After 70 years of filming, he is the favorite actor of Zhang Che's martial arts films, and regrets interrupting his directorial career due to immigration
Jiang David: Actors do not have the word "retirement"
David Jiang was born in Shanghai in 1947 and moved south to Hong Kong with his family when he was a child.
His father, Yan Hua, was a film actor who was active in Shanghai in the 1940s; his mother, Hong Wei, was a Manchu native from Beijing. He had played supporting roles and dubbed Mandarin in many Hong Kong films, so their siblings could speak a word. Straightforward Mandarin.
His half-brother Qin Pei was two years older than him, and his half-brother Er Dongsheng was ten years younger.
Qin Pei talked to the media about David Jiang in his early years, describing that his younger brother did not ask anyone for anything and took care of everything by himself.
"Since he was a child, he refused to explain misunderstandings to others. Even with his parents and teachers, he always said 'whatever you want, I am still me'." Er Dongsheng once wrote about David Jiang's "cool" in his column. .
Jiang David took Er Dongsheng, who was a child, to the studio to play. He only said four sentences throughout the whole process, two of which were still tone particles.
But that didn't stop him from becoming a fan of his brother.
David Jiang has long been a legend in Chinese film history.
He was born in a family of performing arts. He has been a young actor on the set since he was 4 years old. In his early twenties, he started as a martial artist (a stand-in for a martial arts actor) in "Fight for Life" (Zhang Che's language), and soon became the favorite of a generation of martial arts film master Zhang Che. Disciple, Hong Kong's first Asia-Pacific Film Festival Best Actor winner, and a movie star who became popular in the global Chinese community in the 1960s and 1970s.
However, David Jiang, who became famous for his roles in martial arts films, switched careers to become a director at the peak of his career, focusing his perspective on the bottom of society.
The films he directed are not big hits, but they are quite realistic and can also make actors.
Xiao Fangfang's first film "Aren't Enemies Don't Gather" and Liu Qingyun's film debut "Inaudible Talk", which won the Academy Award for Best Actress, are all from her.
He regrets that his career as a director was interrupted by immigrating to Canada. After 15 years, he wanted to continue to be a director, only to find that his ideas and methods were out of touch with the younger generation.
"I regret it a little bit, and of course there is no regret medicine."
He decided to stop being a director and focus on being an actor, playing the leading role and supporting roles meticulously.
He does not have the sense of mystery and distance of a "legendary star". Whether it is a movie or a TVB TV series, as long as fans wait patiently, they will definitely wait for him to appear.
He regards "actor" as a lifelong career with no retirement time, and can accept the change of ranks calmly.
"Unless you don't do this, this is the only way to go. No one can be the number one male forever. There are many factors, and age is one of them."
Gu Long's book wrote: "Even if you go to the rivers and lakes to catch up with spring, you don't have to keep it. Because this is life, some things can't be kept. You must learn to endure its ruthlessness before you know how to enjoy it. The tenderness." Looking back, this is very suitable to describe the hero David Jiang in his mind.
The tides of the times come and go, and he has seen through the ups and downs.
Keyword Retirement
How can I retire with so many new things to learn
At the TVB "Wan Qian Xinghui Awards Ceremony" broadcast live on the Buriedui APP at the beginning of this year, Jiang David received the "Wan Qian Xinghui Performing Arts Award" (Lifetime Achievement Award) from his brother Qin Pei.
He said that over the past 70 years, he has made movies and TV dramas, played various roles, and also worked as a director, but now the times are changing rapidly, and he finds that there are still many new things to learn.
"I was asked before when I was going to retire. I said, I haven't learned everything, how can I retire? Actors don't have the word 'retire'. The brain and body haven't told me when I need to retire, so I'm not retiring now."
He didn't even let himself rest for too long, and made two movies around the Spring Festival.
Everyone in the industry knows that he is a martial artist, and he never needs a stand-in in action scenes.
Even though he is in his 70s and the crew has stuntmen, he does all the action scenes in the movie except for falling and flipping.
"This is also the experience I have accumulated over the years. I know what movements can be done and what cannot be done."
Talking about the two recent works made him feel that there have been new changes in film shooting techniques and other aspects.
For example, the photographer assistant does not need to stand behind the camera and stare, but remote control the focus from a distance, and the lighting engineer can also operate remotely from a distance.
"I finished filming the action scene that day, and they all said: 'It's good, very good, if you don't believe me, come and see!' It turns out that they did the rough cut of the whole scene while filming. These are quite novel to me. You Say, do I still have a lot to learn?"
Because of the epidemic, David Jiang has not been to the mainland for two years. The last time he went to Xiangshan, Zhejiang to shoot a micro-movie in 2020.
A year ago, when he filmed the film "Zhu Xian" (played by Daoxuan) directed by Cheng Xiaodong in Huairou, Beijing, he also felt the difference between mainland film and television production and Hong Kong.
In a costume drama in Hong Kong, he usually sticks his beard and gets it done in 20 to 30 minutes.
But when he acted as Dohyun, his beard and eyebrows were glued one by one by a makeup artist. He put on makeup for two hours every day, and it felt very different after finishing it.
He hopes to have the opportunity to return to the mainland to film and learn about new changes.
"But someone has to invite me. It also depends on various factors such as time and role."
keyword actor
No one can be the first man forever, including me
David Jiang became famous very early. At the age of 23 (1970), he won the Best Actor in the 16th Asia-Pacific Film Festival for his film "Revenge" directed by Zhang Che, becoming the first actor in Hong Kong history to win this honor.
When he was young, he was thin and handsome in appearance, and inadvertently showed a melancholy temperament. He was a beautiful man with a unique style in the film industry at that time.
Yi Shu once described Jiang David in this way: "He has a beautiful silence. He uses a Cartier lighter to light the Governor's cigarette. He is very born."
How popular was he back then?
In an interview with Chen Luyu, Er Dongsheng said that David Jiang was more accomplished than he and another older brother, Qin Pei. In the 1960s and 1970s, the American, Canadian, British, Dutch, Australian, Korean, Thai... Chinese people all over the world He is "very popular" in the society.
Legendary stars usually have a sense of mystery and distance, but David Jiang does not.
In the past 30 years, he has appeared in dozens of film and television dramas, occasionally playing the male lead, and most of the time he is willing to be a supporting role.
From the highly anticipated male protagonist to the "senior green leaf" in the film and television drama, such a gap did not bring him psychological confusion, just because he had seen too many similar situations in the film for many years, and when it was his turn to experience it, he was able to Accept it.
"When I met fans on the road, I asked others (other popular stars) to take pictures. After a while, many people came to me to take pictures, but not him. It gave me the feeling that many people liked to watch my dramas, and his No one watched the play. In the end, no one watched my play, and someone else watched the play…”
He has seen such things a lot, and he gradually understands that unless he does not become an actor, it is the only way for his popularity to change from prosperity to decline.
"No one can be the number one male forever, and no one can always stand at the top. There are many factors, even age is one of the factors." As an actor, the only thing you can do is to continue to act with your heart and keep your work. level.
Even if you play a supporting role, even if there is only one scene, you still have to think that you are the male lead.
"That way you can balance your mentality."
Keyword master
Director Zhang Che is my master, and he has always been
The beginning and highlights of Jiang David's actor career are closely related to the martial arts film master Zhang Che.
The 1960s and 1970s was the peak of Zhang Che's creation. His films such as "One-Armed Swordsman", "Vengeance" and "Thorn Horse" were very popular. The masculine style and violent aesthetics he created have influenced the present to this day.
Tsui Hark once publicly stated that he was deeply influenced by Zhang Che, "I have watched any martial arts movie so far, and there is a shadow of "One-Armed Swordsman"."
Zhang Che single-handedly discovered and trained a number of movie stars and director talents, including Jiang Dawei, Di Long, Wang Yu, Li Xiuxian, and director John Woo.
Among them, Jiang David is one of Zhang Che's favorite male protagonists. He has won the Asia Pacific Film Festival Performance Award twice for "Vengeance" and "Rebel", both directed by Zhang Che.
Although he started acting at the age of 4, Jiang David entered the industry as a martial artist (a stand-in for martial arts actors) as an adult.
It was Zhang Che who persuaded him to leave the higher-income martial arts business at the time, and signed a contract with Shaw Brothers as an actor. Even the contract was negotiated by Zhang Che to help him negotiate with the company.
"Zhang Che is my master. It's been my whole life. We 'people in ancient costumes' must listen to Master. At that time he asked me: 'How about being an actor? I'll help you talk about being an actor.' All things are What he went to help me negotiate is the same as the current manager." Zhang Che is also very kind to his disciples, and often leads a group of disciples to dinner after filming.
"It's all hired by him. He's the director. We have more money, but we have less money as actors. He treats us like sons."
Zhang Che wrote about his acquaintance with David Jiang in the magazine ("Hong Kong Films and Pictures").
When he was filming "Golden Swallow", he noticed the young man who acted as a stand-in for actor Jing Miao in action scenes. He was told that he was the son of actress Hong Wei.
As soon as he asked about "David Jiang", he knew that this was the orphan of Yan Hua (formerly known as Jiang Keqi).
The first script written by Zhang Che had Yan Hua and Gu Lanjun as the male and female protagonists.
"At that time, my heart was moved, and I felt a little pity. Originally, martial arts is a very popular and high-income industry, but there is always a sense of 'fight for life'. The son of an old friend, who lives on this at this age, I feel a little bit in my heart. I'm not feeling well."
Therefore, when filming "Dead End" (1969), Zhang Che found Jiang David to sign a contract as an actor, starting from a supporting role.
After a few plays, "Ranger" asked him to play the leading role, which was a great success.
Everyone gradually found that an actor is the most suitable career to show Jiang David's talent - "A strong agility, excellent fighting, natural and vivid performances, learning to drive, learn to ride horses, not only will you learn it, but you will be good in a while... Every role is He performed a different flavor. His type is also unique, different from other 'small students'."
Keyword martial arts
In terms of performance, the most favorite is the martial arts film
"Alluring Country and Alluring City" (1975) is the first time that Jiang David left Zhang Che to shoot a work directed by another director (Li Hanxiang) after he entered the industry.
In fact, his family is very familiar with director Li Hanxiang. It was Er Guang, Er Dongsheng's father, who promoted Li Hanxiang to join Shaw Brothers in his early years.
20 years later, when Li Hanxiang asked him to act in a movie, the first thing he did was to get Zhang Che's consent.
"If Zhang Che didn't let us go, we would definitely not go to shoot. But he is not such a person, on the contrary, he will give us all kinds of opportunities and support in all aspects."
Years later, his relationship with TVB was also indirectly related to Zhang Che.
In the early 1990s, Jiang Dawei's family immigrated to Canada, but Zhang Che asked him to help film the TV series "Thorn Horse" (1992), and he flew back under his obligation.
After filming "Thorn Horse", TVB producer Pan Jiade invited him to appear in the TV series "The Legend of the Condor Heroes: The Nine Yin Classics" (1993), which was also the beginning of his official cooperation with TVB.
The director of the play, Li Rengang, was born in film art. He used film techniques during filming. In addition, the script has changed a lot from the original work, and the style presented is very different from the martial arts drama at that time.
David Jiang played Huang Yaoshi several years later, which still amazes many mainland drama fans - "Before watching this drama, how could Huang Yaoshi be like this? After watching it, how could Huang Yaoshi be different!"
So far, he has acted in nearly 200 film and television works, and Jiang David's favorite is the martial arts film.
"My brother Wang Yu has a "Golden Swallow", which I like very much. There are also several of my own dramas that I still like very much, such as "New One-Armed Swordsman", "Bodyguard", "Vengeance", and "Thorn Horse". Good." The reason why I prefer ancient costume martial arts films is also because "this is something in our Chinese culture, and others can't make it."
keyword director
Preference for realistic themes, regret interrupting the director's career
After winning another award at the Asia-Pacific Film Festival in 1973 with the film "Rebel", David Jiang began to work as a film director.
Why did a movie star who was less than 30 years old and who was popular, wanted to be a director at that time?
"Hey, every actor who thinks he is good wants to be a director. They all feel that they have a lot of ideas, and they need to express them through being a director. I am no exception." After so many years of filming with director Zhang Che, he considers himself Those who know how to be a good director also have some ideas to express.
"As a result, after becoming a director, there are more failures than successes."
The first film he directed was "Drug Addict" (1974) starring Dillon, Wang Zhong, Li Siqi and Qin Pei, and his last film before his career was interrupted was "Black Snow" (1991) starring Maggie Cheung and Jacky Cheung. ).
There are two plays, one at the beginning and the other at the end, and the protagonists are all "drug addicts".
In the past 20 years, he has directed more than ten films one after another, most of which are realistic themes.
Regardless of the source material or style, the films he directed are completely different from Zhang Che, and they are also different from those popular in the film market.
In the Chinese film market at that time, martial arts films and action films were still popular. Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung were the darlings of the box office.
Jiang David said that as a director, he just wanted to try to make different movies.
First of all, I wanted to make something different from Director Zhang Che, because I would never be able to make a master in a martial arts film.
Secondly, when he was young, the overall social environment was not good. Although his family was an actor, he was poor, and he had to spend a long time in the house without turning over a few dollars.
There are many people from the bottom of the society living near his home.
"To put it more grandly, I want to show these to the audience, hoping that everyone can see where the social problems lie. But the audience may not accept it or not."
Interestingly, director David Jiang's attention to the real world can also find "foreshadowings" in his previous acting career.
Long before he became the leading actor in Zhang Che's films, David Jiang, who was in his teens, played the leading role for the first time in a black-and-white film with a realistic theme - "Street Boy" (1960) directed by Yue Feng.
The film, starring David Jiang, Luo Huizhu (Yan Hui) and Hu Die, tells the story of separated and reunited orphaned brothers and sisters (Da Ming and Xiao Hong) who are wandering on the streets.
Although Jiang David rarely directs costume works, the costume films "The Owl" and "One Armed Hero" directed by him have their own special features.
"The Owl" (1981) gathered three brothers, Jiang David directed and acted, Qin Pei was the producer and starring, and Er Dongsheng wrote the script and signed "Er Xiaobao".
The film spoofed many martial arts films and foreign films, and was later called the originator of nonsense in Hong Kong film history.
The creation of the film originated from the three brothers and Zeng Zhiwei chatting about what to film. Because they all came from martial arts films, they decided to use martial arts films as a joke.
"Everyone conceived of this "Owl", and changed many foreign films, martial arts films, Gu Long's, Jin Yong's, made a big joke, and made a nonsense thing. But the box office was not good, maybe at that time The audience still doesn't accept it." From the current point of view, the performance of "The Owl" is ahead of its time, and it is reasonable for the audience at that time not to accept it, but creators like Gu Long can understand it, and he doesn't mind himself. The novel was spoofed.
Jiang David said: "I remember I told him (Gu Long). There was a time when we got very close and drank together every day."
Gu Long once said that the male protagonists in his works have to be played by David Jiang and Di Long, but in fact, there are not many opportunities for David Jiang to play the male lead in Gu Long's works.
One Armed Man (1977) is one of them.
"Wang Yu and I made this film, Gu Long is the screenwriter. Wang Yu and I are brothers and sisters, and we have both acted in 'One-Armed Swordsman'. We are both directors. I filmed my part and Wang Yu filmed him. In that part, when everyone played together, he was the senior brother and he was the director."
Although the films directed by David Jiang may not be big hits, they are quite successful as actors.
Xiao Fangfang won the Academy Award for Best Actress for the first time for her film "It's Not Enemies, Not Gathering Together"; "Inaudible Talk" (1986) was Liu Qingyun's first leading role in a movie, and he shined a few years later. Nominated for Best Actor at the Academy Awards.
Talking about how he found Liu Qingyun, who was not very famous, to star in that year, Jiang David said: "I saw this young man (Liu Qingyun) on TV at that time. Although he was not beautiful, his play and temperament were very good. I wanted to shoot a different one. Well, I just wanted to try it out with him. I got it right, and he was really successful later. But that's not my relationship, it's his own efforts."
David Kang hasn't directed a movie since "Black Snow" (1991).
He told the Beijing News reporter that it was not because the box office was not good that he did not become a director, but at that time his daughter was going to college in Canada, and the whole family immigrated to Vancouver, so the two projects he was working on had to be rejected.
But the next year he was called back by his master Zhang Che to make a TV series.
In order to balance work and family, he worked as a "flying trapeze" for 15 years until his family returned to Hong Kong in 2007.
"In the past 15 years, I flew over as soon as I finished filming, and I didn't have time to be a director at all. When I wanted to be a director later, I found that my methods and ideas were out of touch with the younger generation."
If the whole family had been in Hong Kong all these years, he believed that the development in all aspects would be different.
"I regret (immigration) a little bit, and of course there is no regret medicine." Although he is no longer a director, he has appeared in many film and television works in recent years, and he can observe and feel the changes in the concept and technology of this industry at close range.
"My feeling is that now I can make suggestions, but I can't make up my mind. Whether I accept it or not requires the director to make a decision after considering all aspects." If he wants to work behind the scenes of movies again, he thinks it is a good idea to work with young directors as supervisors. more feasible way.
Written by/The Beijing News reporter Yang Lianjie