From 1986 to 1996, the Hong Kong film industry can be described as the golden decade of the film industry. Indeed, during the period of 10, the Hong Kong film industry created too many movie stories for the audience and left countless brilliant memories.
At the same time, in the year of 10, the greatest achievement of Hong Kong entertainment circle was to hold out the "Four Heavenly Kings" headed by Jacky Cheung, Andy Lau, Liming and Aaron Kwok, and thus entered an extremely active period. Four entertainment darlings in the golden age,
It is through their respective songs and screen images that they walked with countless audiences and witnessed the peak of Hong Kong movies.
With the arrival of the new century, Jacky Cheung, Andy Lau, Liming, Aaron Kwok,
They all spent the best years of their acting career. At this time, with the introduction of a number of new artists, the status of the "Four Kings" in Hong Kong's music, film and entertainment circles has been challenged and shaken as never before.
So in this critical period, what attitude and actions will the "Four Kings" who have worked together to create brilliance meet the challenge? Write a more brilliant career chapter for the coming year.
At the end of 2005, the names of the "Four Heavenly Kings" appeared again in the top 10 list of Hong Kong artists' income rankings. This year, Jacky Cheung and Andy Lau were 44 years old, Aaron Kwok was 40 years old, and Liming was 39 years old. Today, the total number of films starring the four of them has exceeded 220.
Perhaps one day, people will not mention the title of "Four Kings", but there is no doubt that the screen images created by the four of them will be sealed in the memory of everyone who has experienced that era together with pornographic films, so when those long-lost songs ring in their ears, those stories will emerge in their minds with familiar melodies. ...
Speaking of the golden age of Hong Kong movies and the "four kings" who once dominated the film and television circles and music circles, we have to start from the starting point of that golden age.
Among the four people who were later dubbed the "Four Heavenly Kings", Andy Lau was the earliest one to make his debut. 198 1 year, 20-year-old Andy Lau entered the Hong Kong wireless artist training class and signed a contract for wireless immediately after graduation. During this period, he got the support of Chow Yun Fat, a popular actor in Hong Kong film and television circles at that time. 1982 starred in the film "Go to the Angry Sea" directed by Xu Anhua and embarked on the road of performing arts.
Subsequently, Andy Lau appeared in several TV series with high ratings, such as Falcon, Condor Heroes and Duke of Lushan. , and became a popular wireless niche in Hong Kong, together with Tang, Tony Leung Chiu Wai, and called "the five wireless tigers".
During the period of 1984, while Andy Lau was rapidly becoming popular in the film and television circle, Jacky Cheung, who was born in the same year as Andy Lau, was only a small employee of the airline. This year, 23-year-old Jacky Cheung took part in the "Hong Kong 18 District Amateur Singing Competition" with infinite yearning for singing career, and finally won the deus championship among many contestants with a song "The Grace of the Earth", and then signed a contract with Polaroid Records to release his first Cantonese album "Smile" and started his career.
In the same year, Andy Lau took the opportunity to release his first solo album "I Know I Love You Now" by virtue of his popularity in the film and television circle, marking the beginning of his March into his own pop music circle. The album's title song "I only know I love you at this moment" has a beautiful melody and lingering friendship, although young Andy Lau's interpretation of such love songs is weak and lacking in appeal.
1988 is a turning point for Jacky Cheung and Andy Lau. In this year, the two of them starred together for the first time in a movie that might change their lives, Tears streaming down their faces.
1990, Dawn, who worked hard in Hong Kong music for many years, finally released her first solo album Dawn, which was well received. At this time, Alan Tam, the leader of the older generation of Hong Kong music, and Leslie Cheung, the popular superstar, respectively announced their withdrawal from the four major music awards ceremonies, leaving more opportunities for newcomers. So all of a sudden, the Hong Kong media are making all kinds of predictions. Who will be the successor of Hong Kong pop music?
199 1 year, Jacky Cheung released two albums, but he couldn't help it. One of them, Love You More Every Day, has become a well-known love song, and it has almost become the best choice for boys to show their love to girls. At the same time, with this song sweeping the charts, it also opened the curtain of the new generation of Hong Kong music.
In the same year, Andy Lau made a comeback with five solo albums, Endless Love, Days Together, Next Life, Dreams I Chased and Romantic Love Songs, which made a great comeback in the pop music world. Among them, the album title songs "Dreams I Chased" and "The Afterlife" not only topped the pop music charts of that year, but also became a classic song with a long history.
Dawn, who came from behind, also released four albums in the same year, such as Love is Fate, Will You Come Tonight, My Feeling and The Best City. Among them, the title song "I'm sorry I love you" and "Will you come tonight" not only won the top ten jade gold medals in 19 1 TVB, but also won the title of 196544.
It was also in this year that Aaron Kwok, who moved to Taiwan Province Province and became popular in Treasure Island, returned to Hong Kong as a singer and released his solo album Should I Be Quiet? Although Aaron Kwok can't compare with others in singing, her dynamic dancing, delicate face and handsome appearance really made many female listeners irresistible. She won the gold medal of Radio Television Hong Kong/KOOC-0/99/KOOC-0/"Most Potential Newcomer", the silver prize of "Male Singer of Xinlijun Music Station" in commercial radio station and the silver prize of "Top Ten Most Popular Mandarin Songs" in TVB that year. He also appeared in many movies, such as The Banquet of the Giants, Biography of the 500 Million Detective Mayor, The True and False Veyron of Robot Boy, 9 1 Condor Heroes, etc.
At this point, Jacky Cheung, Andy Lau, Liming and Aaron Kwok, who are the main pop musicians, have developed into film and television at the same time, completing the original accumulation in the entertainment circle in Hong Kong, and the "four great kings" at that time are beginning to appear. 1992 The Oriental Daily, which has the largest circulation in Hong Kong, quoted the "Four Heavenly Kings" in Buddhism as the titles of the four new leading figures in Hong Kong music scene for the first time. Since then, this ancient vocabulary has been relabeled with commercial concepts and hype gimmicks, and frequently appeared on the pages of various media together with the photos of the four people, opening the era of the "four kings" in Hong Kong entertainment industry. It can be said that the hype of the concept of "Four Heavenly Kings" is an unprecedented success. It brings together Hong Kong artists and entertainment companies that were originally fragmented under a big concept, further enhancing the competitiveness and influence of the entertainment industry in Hong Kong, thus more favorably seizing the entertainment market and attracting a large number of consumer groups.
Facing the vast and potential entertainment consumption market in the Mainland, the real-time launch of Four Kings has also kept pace with the times, thus opening the entertainment era of the Four Kings, which is popular in China. In this continuous trend, the audience in Chinese mainland not only fully experienced the three-dimensional sense brought by the Hong Kong star system, but also learned for the first time the influence of "movie, video and song" stars on the entertainment market in China. Thus, the first batch of "groupies" in Chinese mainland came into being. At the CCTV Spring Festival Gala, Zhao, Zhao and Zhao performed the sketch "So Idolized", which was quite funny at that time. At the same time, Cantonese songs with Hong Kong dialect as the carrier have also become the most popular local language songs in the world. Until today, many classic songs performed by Jacky Cheung, Andy Lau, Liming and Aaron Kwok are still the most popular songs in KTV.
1993, Jacky Cheung, wearing the title of God of Songs, conquered fans all over China with his native songs. The global sales of Mandarin album Kiss Goodbye reached 4 million, which shocked the Chinese music circle. The well-known songs in the album, such as "Have you all the way" and "Autumn is strong", are deeply loved by fans, and the beautiful goodbye is unforgettable. At this point, no matter from Cantonese to Mandarin, from Hong Kong to the mainland, Jacky Cheung has truly become a god of songs in the eyes of Chinese people all over the world. At the same time, in terms of movies, Jacky Cheung has always played a supporting role as a nobody. That year, he participated in the production of the nonsense comedy Legend of the Condor Heroes, which was supervised by Wong Kar-wai and directed by Liu Zhenwei. In this film, Leslie Cheung, Tony Leung Chiu Wai, Jacky Cheung, Brigitte Lin, Tony Leung Ka Fai, Maggie Cheung, Carina Lau, Zhong Zhentao, Wang Zuxian and other big-name stars in Hong Kong and Taiwan, except for some characters' names in Jin Yong's original Legend of the Condor Heroes, the whole story can be completely subverted and deconstructed, and it can be said that it is an extremely absurd film. Jacky Cheung plays Hong Qigong, a northern beggar who speaks Shandong dialect. Among them, Tony Leung Chiu Wai's hilarious showdown between Ouyang Feng and Xi Du at the bottom of the valley is a classic in nonsense comedy.
At that time, both Andy Lau and Liming starred in Jackie Chan's films drunken master 2 and City Hunter, and both heavenly kings got the opportunity to cooperate with Jackie Chan in the same year. It can be seen that Dawn, who came from behind, and Andy Lau, who has been in the entertainment circle for more than ten years, are almost equal in the entertainment circle in Hong Kong, which also shows the strength of Hong Kong Star Factory. At this time, it is also the most intense competition between Andy Lau and Liming in film and music. At the concert, fans booed each other from time to time, and this dramatic scene was put on the screen by Stephen Chow. We can see this hilarious picture in the movie King of Destruction.
In the same year, in the film "Barefoot Boys" directed by the director, he played Guan, barefoot and stunted, and came to take refuge in his dead father's good friend. Being able to co-produce with Du Qifeng, Tommy Tam, Maggie Cheung and other famous stars and star in the film is enough to show the popularity of young Aaron Kwok at that time. Although this film is the new film of Hong Quan Kid, an old martial arts masterpiece directed by Zhang Che, and the film production does not reflect Du Qifeng's personal artistic style, Aaron Kwok's performance in the film is impressive, and his vigorous skills brought by his solid dance skills have made a good start for his future development into action movies.
At the beginning of 1990s, Hong Kong entertainment products represented by the "Four Heavenly Kings" seized the mainland market in China, while the local entertainment industry in China, especially the pop music industry, also entered an unprecedented active period. Influenced and inspired by the entertainment star system in Hong Kong, musicians in Chinese mainland, China have also set up companies, and started to package and integrate original singers from the mainland, trying to imitate and create a group of idol stars similar to the "Four Kings". 1993 Magic Stone Records, a subsidiary of Taiwan Province Rolling Stone Company, signed three mainland singers, Dou Wei, Zhang Chu and He Yong, and released a solo album under the name of "Magic Stone Three Masters". It can be said that the launch of "The Three Heroes of the Magic Stone" is a representative example for China mainland musicians to emulate and counterattack the "Four Heavenly Kings".
1994 65438+February 17, Dou Wei, Zhang Chu, He Yong and the "Tang Dynasty" band held a concert entitled "The Power of Chinese Rock Music" in Hong Kong Hongkan Gymnasium. This unprecedented concert is the largest ever held in Chinese mainland. Before the concert, He Yong's remark that "the four kings are all clowns except the Jacky Cheung Club" caused a great sensation in the Hong Kong entertainment circle. It marks that the monopoly of Hong Kong pop music represented by the "Four Kings" on the mainland market has gradually disintegrated.
Then came 1995, which was a year when the "Four Kings" gradually turned from noise to calm. During this year, although Jacky Cheung and Andy Lau kept releasing albums, they never sang such touching songs as "Kiss Goodbye" and "Next Life". The quantity and quality of the films produced are obviously not as good as before. Obviously, after experiencing the glorious peak, the two began to enter a long period of dullness.
In contrast, Dawn is still on the rise. From 65438 to 0995, Liming cooperated with director Wong Kar-wai for the first time to film fallen angels. In the film, Dawn plays the angel 1 and is a killer. Different from Jacky Cheung and Andy Lau's vivid performance in Tears Running, Dawn's performance in this film is completely submerged under the gorgeous appearance, without too many expressions and lines, but presents a ruthless killer image, with a single role and too much facial makeup.
Some people say that the "Four Heavenly Kings" are the symbol of the monopoly of entertainment circles in Hong Kong, because in the years after their birth, although countless stars were named as "Four Little Heavenly Kings" or "Fifth Heavenly Kings", these people were all lost by the "Four Heavenly Kings" without exception. The "Four Heavenly Kings" are the product of an era. Even if their appearance caused the monopoly of Hong Kong entertainment circle, it is undeniable that this monopoly is also a symbol of the golden age of Hong Kong entertainment circle. Time flies, the calendar is about to turn over 1996 and enter a great new historical period. Can the "Four Heavenly Kings" who once created brilliance continue to create entertainment myths at this historical crossroads of the Chinese nation? All this can only wait for time to witness.
1998 Aaron Kwok starred in the movie "The Wind and Cloud Dominate the World" directed by Liu Weiqiang. The movie "Wind and Cloud Dominate the World" is adapted from the comic book "Wind and Cloud" created by Hong Kong cartoonist Ma Rongcheng, and tells a magical martial arts story. Tianxiahui, located at the top of Tianshan Mountain, was the biggest gang in Wulin at that time. Help the Lord dominate martial arts, but at the same time be ruthless. In order to be unique in the world, hegemony lasts forever. He eradicated dissidents, recruited disciples, and listened to the slanderers of clay bodhisattva. He took Bu Jingyun and Nie's own son, who were played by two martial arts experts who were slaughtered by him, as disciples, and taught the martial arts of Pai Yunzhang and Shenfengtui, with the intention of cultivating them into successors for the hegemony of the gang.
10 years later, 20-year-old Bu Jingfeng and Nie Feng became masters of Feiyun Hall and Shenfeng Hall, respectively, assisting in the hegemony, conquering the north and the world. But before long, we were suspicious and believed in the witchcraft of "success is also a storm, and failure is also a storm", so we plotted to alienate Nie Feng and Bu Jingyun through the marriage of our daughter Kong Ci in an attempt to alienate them. Two brothers, Feng and Yun, turned against each other and became enemies. After learning of the bear's sinister intentions and unfortunate life experiences, they resolutely joined hands to avenge their father and finally defeated the demon bear. In the film, Bu Jingyun, played by Aaron Kwok, is quite close to the characters in the comics in both shape and expression, which makes the audience shine, which undoubtedly depends on Aaron Kwok's excellent appearance and excellent physical quality. In the performance, Aaron Kwok also successfully dealt with the details of the characters' personalities, and vividly presented a ruthless and taciturn chivalrous figure on the screen. At the same time, the film is of great significance in the history of special effects in Hong Kong. Because it shows a magical story, a lot of computer stunts are used in the movie. There were about 500 special shots in total, which took 40 minutes, making the film a sensation after its release. Hong Kong alone has earned more than 45 million Hong Kong dollars at the box office, making it a box office masterpiece in Hong Kong.
In 2000, Andy Lau, who became the big brother in the Hong Kong film industry with more than 90 films, starred in his first100th film, Ah Fu directed by Li Rengang.
Entering the new century, with the ups and downs of the Hong Kong film industry, the "Four Kings" once again ushered in a new era of their film career. This year, Aaron Kwok, who has made film breakthroughs with many action movies, once again appeared in the action blockbuster "China Anti-terrorism Elite". The film "China Counter-Terrorism Elite" is the first international action blockbuster shot by the Central Group with an investment of 8 million US dollars. This is also the first transnational blockbuster filmed in Asia by the famous Hong Kong director Tang Jili after his expedition to Hollywood. Not only did the behind-the-scenes staff recruit Hollywood and Hong Kong filmmakers, but the cast was also quite grand. Besides Aaron Kwok, Japanese heroine Norika Fujiwara, Asian pop singer Wang Leehom and Ruby Lin, the most popular actress on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, also participated in the performance.
In 2002, Jacky Cheung, who had been silent in the film industry for several years, starred in the film Rhapsody in July with transformational significance. The film "Rhapsody in July" continues Xu Anhua's gentle narrative style, tells an unconventional love story between teachers and students, and shows a middle-aged man's confusion and helplessness in the face of family, marriage and love. In the film, Jacky Cheung, the humorous bit part in the previous films, turned out to be a middle school Chinese teacher in his forties. Lin Yao, played by Jacky Cheung in the film, is a loyal, upright and proficient Chinese teacher. She is always conscientious and meticulous, but she can't resist the pursuit of Lin Jiaxin, an avant-garde and bold precocious female student. Under the persistent pursuit and entanglement of female students, the teachers in the classroom gradually lost their guard. In the face of this sudden youthful love, the calm heart in the long-term family life once again set off waves, evoking the long-forgotten memories of the first love. It can be said that Jacky Cheung perfectly shows the subtle changes of the protagonist Lin Yao's inner feelings at home, showing a screen image that is completely different from previous films.
Although Jacky Cheung in life has already achieved fame and wealth, he may not really feel the mentality of the leading actor Lin Yao. But a 40-year-old man should always have his own doubts and feelings, which may be the real reason why Jacky Cheung can vividly interpret the characters in the film.
In 2003, Andy Lau once again challenged the difficult role and starred in the film "Even the wisest man is foolish" directed by Du Qifeng. In Du Qifeng's film, the original style was changed, and the plot became absurd. The style of the film made people feel right and wrong clearly, which reflected the director's original intention of innovation and change. Judging from the plot of the film, it is obviously unreal, but it is interspersed with police investigations and branches of Buddhist theory. At the same time, the scene of a big man and a shrinking Indian fighting on a building is reflected in the Hollywood movies Hulk and Spider-Man. No wonder this film immediately attracted mixed reviews. Whatever the evaluation, Andy Lau's hard performance in the film, wearing dozens of pounds of fake muscles, finally won the favor of the judges of the Academy Awards, and won the Best Actor Award in the 23rd Academy Awards, which is the first time that Andy Lau has won this honor in the past 20 years, although this award seems to be insufficient.
In 2004, the cooperation between Hong Kong and mainland filmmakers was further strengthened. Andy Lau co-starred with famous domestic directors Zhang Yimou and Xiaogang Feng in two films, House of Flying Daggers and world without thieves. Dawn participated in filming the romantic literary film "Big Cities and Small Things" directed by Ye Weixin. At the same time, "Big Cities and Small Things" is also the first time that Liming participated in the investment, creation and producer of the film.
In 2005, Aaron Kwok, who has entered the age of no doubt, starred in the film Sanchakou directed by Chen Musheng. The title of this film borrows from the famous Sanchakou in Beijing Opera, which means that three men are fighting in the dark. In addition to adhering to Chen Musheng's usual action film style, the biggest highlight of this film is Aaron Kwok. In the film, Aaron Kwok, with a full face of beard, tough vicissitudes and a slightly sloppy appearance, plays a sad policeman who has been waiting for his girlfriend 10 years. At the same time, it gives people a brand-new feeling in acting, breaking the single and routine performance in previous movies, and portrays the complex psychological changes brought about by the loss of a lover through the excavation of the characters' hearts. At the same time, there is no superfluous fancy design in the arrangement of action scenes. By approaching the real fighting, the audience is brought into a more real scene feeling, which undoubtedly reveals more of Aaron Kwok's true colors and inner feelings. For Aaron Kwok himself, the film Sanchakou can be regarded as a transformational work on his performance road, which not only made him make a breakthrough in acting, but also won the title of Best Actor in Taiwan Golden Horse Award and the nomination of the 25th Hong Kong Film Awards.
This year, Jacky Cheung, relying on her position in the music world, starred in the musical If Love directed by Chen Kexin. In this musical, which brings together top film and music producers from three places, apart from the extraordinary dancing skills of Chinese mainland's popular actress Zhou Xun and Taiwan Province's heavyweight idol Takeshi Kaneshiro, the biggest attraction is Jacky Cheung's lyrical interpretation. In the film, the audience can clearly feel the gap between Jacky Cheung and others in stage performance and singing skills, which is the real reason why Jacky Cheung has stood proudly in the entertainment circle in Hong Kong for more than 20 years.
This year, Andy Lau, who has always been famous for her dedication, continued to challenge difficult roles with the help of Hollywood makeup artists. If the previous films "Slimming Men and Women" and "Men with Great Wisdom" co-operated with Du Qifeng all wore rubber models, then in this film "When You Get Old" directed by Chen Desen, Andy Lau once again endured the pain of flesh and blood, put rubber models on his face and played a child who grew old in a short time because of taking strange potions. In this fairy tale movie, except for the appearance of Andy Lau, who is 60 years old, the audience doesn't feel much about the story itself. After all, I have shot too many stories about time travel.