9/1/2023 0 Comments Directed by wong jingGod of Gamblers was so popular that its' sequels and spinoffs still continue on to this day. He helmed the 1989 film Casino Raiders and then cemented the "modern gambling movie" later that same year with God of Gamblers, which was number one at the Hong Kong box office, beating out John Woo's gangster epic The Killer. High Risk (re-named to Meltdown for its' US video release) did well at the box office and remains a favorite among fans around the world.Īfter working on King of Gamblers (1980) and Return of King of Gamblers (1981) with his father, Wong saw that there was a large audience for gambling films, of which he had been a fan of himself, dating back to the 1960's. Even though his methods are sometimes condsidered "low-class", Wong has turned some of these "ripoffs" into highly successful films (both financially and artistically) in their own right. But some of Wong's "homages" are a bit more subtle, at least when compared to his usual blitzkrieg style.įor example, 1995's High Risk's Chinese name is one syllable away from the Chinese name for Die Hard, and similarly to the Willis film, much of it takes place in an office building where the hero (in this case Jet Li) must take on a group of robbers posing as terrorists to throw off the police. Some of the most notorious examples of this include a couple of films seemingly taken straight from the hands of John Woo - Return to a Better Tomorrow (1994) and The Last Blood: 12 Hours to Die (1990), which was renamed Hard-Boiled 2 in some markets. Wong also formed his own production company, Wong Jing's Workshop Ltd., and later became a partner in the successful BoB (Best of the Best) company, along with director/screenwriters Andrew Lau and Manfred Wong.Īs he would most likely admit, most of Wong's work is highly derivative of other films. Wong had always viewed writing and directing as a way to get into what he considered to be the real power job in Hong Kong movie making - producing - and by 1989, he had completed that task with Crocodile Hunter. Wong's formula was simple: give the audience what it wanted, mostly in the form of high doses of sex, violence and toilet humor. While most of his movies had little of the prestige of the "event" films done by people like Tsui Hark or John Woo, Wong had come upon a formula which virtually guaranteed to make the movie break even at the box office, which in the fast-paced world of Hong Kong films (where the average theatre run for a new movie is two weeks), is most times as good as it gets. Throughout the 1980's, Wong was one of Hong Kong's most prolific and bankable writers and directors. By 1978 he made his entrance into the world of movies with his script Cunning Tendency, and in 1981, he had directed his first movie Challenge of the Gamesters. Combined with his high work ethic and the abitlity to change scipts on the fly (a necessary skill in the fast-paced world of Hong Kong's entertainment industry), Wong had found his niche. Long a devout fan of classic Cantonese cinema, Wong impressed many of the old-timers around the studios with his knowledge of movie trivia. Wong believed that he learned more about making movies and (perhaps more importantly) making money by cutting classes and hanging around studios, where he would get work as a director's assistant (basically a glorified errand boy) and writing scripts for his father's shows. In classic Wong style, he later said that the degree was worthless to him. Wong didn't like college and skipped class a lot some of his professors said they never saw himĪt all during the four years it took to earn his degree. It seemed inevitable that he would follow in his father's footsteps, but first Wong attended the Chinese University of Hong Kong, majoring in Chinese Literature. One of Hong Kong's most prolific and controversial filmmakers, Wong Jing (sometimes credited as Wong Ching or Wang Jing) was born in 1956 in Hong Kong and got his start in the entertainment industry early, since his father Wong Tin Lam was a TV drama director. That's the way I've done it for the last 20 years." I try to give the audience what they want. When they are editing, it looks like they are making love to the film. Most directors love their movies, but I never fall in love with mine. I make the dishes that the audience wants to eat. If the audience likes the movie, then I have done my job.to me a director is like a chef. "The most important day for me is not the first day of shooting, it is the opening day.
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