The whole story of Ng Man-tat and Stephen Chow's "enmity"

1

In 1953, Wu Mengda was born in a relatively poor family in Gulangyu Island, Xiamen. As the eldest son in the family, Wu Mengda’s childhood memories were not having enough to eat and not having enough to wear.

Most of the time, his parents work outside to make money, and he is the only one left in the family to take care of his younger siblings.

When Ng Man-tat was seven years old, his parents heard that they could make a lot of money in Hong Kong, so they took them all to Hong Kong Island without considering Ng Man-tat's feelings.

When Ng Man-tat first arrived in the unfamiliar world of Hong Kong, Ng Man-tat's parents were very confused, and Ng Man-tat was even more confused. But soon Ng Man-tat found his place, which was the cinema.

The heroes flying around on the screen and the crowded world in the camera constitute all of Wu Mengda's expectations for his future life.

However, because his family is poor and Wu Mengda is usually very busy at work, he has to take care of his two younger brothers.

Therefore, Ng Man-tat has very few opportunities to go to the cinema, but as long as he collects enough money for a movie ticket, he will immediately rush to the cinema to buy a movie ticket.

As for the job of taking care of his two younger brothers, Wu Mengda also solved it very easily. He directly brought both younger brothers into the venue with a movie ticket.

Most of the time, when the ticket checkers see that Ng Mang-tat's two younger brothers are still young, they will allow them to enter the venue without tickets. However, there are very few days when you have money to buy tickets. Most of the time, Ng Mang-tat is I can only perform the classic scenes that I have seen on the big screen in the cinema in front of my two younger brothers over and over again.

When the young Ng Man-tat spent all day in the cinema, Stephen Chow, who was 9 years younger than Ng Man-tat, also followed his mother into the cinema.

It was one day in 1969. 7-year-old Stephen Chow went to the cinema to watch a movie with his mother Ling Baoer. As soon as he entered the theater, an excited Stephen Chow looked around at the people coming and going in the cinema.

Suddenly he pulled his mother's sleeve and said to her: "Look, dad is here to watch a movie too!"

Later, Ling Baoer looked in the direction his son pointed, and it happened to be I saw my husband sitting in the front row chatting and laughing with a woman, waiting for the movie to start.

Stephen Chow was very happy watching the movie that day, but as soon as the movie ended, his mother Ling Baoer told Stephen Chow, you and your sister will live with me from now on, your father and I are divorced.

Stephen Chow was still young at the time and had no idea what divorce meant, but he had a clear memory of those days, which was that since then, life for their family had become increasingly difficult.

His mother worked all day and came home late, and he could only squat in an alley every day and dream that one day he could become a kung fu master like Bruce Lee.

In 1973, when Stephen Chow was still dreaming that one day he would be able to practice iron sand palm in an iron pot, Wu Mengda happened to see the Wireless Actor Training Class recruiting students.

At that time, Wu Mang-tat was quite handsome. In addition, he had watched a lot of movies since he was a child and had a certain acting foundation. He was selected as soon as he signed up, and the teachers at TVB at the time also liked Wu Mang-tat very much. Not only did he choose him as the deputy squad leader, he was a "niche student", and he also gave him a long-term wireless contract after he graduated.

Compared with Ng Man-tat's good luck, Chow Yun-fat, who was in his class at the time, was even more miserable. One was that he was too tall and could not find an actress who could play with him; The performance at that time was indeed too clumsy. In Ng Man-tat's words, his brain couldn't keep up with his mouth, and his mouth couldn't keep up with his body. He was not an actor at all.

So when Ng Mang-tat became a regular employee of Wireless Wireless with a fixed salary, Chow Yun-fat could only work part-time and odd jobs.

Of course, wireless employment is also quite fair. Even a good student like Ng Meng-tat, who is highly praised by his teachers, can only play small roles and make guest appearances in some small movies after graduation.

It was not until 1979 that Wu Mengda starred in the role of "Hu Tiehua" in "The Legend of Chu Liuxiang" that he truly ushered in his emergence in the entertainment industry.

How popular was "The Legend of Chu Liuxiang" at that time?

As soon as the TV series was aired, Ng Man-tat immediately received requests for various commercial activities.

Go to him when the plaza opens, go to the construction site to cut the ribbon, and even the gang bosses want to invite him to show their face when they hold a conference.

When he became famous at a young age, he was called "Brother Wu" wherever he went. When he raised his glass, someone poured him wine. He spent endless money and had countless women come to his door.

At that time, Wireless had a rule that no matter who it was, they had to come back to Taiwan to sign in at least once a month. But at that time, Wu Mengda was really drifting, and he lived a life of drunkenness and dreams outside for three months. .

Drinking, finding women, and gambling constitute Wu Mengda’s entire life.

When Ng Man-tat spent all the money in his hands and was about to return to Taiwan, although the top executives of TVB did not say a word, from that time on, Ng Man-tat never received another film contract, and he never received a film contract. None of the characters come to him.

In other words, Ng Man-tat was quite miserable. He had just been famous and was shunned by TVB. What was even worse was that when he was blocked by TVB executives, he owed a total of 300,000 yuan. He had gambling debts, lost his job, and gangsters blocked the door all day long.

In 1980, for Wu Mengda, it was really the gloomiest moment in his life!

2

The year 1980 was not only the darkest moment for Ng Man-tat, it was also quite unfriendly to the 18-year-old Stephen Chow.

At that time, Stephen Chow also read in the newspaper that TVB was recruiting students. Not only could they act, but they also had a fixed salary. Stephen Chow, who wanted to become a kung fu star like Bruce Lee, wanted to be admitted to the TVB actor training class. He invited his friend Tony Leung to accompany him to shoot the video.

Stephen Chow's seven-minute "talent show" video is very simple. He is a hero like Bruce Lee, and Tony Leung Chiu-wai, who was dragged in by him to make a cameo, plays a man who was beaten to death by his palm in the film. Bad guy.

When Stephen Chow ambitiously handed this seven-minute short video to the wireless teacher, the most dramatic scene occurred. Tony Leung, who accompanied him to the interview, was hired by the teacher.

As for the protagonist Stephen Chow, the teacher said: "Go back and wait for the notice!"

When he returned home, Stephen Chow was disheartened. He could not figure out why his The road to kung fu can be so bumpy.

Later, Stephen Chow’s mother, Ling Baoer, saw her son was so bereft, so she asked a neighbor for help, and finally managed to get Stephen Chow into the night shift of Wireless Wireless.

As for Tony Leung, he had already shown his talent in acting at this time. For example, TVB had a quiz at that time where the topic was about a man breaking up with a girl.

The other students were desperate for life and death, holding their heads and crying.

But when Tony Leung lit a match, his shoulder twitched a few times.

Later, as a teacher, Wang Tianlin (Wong Jing’s father) recalled that Tony Leung would often mention this moment. He said that he really could not forget Tony Leung’s acting talent.

When Tony Leung Chiu-wai was prospering in TVB, although Stephen Chow finally graduated, like Chow Yun-fat at the time, he could only play the roles of passerby A and bandit B.

For example, in "The Legend of the Condor Heroes", Stephen Chow could only play Bandit B who was beaten to death by Mei Chaofeng with one palm, but Tony Leung already had lines in the play;

For example, when Tony Leung began to play the leading role of Wei Xiaobao, Stephen Chow could only take over the children's program "430 Shuttle" that Tony Leung did not want and make children laugh in it.

It can be said that in those years of TVB, Stephen Chow has been closely following Tony Leung Chiu-wai's footsteps, but he has not been able to see the day of success.

While Stephen Chow was studying "An Actor's Self-cultivation" every day and imagining in his mind when he would have a line every day, Ng Meng-tat was also woken up by Chow Yun-fat's scolding.

At that time, Wu Mengda owed 300,000 yuan in gambling debts. The first thing he thought of was to borrow money from Fa Ge, who was already famous.

But Chow Yun-fat told him directly that if I lend you money, it would be harming you, so I won’t lend it.

Although Chow Yun-fat did not lend money to Ng Man-tat, he turned around and offered Ng Man-tat a role in the movie "The Enforcer" starring himself. At that time, Ng Man-tat understood Chow Yun-fat's painstaking efforts.

This is Chow Yun-fat persuading him to turn back. This is Chow Yun-fat teaching him how to behave.

So after learning from the pain, Wu Mengda found the debt collectors and said directly: "If you want me to pay back 300,000 yuan, I definitely don't have it, but if you are willing to believe me, give it to me. In a little time, as long as I become an actor again, I will definitely pay back the money I owe you!”

I don’t know if it’s because Wu Mang-tat is too confident in what he said, or if these gangsters believe that Wu Mang-tat will definitely become popular again. These gangster brothers really gave Wu Mengda time.

In order to repay the gambling debts he owed, Wu Mengda really accepted any role at that time.

For example, in 1983, Ng Man-tat played a sidekick beggar in "The Legend of the Condor Heroes", and Stephen Chow also played the second bandit in it. This was probably the first time for Ng Man-tat and Stephen Chow appear in the same group.

However, Wu Mengda was indeed too busy at the time. In order to pay off the debt in advance, he ran to several crews a day, so it was impossible for him to notice at that time that he ran to say one more line. Stephen Chow is having trouble with executive director Johnnie To.

But fate is like this. When Ng Man-tat was busy paying off his gambling debts, and Stephen Chow was busy working as a children's program host and a bit actor, these two people who also loved the performing arts both picked up the film at the same time. Published an actor's bible "Actor's Self-cultivation".

What’s even better is that one day, when Ng Man-tat and Stephen Chow were walking out of their homes to pick up a movie, they happened to bump into each other.

Three

In 1985, after Ng Man-tat and Tony Leung Chiu-wai performed "Brother Xin Zha", they became completely popular.

Numerous producers are vying to invite Ng Mang-tat, and although Stephen Chow has not yet overcome the difficulties in life, he has made some progress. For the first time, he was invited by TVB to serve as the male lead in the sitcom "Brother's Girlfriend". main character.

Because Ng Man-tat discovered that Stephen Chow lived across from his house, and both of them were employees of Wireless Wireless, when Ng Man-tat and Stephen Chow had nothing to do, they would go out to drink tea and observe each other. Life.

At that time, in order to improve their acting skills and obtain enough material, Ng Mang-tat and Stephen Chow would do some particularly interesting things. For example, their favorite place at that time was the place where couples went on dates.

There Ng Man-tat and Stephen Chow pretended to be lovers and secretly listened to the conversations of the lovers around them.

For example, a man asked: What was particularly delicious yesterday?

Women usually answer: I just saw a ring, it’s very beautiful.

At that time, Ng Mang-tat and Stephen Chow found the conversations between these couples to be particularly interesting. The upper and lower sentences usually answered the wrong questions, but they chatted quite happily.

After absorbing this interesting point, Ng Mang-tat and Stephen Chow will accumulate these materials in their hearts, until later, when they were spotted by the producer and asked to star in the movie together.

Ng Man-tat would beg the director to let them add these real-life materials, and the effect shown in the end was quite great.

In 1990, when Yuan Kui saw that Wong Jing had made a lot of money by filming "God of Gamblers", he thought of finding a group of people to quickly shoot a similar movie to create a circle. When there is a wave of money.

After the recommendation of director Liu Zhenwei, they found a pair of relatively cheap actors, Stephen Chow and Ng Mang-tat. At that time, the film was a money-making work, so it was released in a hurry after just over a month of filming. .

But who would have thought that "The Gambler" would immediately break Hong Kong's box office record as soon as it was released, and Stephen Chow and Ng Meng-tat's "incompatible preface and afterword" acting style, as well as this The tacit understanding between the characters instantly detonated the whole Hong Kong.

With the popularity of "The Gambler", Stephen Chow, the king of comedy, finally came to his home court in life, and Ng Meng-tat, the golden green leaf, has also been doing his best in the next ten years Assisted Stephen Chow to "become a god".

Stephen Chow is a genius, but he is a complete tyrant on the set. As he gradually masters the right to speak in movies and gradually moves from the starring role to the director's position, the conflicts between him and other actors become more and more serious. It's getting sharper.

For example, when Stephen Chow was filming "Shaolin Soccer" in 2001, Zhao Wei was already a first-line actress in the mainland, but on the set, Stephen Chow still scolded Zhao Wei and made her cry when she disagreed with her.

In the end, it was Wu Mengta who came out to smooth things over and coaxed Zhao Wei.

In 2003, Stephen Chow started filming "Kung Fu". Sammo Hung was originally the action director of his film, but halfway through filming, Sammo Hung suddenly bombarded Stephen Chow in the media: "I just think You are a human being, others are dogs!”

Then Sammo Hung announced his withdrawal from Stephen Chow’s movie. With Sammo Hung’s attack on Stephen Chow, countless people in the Hong Kong entertainment industry who had worked with Stephen Chow Actors big and small all stood up and criticized Stephen Chow!

At that time, it became a trend to criticize Stephen Chow, and Ng Man-tat did not stay out of it.

Because he did have reason to scold Stephen Chow, because before filming "Kung Fu", Stephen Chow once approached Ng Meng-tat and asked him to reserve two months in advance.

As soon as Ng Mang-ta hung up the call from Stephen Chow, he immediately called his agent and told him to leave his schedule to Stephen Chow.

But when Ng Man-tat's schedule was almost over, he didn't even wait for a call from Stephen Chow, so he took the initiative to call Stephen Chow, and Stephen Chow only replied: "Script Changed, you no longer have a role." Then he hung up the phone.

Since Ng Man-tat was absent from Stephen Chow's "Kung Fu", various gossips about Ng Man-tat and Stephen Chow's "enmity" began to spread in the world.

At first, Ng Man-tat admitted that he and Stephen Chow were indeed "no longer in contact".

But a few years later, Ng Mang-tat came to the mainland to participate in the recording of "A Date with Lu Yu". Lu Yu asked: "Is there really a conflict with Stephen Chow?"

Ng Man Tat's answer at the time was: "It was all just speculation. It was because of SARS that I missed the schedule, so I didn't appear in his "Kung Fu"."

A few years later, Wu Mengda participated in Xu Zhiyuan's "Thirteen Invitations" and was also asked by Xu Zhiyuan: "What a good friendship in the past disappeared later, how do you feel about this disappeared friendship?" Is it a pity?"

Wu Mengda was silent for a while and then said: "Sometimes I also wonder why this friendship disappeared." He also said: "Now he and Stephen Chow have a kind of incompatibility. He moved to a new environment and had a new identity, but he became an old man."

Wu Mengda's meaning is very clear. He and Stephen Chow are not the same. There is no enmity, they are just two people who are 9 years apart, each leading a different life and embarking on a different path.

Just like after Ng Man-tat's death, media all over the world were asking whether Stephen Chow came to the hospital to visit Ng Man-tat. Ng Man-tat's friend Tian Qiwen stood up and asked the media: "Don't make the focus of the report You made a mistake!"

As for the words that Wu Mengda left at the end of "Ace vs. Ace":

As long as I don't die, as long as Mr. Zhou doesn't retire, we will still have it. Chance.

Regret is regret, but isn’t this a true portrayal of the train of life?

When you enter the station, someone will get on the bus, and when you reach the station, someone will get off the bus. In the eleven years from 1990 to 2001, Ng Mang-tat accompanied Stephen Chow to create a peak of Chinese comedy era, and later when Stephen Chow and Ng Meng-tat got off the bus and went to different lives, they were rumored to be at odds with each other.

So strictly speaking, Stephen Chow and Ng Man-tat are not at odds with each other, nor are they on bad terms. It’s just that they are no longer the most tacit friends in the world. It’s just that they chose each other’s life train. Get off the bus early and that’s it!