The atmosphere on the set was incredibly tense.
Tsui Hark was like an enraged lion, his chest heaving as he fumed and roared, unable to contain his anger:
“Are you people using your brains? Huh? Are you using them?”
“Tell me, how many takes have you messed up just for these few moves?”
“God damn it!”
“You can’t even get a few moves right, and you still have the nerve to film here, to call yourselves stars?”
“Go back and raise pigs instead!”
“Fuck!”
Over a dozen retakes had completely exhausted his patience.
He no longer cared about maintaining the demeanor of a director; he just opened his mouth and let loose.
Hearing this, Fan Shaohuang, Li Chun, and the others were as quiet as cicadas in winter, trembling inside.
Faced with Tsui Hark’s storm-like reprimand, they cast pleading glances toward Li Lianjie and the others nearby, hoping they could help out.
But the response they got was a look of helplessness from Li Lianjie and the others.
As one of the most influential master-level directors in Hong Kong and Taiwan,
Tsui Hark held a very high status.
Even Best Actor Li Lianjie and Best Actress Zhou Xun had to show him deference and wouldn’t overstep their bounds when working with him.
And that was even more so now that Tsui Hark was angry.
They certainly weren’t going to cross him at a time like this.
So…
“You’re on your own.”
Looking at Fan Shaohuang and the others, Li Lianjie and his group thought to themselves silently.
Seeing this, Fan Shaohuang and the others felt a wave of despair.
If even Li Lianjie wouldn’t help them, then they were done for.
Just as they closed their eyes, bracing themselves for the coming storm,
“Director Tsui, what’s going on? Why so angry?”
Jiang Nian’s voice came from the side.
Everyone looked over and saw Jiang Nian walking towards them, holding three boxed lunches, with Zhang Yuxin following behind. He was eating as he walked.
Thanks to the good impression Jiang Nian had made on Tsui Hark,
Tsui Hark didn’t lash out at him.
Instead, he offered Jiang Nian a cigarette, lit one for himself, and grumbled, “Don’t even mention it. I told them two days in advance that we’d be shooting the fight scene and to practice with the martial arts choreographer. They practiced for two days, but today, when we started shooting, they couldn’t get it right even after over a dozen takes. Why do you think I’m angry?”
“So that’s what happened.”
Jiang Nian understood. Then, with a glint in his eye, he smiled and said, “So which specific moves are they having trouble with? Let me take a look. I’ve practiced martial arts myself, so maybe I can figure out what’s going on.”
Hearing this, Tsui Hark let out a surprised grunt.
Let Jiang Nian take a look?
That…
That could work.
After all, Jiang Nian’s skill was there for everyone to see.
Rather than him and the martial arts choreographer racking their brains trying to figure out how to guide them, it might be better to let an expert like Jiang Nian have a look.
With that in mind, Tsui Hark nodded. “Alright, then I’ll trouble you, Teacher Jiang.”
He then looked at Fan Shaohuang, Li Chun, and the others.
And grunted.
“Retake!”
At his command, Fan Shaohuang, Li Chun, and the others felt as if they had been granted a reprieve.
They quickly got into position and started fighting again.
Jiang Nian held his boxed lunch, eating as he watched from the side.
It was fine at first. A bit flashy and fancy, sure, but from a cinematic perspective, there wasn’t anything majorly wrong.
But when Fan Shaohuang, Li Chun, and the others were pulled into the air by the wires and started exchanging moves up there,
Jiang Nian’s brow furrowed.
This…
“What the hell is this crap?”
Even though Jiang Nian had only been practicing martial arts for a little over a month, and through the memories of ‘Du Gao’ and ‘Yu Huatian’ he had learned quite a few martial arts routines, seeing their performance still made him blurt out this soul-searching question.
What kind of fighting was that?
Are you sure you’re filming a movie, and not rehearsing some kind of bizarre Olympic performance?
The moves were so twisted, so deformed.
Jiang Nian had the classic ‘disgusted old man looking at phone’ expression, indicating that this was simply unbearable to watch.
Tsui Hark noticed the change in his expression and wasn’t surprised.
He had made the same face when he first saw Fan Shaohuang and Li Chun’s fight scenes.
So he directly called “Cut,” looked at Jiang Nian, and said, “Teacher Jiang, now you understand how I felt earlier, right?”
“I understand.”
Jiang Nian nodded in deep agreement.
He didn’t dare say it looked like crap, afraid that if he did, Fan Shaohuang and the others would be secretly relieved.
“How could they perform it this badly?”
Jiang Nian thought for a moment and decided it definitely wasn’t a problem with their acting skills.
After all, this scene didn’t require any acting; it just needed them to perform the fight sequence properly.
So, the problem was obvious.
“Director Tsui, could I take a look at their action sequence sketches?”
Jiang Nian asked.
Hearing this, Tsui Hark nodded. “No problem.”
He rummaged around and pulled out a few sheets of paper, handing them to Jiang Nian.
Jiang Nian took one look and frowned.
Sure enough, just as he had guessed.
“Director Tsui, I know what the problem is.”
“What is it?”
“The problem is with the action design itself!”
As Jiang Nian spoke these words,
everyone present was stunned.
They had considered other possibilities, like Fan Shaohuang and the others not practicing seriously, or them not grasping the key points.
But it had never crossed their minds that Jiang Nian would directly point his finger at the action design.
After all, the action sequences in The Flying Swords of Dragon Gate were painstakingly worked out by Tsui Hark and the martial arts choreographer, revised over and over before being finalized.
Jiang Nian questioning the action design was, without a doubt, questioning Tsui Hark’s ability.
Sure enough,
after a brief moment of stunned silence, the expression on Tsui Hark’s face immediately became uncomfortable.
He lowered his voice: “Teacher Jiang, what do you mean by that?”
Jiang Nian, however, was unfazed and said,
“Exactly what I said. These moves might look very flashy and cool, but in reality, many of them violate the basic principles of human anatomy.”
“Of course, they can be done, but there’s a prerequisite for that: you have to be able to do this.”
As he spoke, Jiang Nian put down his boxed lunch, pinched his own shoulder with his hand, adjusted it slightly, and then yanked downwards.
Crack—
A crisp sound was heard.
Jiang Nian, looking as calm as if he were eating or drinking water, had simply dislocated his own arm by pulling it.
Then, under the dumbfounded stares of everyone present,
Jiang Nian began to perform the moves according to the sketches.
Unlike Fan Shaohuang and Li Chun, whose moves looked like they were performing some kind of eldritch ritual,
with his arm dislocated and his reach extended, the moves Jiang Nian performed were exceptionally smooth and remarkably elegant to watch.
After he finished, Jiang Nian grabbed his arm and lifted it upwards.
Crack.
The arm was immediately restored to normal.
Jiang Nian moved it around a bit, confirmed there were no issues, then turned to look at Tsui Hark. “Director Tsui, do you understand now?”
Tsui Hark: “…”
His eyelid twitched. His lips moved, as if he wanted to say something, but when the words reached his mouth, nothing came out.
Because what Jiang Nian had just done was simply too damn insane.
Just to demonstrate, he went crack and popped his arm out of its socket.
Then, after the demonstration was over, he went crack and popped it right back in.
What the hell…
Did you even get that arm legitimately?
Are you a cyborg? A cyberpunk lunatic or something?
