Yangzi： Working with Jackie Chan to make a movie dream come true.

Original title: Yangzi: Working with Jackie Chan to make a movie dream come true

Although animal movies are widely loved by the audience, the difficulty of shooting makes many directors flinch. However, for director Yang Zi, animal themes have become his favorite in recent years. In 2019, he directed the animal-themed film "Pet", which had a good reputation and earned more than 600 million yuan at the box office. Directed by him and starring Jackie Chan and Guo Qilin, the new film "Dragon and Horse Spirit" is being released. This time, he aimed the camera at a horse named "Red Rabbit". The film tells a touching story between Lao Luo (Jackie Chan), a down-and-out martial artist, and "Red Rabbit".

Tell a brand-new relationship between man and horse

Speaking of his feelings about animals, Yang Zi described it as "love and fear". It turned out that he had been chased and bitten by wild dogs many times when he was a child. "I have been afraid of dogs for 37 years, and I was bitten by dogs since I was a child." He said with a smile. At the age of 11, his leg was bitten by a wild dog, leaving a great psychological shadow of childhood. Afraid of returning to fear, he was attracted by the "eyes" of small animals. "My heart is very contradictory." When filming "Pet", he borrowed a dog from his sister-in-law’s house to keep it at home for a month in order to prepare for the filming. "Get along with animals slowly and cultivate feelings sincerely, so I can be competent for the role myself."

The success of "Pampering" greatly enhanced Yang Zi’s confidence in making movies about animals. "So I thought of horses, which is the animal I have always wanted to shoot." However, there are quite a few movies related to horses. In Yang Zi’s view, the relationship between "horses and people" is nothing more than "horse racing stories" and "war horses", which basically forms a story routine. He doesn’t want to repeat the story, he wants to "break the subject". But the inspiration didn’t come until one day, he saw the documentary "Dragon Tiger Warrior" directed by Wei Junzi, and he was shocked. The film brings together Sammo Hung, Jackie Chan, Yuan Heping, Yuan Wah, Donnie Yen and other Chinese-language films with the strongest "martial arts team", revealing in an all-round way the changes of the Hong Kong Dragon and Tiger martial arts division for more than 60 years. "Looking at these old faces and their scarred bodies, listening to their stories about moderns that they experienced in those years, they also talked about today’s survival sentiment. Although they are still active in the film and television circle, they will be more or less attached to their previous lives and the changes of the times. This kind of thing suddenly poked me." So Yang Zi came up with the idea of combining "the story of the master of horse and dragon and tiger". "I hope I can pass this touch on."

In the story, the prototype of the Dragon and Tiger Martial Master is Jackie Chan.

When Yang Zi drew out the outline of the story, he suddenly found that Jackie Chan was the archetypal figure he had been using in his mind, and it was also his dream to cooperate with Jackie Chan in a movie.

Yang Zi revealed that the first time I met Jackie Chan, the original conversation time was half an hour, but in the end they actually talked for two and a half hours. Asked why he could impress Jackie Chan in a short time, Yang Zi laughed and said that Jackie Chan has a very sensitive emotional nerve. "He has basically played all the characters, and what he needs most may be a relatively fresh theme or fresh emotional expression. Of course, there are also many literary dramas in this film, which may also be in line with the wishes of Big Brother’s transformation. " However, Yang Zi admits that Jackie Chan can’t be tempted by persuasion alone. "He must start from the heart and judge whether he is interested in your things and whether he is touched by one or two points inside. You should let him read his passion for movies from your eyes, instead of simply taking a story to impress others. "

Yang Zi remembers that Jackie Chan talked frankly with himself about the ups and downs of being an action actor for decades. Among them, when he first entered the business, young Jackie Chan was bent on seizing the opportunity. Once I wanted to shoot a very dangerous action, just when everyone hesitated, Jackie Chan rushed up first. When he thought he could win everyone’s envious eyes, he was pointed at his nose and scolded "get down" by a boss of Wushu. "Eldest brother said that his face was on fire when he walked down, and all the Wushu players below were laughing. But in fact, it was this big brother who protected him, because he was still a seedling at that time, and it would undoubtedly hurt to really do this action. This is also the inheritance between the Dragon and Tiger Martial Arts. "

The most difficult thing to shoot is the emotional interaction between people and horses.

In order to find a suitable "red rabbit" actor, Yang Zi took great pains. Although all kinds of "old bones" horses in the film and television base are good, they all have traces of polishing. "There is a light in the eyes of these horses"; The horses in the racecourse did not enter Yang Zi’s eyes. "They stayed in the stable for too long, and they lacked an unruly tension."

Where there’s a will, there’s a way. One day, the crew sent a short video to Yang Zi to see if it was appropriate. This is a champion horse that has just retired early from the Macau Jockey Club because of the epidemic. "Its muscle lines are very beautiful, its sports state is very good, and its spirit is very full. Of course, it takes a professional rider to control it, but overcoming difficulties is what we filmmakers have to do, so we resolutely bought this horse. " Jackie Chan has dealt with horses before. When filming Shanghai Noon in 2000, he received two months of equestrian training in Canada. When the champion horse met Jackie Chan for the first time, it actually became obedient, which surprised everyone in the crew.

In Dragon Horse Spirit, there are many scenes in which "red rabbits" take off or jump over trenches, but in Yang Zi’s view, it is not difficult to shoot these seemingly intense action scenes, because the really dangerous actions can be used as post-special effects. "What is really difficult is the emotional drama of small and fine work." Yang Zi said that the first circus shot in the film was that Lao Luo asked his daughter’s lawyer boyfriend Naihua (Guo Qilin) to sparring with Red Rabbit. "This scene was shot for three days before and after, because it involved the interaction between horses and people, and there were all kinds of funny details. Horses don’t act according to people’s will. You can only try to capture the horse’s expression in the interval. "

In Yang Zi’s view, although the horse is tall, it is actually sensitive and timid. The only way is to let the horse relax. "Therefore, we greatly slowed down the pace and let the horse adapt slowly. Coupled with Jackie Chan’s constant appeasement around it, this horse has gradually found happiness. This kind of champion horse, in fact, adapted to the scene of the mountain calling tsunami during the competition and missed the warm atmosphere. It’s like a child. When it’s ripe, it becomes naughty. The horse trainer gave it encouragement and it became a member of the crew. " Yang Zi laughed. Reporter Wang Jinyue