Interview ｜ Create the first film history in Hong Kong! The main creator reveals the ＂Poison-tongued Lawyer＂

Special feature of 1905 film network The film broke the 100 million mark at the box office in Hong Kong, China and rushed into the top ten in Hong Kong box office list, making it the first China film to achieve this box office achievement in Hong Kong film history.

Next to it, China movies are starring (HK$ 81.94 million) and starring (HK$ 77 million+million).

In addition to the impressive box office results, "The Bitch Lawyer" was "killed" in the film market in February. After many screening activities, it became the best new film released in that month — — Douban 8 points, Weibo 9.3 points.

The film and Still Think You Are the Best are also starring Wong Tze Wah.Before the release of "I still think you are the best", many people were worried whether he, who has been active in producing films in Hong Kong, could set off a "sub-China fever" in the mainland market. Even Wong Tze Wah himself had similar concerns and regarded it as an attempt. "If it succeeds, it will have a new inspiration for himself or others when creating movies."

In the end, the movie box office exceeded 100 million, becoming the dark horse of China movie market in 2022. Less than half a year later, he returned again with his new work "Poisonous Lawyer".

Although it is not entirely his best comedy theme in the past, his "poison tongue skill" in the past has a high degree of adaptability to this role. Even the director admitted frankly in an exclusive interview with the 1905 film network that "when writing a whole script, I thought it was Zihua."

In front of our camera, Wong Tze Wah also lamented that he was also a "cool person" in his life.

01.

Before directing The Bitch Lawyer, the filmmaker Wai Lun Ng was already one of the hottest screenwriters in Hong Kong, and had written such classic Hong Kong films.

What he likes best in his heart is always the court drama. "When I decided to make my debut, I still wanted to try to be a genre I like." The court drama is a literary drama, but most of his past works are action movies. "The court drama is also a very action movie in the literary drama."

Therefore, he combined these two types of creative methods, made challenges and attempts, and came up with the "Poisonous Lawyer".

After writing the script, Wai Lun Ng began to think about actors, and naturally he thought of Wong Tze Wah. "He has a good eloquence, which impressed the audience deeply, that is, his eloquence is good, and he feels’ cheap and embarrassed’. This feeling is 100% consistent with Lin Liangshui in the play. "

Lin Liangshui seems to be an ordinary and simple name, but it also fits the origin and trend of this role very well. In front of powerful people, Lin Liangshui is indifferent to water. There is a concept of knowledge here. In Hong Kong, senior barristers have a very high social status, but Lin Liangshui was not taken seriously as a lawyer in the early days, and he couldn’t make any money. "He didn’t meet his talent."

Even when he later became a judge, people around him were promoted one after another, and he still struggled in life. "As a result, he ran out to be a lawyer and put down his self-esteem, but he failed in the end." The growth of the characters themselves, in Wong Tze Wah’s view, is "very real".

He bluntly said that this role is not easy to play and can’t help but ridicule. It should be played by someone in the school. "It’s just a pity that he can’t speak Cantonese."

When the "poison-tongued lawyer" meets the "poison-tongued" Wong Tze Wah, the story is no longer simple. "The script was not so poisonous at first, but the more it was played, the more I felt that the character’s mood was very resentful, and I felt that it should make him more poisonous."

As we all know, Wong Tze Wah used to be a screenwriter, especially in the design of lines, and had a brilliant "golden sentence". This time, he appeared in "The Poisonous Lawyer", but he was modest. "The script has been written very well, and basically there is not much room for further play. I trust it."

As everyone knows, the director "hit his face" on the spot. "There is a scene, and I am really grateful to Wong Tze Wah."That scene was Lin Liangshui andBaoyi LinLu Dingheng’s conversation on the playground almost summed up the first half of this character’s life, and even the key to the establishment of this role.

"After Zihua finished reading the script, he asked me to have a chat. He felt that it was not 100% accurate, so he could dig deeper." At the same time, Wong Tze Wah also wrote a dialogue for him. "It’s really good at first sight. Only when he is fully involved in this role can he write such a dialogue."

Wong Tze Wah couldn’t resist self-testimony. "I hope everyone can feel the other side of this role. He is weak on the outside, and he also needs redemption. And his redemption can only be achieved by redeeming another person who has been wronged by him. This scene is very difficult, because you have to convince everyone and enter this person’s heart. Both the director and I have spent a lot of thoughts. "

02.

The team of "Poisonous Lawyers" specially invited a professional lawyer from Hong Kong to sit in the town, so that every line was rigorous and worthy of scrutiny.

In particular, the climax scene at the end of the film is a wonderful trial scene. "There are many lines, and you can’t mess around. You should recite them accurately." However, the shooting time is not plentiful every day. For this reason, Wong Tze Wah makes time to shoot every day, and does not forget to play his "poisonous tongue". "Every day, I have to find a few hours outside of 24 hours, and (learn the lines) by heart."

If you just recite it mechanically, then this line becomes meaningless. As the director commented on Wong Tze Wah, he put himself in Lin Liangshui’s body.

"First of all, we must understand the logic of the following lines. What effect he hopes to achieve through the lines, what thoughts he wants to convey to the jury, and he must hold it accurately, otherwise there will be no rhythm." In Wong Tze Wah’s view, these lines are the soul that supports the story. "If the expression is not good, the play will be’ dead’."

Finally, the director of this play used the way of "literary drama and martial arts".Because the court is very big, it is not easy to put it all in the camera. In the end, the director spent a lot of time on the scheduling, shooting for a total of 5 or 6 days. "But many of the cameras were shot once."

These brilliant performances are more due to the collision between actors.When he was playing here,Not in the camera, I didn’t expect the other person to start crying. "It may be that I was too moved." Wong Tze Wah also don’t forget to poke fun at yourself.

For him, this shooting experience is very exciting, and even a little "complacent". If Wang Danni’s off-camera feedback has the qualities of being a professional actor, then the performance of other extras gives Wong Tze Wah more straightforward feedback.

Wong Tze Wah still remembers that in that scene, the other party played the opposite lawyer, and the two were supposed to be hostile. "I spoke to them, and after I finished, they began to applaud." At that time, he was still in the play. "I still think in my heart that he should not have such a reaction."

Every sentence will be mixed with a sentence of self-mockery or spitting, which is very Wong Tze Wah style. It is no wonder that the director lamented more than once in the interview, "Zihua’s poisonous tongue skill is really very high."

03.

Nowadays, "Bitch Lawyer" has repeatedly broken various box office records, and even been expected by the industry that the mainland box office can surpass "I still think you are the best".

But in fact, Wong Tze Wah used to be called "box office poison", especially because the self-directed "One Dollar Bodyguard" earned only HK$ 200,000. He laughed at himself, "A box office poison is a box office poison for life".

Looking back at the situation at that time, he faced up to the poor quality of the film. "I knew at that time that no one was watching it, and I soon put it down."

Even so, he did not give up, but turned these failures into talk. "I think there are some failures in everyone’s life. If they fail, they will fail. It depends on taking a different road tomorrow. Of course, it may not be more exciting than we imagined."

Everything is unknown, just like when we interviewed him, The Bitch Lawyer had not been released in Hong Kong, and he didn’t expect the box office to set a historical record. The Hong Kong Film Awards haven’t been released yet. I can’t imagine that I still think you are the best can win 11 nominations.

What is certain is that we can find more different answers from past achievements.We threw back his question before the release of "I still think you are the best" to him again. What is the enlightenment brought by the success of the film?

"This is really interesting. I think a really good drama may have a feeling in it, or a kind of warmth, which is not only needed by Hong Kong, but may be shared by other places. As filmmakers, we can explore, don’t worry too much, just write a feeling. As long as it is written thoroughly, more people can be moved than we thought. "