dark" and "Monster Hunter Tianshi", which have not yet been filmed.
"Two and a Half Dads" focuses on children with autism
As early as 2000, Andy Lau completed his 100th film work, Ah Hu, and now he has appeared in nearly 200 films.
However, Andy Lau’s contributions to Hong Kong films and even Chinese-language films are far beyond these figures.
Diligent filmmaking has long been regarded as his duty, and as an investor to support newcomers regardless of profit and loss, as a producer to set aside personal gains and losses to drive the industry, and as an actor to reduce his salary during the downturn of Hong Kong films, all of them are inseparable from his words – "What you learn must be taught, and what you earn must be given to others".
Emperor boss Yang Shoucheng said this time when talking about new films in 2022, including "Goldfinger", that he hopes to re-polish the golden signboard of Hong Kong films.
In fact, with Andy Lau around, this golden signboard has never been dusty.
Note: Some of the pictures in this article are from Douban and the Internet. If there is any infringement, please take the initiative to contact us.