01
In 2009, the manga-based Japanese drama “Midnight Canteen”, starring Kaoru Kobayashi, was aired. Its light and warm food, coupled with a story full of human emotions, cured a lonely soul in the middle of the night.
Over the past ten years, “Midnight Canteen” has grown from a late-night drama into a divine drama IP that has been adapted countless times.
Now, for the first time, Thousand Faces actor Alan Leong directs and stars in the Chinese version of the movie “Midnight Canteen”, which will be released at the end of this month.
You’re right, this Hall of Famer, as a fan of the original, will tell a thoughtful, authentic and Chinese story of “Late Night Canteen”.
Given the huge success of the original version and Huang Lei’s less-than-successful remake, it’s easy to imagine the pressure on director Liang.
However, judging from the trailer, this version has more “Chinese flavors”, using grounded Chinese food to weave together the story of a hundred flavors, warming the stomach and heart.
An ordinary bowl of clear noodles.
A steaming bowl of soup with all the familiar flavors.
Another big surprise of the movie is the luxurious cast, which includes Tony Leung and Liu Tao in the lead roles, Tony Yang, Wei Chen, Zheng Xinyi, Jin Shijia, Jiao Junyan, etc., plus cameo appearances by Deng Chao, Peng Yuyan, Jiang Wenli and others.
Some people jokingly say that Mr. Liang personally helms the show, and half of the entertainment industry is coming to dinner!
Leung Ka Fai has been in the film industry for more than 35 years and has won the Hong Kong Film Awards four times as the best actor.
He plays the noble emperor.
Also able to play the decadent lover
Being a big brother is fierce.
It’s funny when you’re a clown.
To be a hero is to be chivalrous.
Whether it is a literary god, a gangster, an emperor, or a reckless hero, he is all the rage, and there seems to be nothing Liang Jiahui can’t play.
For his acting skills, someone said: give him a “Water Margin”, he can play 108 generals.
A good friend, Fat, was even more impressed with him.
“I can basically act in plays that other people can act in, I can act in plays that other people may not be able to act in, and I may not be able to act in plays that only Liang Jiahui he can act in.”
02
He was also an actor at the time of his debut, but only slightly better than the star.
In 1980, after graduating from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University at the age of 22, the 22-year-old Leung Ka-fai enrolled in a TVB artist training course and went to school with Andy Lau.
As a result, they both worked as ponies for Chow Yun-Fat in “A Thousand Wands of Kings”, with only three lines: “Yes, Brother Lung”.
Leong Ka Fai, Chow Yun Fat and Andy Lau
In the end, Andy Lau had a toothpick in his mouth, while Alan Leong had his hand in his suit, as if he was going to pull out a gun.
However, the director was furious: “Why do you have a toothpick in your mouth? Why do you stick your hand in like that? Who do you think you are, Napoleon?”
The two had very different endings, with Andy Lau being recruited by TVB to shoot Yang Yue, one of the “Five Tigers”, while Alan Leong was not so lucky, as he was directly fired by TVB.
It is not clear whether this was the most unsuccessful layoff or the most successful release of the staff of TVB.
He fell in love with the goddess at first sight, but his father, director Li Hanxiang, fell in love with him and took him to Beijing to shoot “The Draped Curtain” and “Fire in the Yuanmingyuan”.
It was this trip to the mainland that changed the fate of his life.
His co-star was Liu Xiaoqing, whose script, when opened, was filled with dense characters, and who later became accustomed to writing biographies.
After the release of “Heading the Curtains”, the 26-year-old Leung Ka-fai won the best actor at the Hong Kong Film Awards, the youngest movie star in the history of the Awards, which is still unbroken.
At the same time, he also suffered an unprecedented crisis, when relations between China and Taiwan were so bad that all actors who went to the mainland to film were banned by the Taiwanese authorities.
However, they did not show him no mercy, but asked him to write a letter of repentance, which he decisively refused, as he had a strong sense of justice and thought he had done nothing wrong.
Now more than thirty years later, he stated in an interview.
“Feeling that what I have chosen and done is not a mistake, then why should I repent? …
If you have confidence in yourself that you are doing what you choose to do, or doing what is right, you don’t have to be mindful.”
In order to make a living, he had no choice but to go to the streets of Causeway Bay to sell bracelets and jewelry.
Leong Ka Fai and Chiu Suk Ching
Preferring to live a bit harder, he didn’t want to bow down, and dared to put his head down, squatting on the ground and shouting, only to be recognized by a passerby: “You and that actor Liang Jiahui, you look just like each other!”
He also did not shy away from nodding his head and saying, “Yes, I am Liang Jiahui.”
In his yell, the items were quickly sold out, perhaps in the eyes of many people, a movie star has been reduced to a street stall, how embarrassing, but Liang Jiahui does not have this kind of ideological baggage, he feels no shame in relying on his own hands to make a living.
What is lacking in today’s society is this kind of pragmatism, and Liang Jiahui commanded our respect.
03
Just when he thought he had no chance to be involved in acting for the rest of his life, Chow Yun-Fat said to a Taiwanese movie mogul at a dinner party, “Alan Liang is now with New Arts City”.
The meaning is clear: I am now covering this little brother, and the other party had to lift the blocking order.
After his comeback, Alan Liang, once again, cooperated with his mentor Li Hanxiang in “Fire Dragon”, and his superb acting made it seem as if Puyi was recreated, and made Li Shuxian, the real-life lover of Puyi, cry from the beginning to the end.
At the same time, the famous Italian director Bernardo Bertolucci, who was in the process of making The Last Emperor, was very excited to see Liang Jiahui as Puyi and asked him to play the role of Puyi.
He did not immediately agree, but consulted his mentor, Li Hanxiang, and unexpectedly the two were deeply conflicted.
Li Hanxiang originally wanted to film the entire life of Puyi, but he did not realize that the copyright of The Last Emperor was pre-empted by Bertolucci, which led to a feud.
Knowing the consequences, Alan Liang gave up the opportunity to enter the international film industry, and wrote to him personally.
“I don’t know the personal grudge between you and my master, and I’ve already played this role, sorry.”
Later, The Last Emperor, starring Zun Long and Chen Chong, won nine Academy Awards and Zun Long became a Hollywood star, winning the title of Asia’s most beautiful man.
The Last Emperor.
In that case, it is true that Alan Liang was a bit “stupid” to turn down such a great opportunity.
But the gentleman did what he did and didn’t do what he did not, and that’s what we appreciate about him.
After that, he and Chow Yun-Fat starred in “Prison Storm” and “A Better Tomorrow 3”, and later became one of the top stars with “Lover”, “New Dragon Inn” and “East Meets West”.
In 1990, Tony Leung won the Best Actor award at the Golden Horse Awards in Taiwan for his film “Love in a Different Country”.
Together with “Black Rose 92”, “Triad” and “Cold War”, he won the Best Actor Award at the Hong Kong Film Awards four times.
There have been other major and minor film awards and supporting actor awards, and such achievements are among the best in the Hong Kong film industry.
04
What we talk about most today is not the achievements in movies and television, but his loyalty and dedication to love.
Leong Ka Fai and his wife Jiang Yan met when they were young and stayed together in poverty.
She was the director of the program department of Radio Television Hong Kong and took the risk to introduce him to job opportunities.
As the saying goes, “A friend in need is a friend in truth, and a person who stands up in times of need is definitely worth cherishing”.
Liang Jiahui, who did not intend to get married, was impressed the first time he met Jian Carn, but she also appreciated his talent and resented his encounter, so they fell in love at first sight.
However, at that time, Jiahui was really poor and had an inferiority complex, so he kept suppressing his thoughts.
Until three months later, when he was so overwhelmed that he couldn’t bear the thought of dating a girl in a movie, he bought two movie tickets and decided to make it official.
“If you want to go, I’ll meet you at the movie theater at 7:30, but if you don’t want to, then forget it!”
A stunned confession, causing the people present to laugh, will the young, beautiful and well-off Carnival agree to him?
Still from “Black Rose vs. Black Rose
She decided to give him a chance, and was impressed by his clumsy and simple confession.
In the eyes of many people, they were “incompatible” and Liang Jiahui was just a toad who wanted to eat the swan’s meat.
But I have to say that Jiang Fai was a good girl, she was right about him, and Liang Jiahui did not disappoint her.
During their relationship, due to his financial constraints, they rarely went out to eat and have fun, and their dates were at home playing backgammon instead.
One time, he took out his only savings to celebrate Jiannai’s birthday, and decided to go to a cafe, but found that it was very cheap after checkout, so he recommended it to his colleagues.
As a result, he was severely scolded by his colleagues when they came back, and the price of the store was outrageously high.
Only later did he know that Jiang Yanli had made an agreement with the store owner in advance to take care of his face: in the future, when Liang Jiahui came to spend money, he would pay the bill with 50% discount, and she would make up the rest of the money.
From then on, people gave him the nickname “Liang’s 50% discount”.
After learning the truth, Alan had mixed feelings, and vowed to be good to this woman for the rest of his life.
He also worked very hard, making 13 movies a year at the busiest time, so people called him “Thirteen Liang” again.
In 1987, on Jiang Jiahui’s birthday, he and his girlfriend got a license without a wedding dinner and without informing his family.
At that time, he only had 8,000 Hong Kong dollars on his bank card, spent 800 on a wedding ring, and spent the rest of the money booking a honeymoon suite and having a luxurious dinner.
On the wedding night, Jiahui hugged Jiang Carnival on the balcony with the sea breeze and said to her, “Marry me, don’t you feel aggrieved?”
“I don’t think so, I’m sure you’ll never let me be wronged.”
As a result, they made the headlines overnight in the next day’s newspaper: Liang Jiahui had married a wife whom everyone applauded.
05
In fact, Jiang Jiannai not only loved him and accompanied him in his comeback, but also saved his life.
In 1992, accompanied by her, Leung Ka Fai went to Vietnam to shoot the French film “Lover”.
In the early hours of one morning, their room was broken into by two strong men, who held Liang Jiahui at gunpoint and forced him to go to the Philippines to shoot a movie, and then imprisoned Jiang Kaixin.
While comforting her husband, she cleverly convinced the guards to take her to meet the big boss behind the scenes.
After meeting the boss, she bravely confronted him.
“You guys are businessmen, you just want to make more money, and ‘The Lover’ is a highly-anticipated film, so it’s only good for the box office if you let him finish it without worrying about it and then make yours…”
As expected, Lover broke the French box office record after its release, and the European and American media even praised him as “the sexiest man in Asia”.
After arduous negotiations, the other party finally released him, and Leung Ka Fai was freed. On the plane back to Hong Kong, he almost lost his life in a typhoon.
After all these experiences, he vowed to never let go of her hand, no matter what the situation was, and to make her the happiest woman in the world.
This was not only what Leong Ka Fai thought, but also what he did.
As his career took off, Jiannai gradually returned to his family, leaving him with no worries, and they were blessed with adorable twin daughters, Nikkie and Chloe.
Soon after giving birth, his wife was treated for her illness and took a large amount of hormone medication, which caused her body to become fat and her face to look completely different.
The Hong Kong media described her as “a bloated, emaciated aunt”.
Every time, Leung Ka Fai would stand up and declare, “No woman in this world is as beautiful as my wife.”
In 2013, at the 32nd Hong Kong Film Awards, he was crowned the champion for the fourth time for his film “Cold War”, and when the award was announced, he embraced and kissed Jiang Carnival excitedly.
In fact, not only in front of the camera, the sweetness between Alan Leong and Jiang Carnival has already been integrated into every aspect of life.
When he took his wife to watch football, his eyes full of spoiling and smiling were exposed by one look.
In the streets of Hong Kong, it is easy to see Alan Liang and Jiang Jian Carn eating, drinking tea, walking, and visiting the market together, plain and unpretentious, but the most beautiful scenery.
Every ten years, he would hold a wedding for Jiang Yan Yan.
In 2007, he was going to give a large diamond to Jiang Kaixin, and many people speculated that it must have been for his lover.
It is the first time in the history of the company that the company has been able to offer a service to the public.
In the last forty years of his career, Alan Liang had almost no scandal, and was once asked by a reporter if he had ever been seduced by a beautiful woman in the circle.
As a result, he bluntly said, “Of course I have,” and then changed his mind.
“But I can’t even resist the temptations of the home, so can I accept the temptations of the outside world?”
Since then, the dust has settled on his relationship with his wife, who, in addition to being a spoiled brat, is also a daughter slave.
As long as he is filming in Hong Kong, he will take time during the lunch break to go home and take a look at his daughters before leaving. No matter how late or how tired he was, he would still tell bedtime stories to his twin daughters.
For a while, he noticed that his daughter was looking at him in a strange way, and he felt so bad that he stopped working for two years to spend time with her as she grew up.
There is a kind of getting along with each other in the world, which is called you grow up with me and I grow old with you.
06
In this era of collapse of “good man”, cheating today, divorcing tomorrow, and “tearing war” happening every minute, true love seems to be the most scarce and valuable thing.
Occasionally, there will be people who question whether true love still exists, and when we see the love between Alan Liang and Jiang Kaixin for more than 30 years, we will find that they have perfectly interpreted what “holding the hand of a son and growing old with him” is.
Speaking of his beloved wife, he had many feelings.
“My wife was a beautiful girl when she was young, and now she’s becoming more and more beautiful to me. Sometimes I sneak a few peeks at her after she’s asleep, and something warm runs through my heart.”
It’s true that looks get old, time goes by, money and health are eventually lost, and only true love lives on.
Everyone, please cherish two kinds of people in your relationship, a woman who is willing to accompany a man to live a hard life when he is down, and a man who is willing to accompany a woman to live a good life when he is rich.
Love is not just a passionate moment of love, it is the responsibility and responsibility of the face faded.
Or as Liang Jiahui put it best.
“A couple of lovers, the first year or two of dating, that’s romance; the next ten years or eight years, that’s affection; if you’re still pulling her hand down the street thirty years later, that’s real love.”
Once upon a time the carriage was very slow, and only enough love for one person in a lifetime, the love that has held hands will last a lifetime.
May the autumn breeze not be dry, the years be quiet, time is not old, you and I are good!
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