January 26 – February 16, 2009

Something Very Meaningful

First of all, I want to say sorry to everyone for not recording my diary in such a long time. I’ve just been so busy doing this thing or that thing, flying all over the place. I can’t explain exactly what I was busy with but I can say that I was busy with something not related to my usual business work. I couldn’t bring someone along to record my diary all the time, and I didn’t have spare time to record what I did, so that is why I haven’t been able to write a new diary for you to read.

If I had to go back and write about the things that I’ve been doing, all I could tell you is that I attended press conferences, recorded songs, participated in public welfare related events, and things like that. I think everyone is already quite familiar with these activities and nothing really special happened that was worth writing about.

The most meaningful thing that happened for me recently was that we started filming the new movie, which also meant that I could resume my usual lifestyle again. Another thing I thought was very meaningful is that I celebrated Chinese New Year with my family, the three of us, for the first time. In fact, we’ve actually never spent time together over New Years before; this was the first.

To Ban or Not to Ban?

A friend of mine told me that he was going to light up some fireworks at his house in the evening and he invited me over to watch. I went to my friend’s house and I saw that the inside of his garage was all stocked up with fireworks. My friend bought several hundred thousand dollars worth of fireworks. I was so surprised when I saw it, I mean, why would you buy so many fireworks? My friend said to me that the government has banned people from lighting fireworks for a very long time, and now they’ve finally allowed people to light them. On top of that, Chinese people have a traditional custom where lighting up fireworks is symbolic to getting rid of bad luck. I couldn’t help but ask my friend, “What century are you in right now? You still believe that lighting up fireworks and firecrackers will blast away bad luck?! I honestly don’t believe that a person’s luck will get better after lighting up some fireworks.”

My friends lit up the fireworks and the display was absolutely spectacular. But in my mind I just kept thinking to myself, what happens to the smoke that is produced when the fireworks burn? Will it become pollution? Also, what happens to the paper that the fireworks were packaged in? I watched as several hundred boxes of fireworks were continuously burnt away. Just in one night, over 800 tons of paper was burnt on the eve of the Lunar New Year! Not only is this a waste, I honestly think that lighting up fireworks is very dangerous. I talked with my friend again and said, “Seriously, doing this can cause some fire related disasters. Also, the remains of burnt paper after lighting up the fireworks is scattered all over the streets and alleyways, don’t you think this isn’t very environmentally friendly? Don’t light up anymore fireworks next year.” My friend then said to me that this only happens once a year so fireworks should be lit during this time, and he also said that they were very cautious so there won’t be any fires.

This actually reminded of the chewing-gum problem that happened in Singapore. After people finished chewing their gum, some inconsiderate people would carelessly throw it away by sticking it on chairs or on the beautiful floor boards of large public halls. As a result, Singapore banned chewing-gum. But if people who ate chewing-gum didn’t spit it out everywhere then it wouldn’t be banned. Let me give you another example. If we enjoy our right of freedom of speech then we should appreciate our freedom of speech, not abuse it. Right now, the government has allowed people to light up fireworks again so we should cherish this opportunity and take safety into consideration. I mean, does something bad have to happen before we are more careful? Sure enough, something did happen and there was a fire at the CCTV building. It’s been confirmed that the cause of the fire was because of someone carelessly lighting up some fireworks. That is why I ask, should some things be banned? It’s really hard to say, but I think that not affecting other people and not affecting public safety should be the priority.

Dabing Xiaojiang Starts Shooting:

This time I’m working in the Yuanmou Earth Forest in Yunnan. Yuanmou is located in the northern part of the Central Dianzhong plateau and it has three of the world’s greatest natural tourist attractions. One of them is the world renowned Yuanmou Man with its historic culture dating back 1.7 million years. Another is a very rare and amazing geological phenomenon covering an area of 47 square kilometers (18 square miles) – the Yuanmou Earth Forest. The Earth Forest is huge and is also known as the world’s strangest natural formation. The third attraction is the world’s largest dinosaur cemetery with the most complete dinosaur species. They discovered over 160 dinosaur fossils within a 30 square kilometer area (11.6 square miles), dating back to a period between 100 million to 60 million years ago which spans over the early, mid, and late Jurassic Period and the early Cretaceous Period. The Yuanmou man is believed to be the earliest human species found in our country and because of this, the first history lesson taught to children in China is about the Yuanmou man.

The name of this new movie is called Dabing Xiaojiang. I actually wanted to make this film over 20 years ago but I never got around to making it. It wasn’t until I started filming Rush Hour 3 that I decided to tidy up the script and asked director Ding Cheng to film it. While I was busy doing my non-business related things, director Ding was busy doing pre-production work such as scouting for locations, casting the actors, and doing some other preparation work.

We officially started shooting at Yuanmou, Yunnan. Apart from director Ding Cheng, other artists involved with the production include me, Leehom Wang, and Korean actor Yoo Seung Jun. Previously I made an announcement that we weren’t going to have a ceremony to mark the start of filming, but honoring the Gods is something unavoidable when making a new movie. I personally don’t believe in any particular religion but if I can do something for the crew so that everybody feels more at ease, then I’d pay my respects to the Gods as well.

After paying our respects, I stood up on a high platform and said to everyone, “I’m so happy to be back in China for the New Year and filming this new movie. I get to see a lot of old friends and also meet some new ones. But before we start working, I want to tell everyone some of the rules that I have. The cast and crew working on this film have come from many different places; there are people from Hong Kong, Korea, Taiwan, Shanghai, Beijing, Mongolia, and other places. Because we all speak different languages, there is a possibility that there will be some misunderstandings when we communicate at work. I hope that everyone will try and make an effort to adapt with one another, be forgiving and understanding. I don’t smoke, so I hope that everybody else will try their best not to smoke while we’re filming on the set. And please don’t throw your cigarette butts everywhere. Also, when you’ve finished with your lunch boxes and plastic drink bottles, please squash them down before putting them in a garbage bag. These can’t be left lying around either. This is all I ask of everyone to do. On the other hand, if you ask me to do something, I will definitely do it as well. For example, I will make sure that you have more food to eat, provide sufficient drinks for everybody, and also make sure that everyone gets enough time to rest.” Afterwards, I handed out some lucky red packets to mark the start of the production. Each person gets $100. I think there were about 300 people at the venue which meant that I gave out $30,000 worth of red packets. Everybody was very happy after receiving their lucky red packet.

Some of you might not believe what I’m about to say. When I first arrived in Yuanmou, I thought the weather here was very nice. But in the evening, the temperature dropped to minus 10°C (14°F). Even the temperature in the morning was around -10°C (about 10°F). But by midday, it was about 33°C (91°F). In order to adapt to this extreme change in temperature, everyone would put on all their seasonal clothes that they’d wear in summer, winter, autumn, and spring. This way, they can keep warm when it’s cold and then take a few layers off when it gets hot. They can keep taking clothes off until they’re only wearing their summer clothes.

Apart from the extreme temperature changes in the Earth Forest, one other thing that is quite hard to get used to how the dust flies everywhere whenever there is wind movement; anyone walking around the set disturbs the dust. Each day after work, we’d go back to the hotel and take a shower. Everybody has said that the color of the water after washing their hair and body became yellow. Any hole on the body had dust in it. And I don’t mean to sound disgusting but even when I go to the bathroom, it actually looks like that there’s sand in it as well. When we’re working on the set, other people can wear masks to cover their mouths from the dust but as actors, we can’t because we’re in the movie and we also need to have make-up on. Wearing a mask would be very inconvenient and we’d also be worried about smudging our make-up, so the only thing we could do was endure it all.

Also, speaking from my previous experiences, there is some equipment that is totally indispensible when it comes to filming in an Earth Forest, for example an umbrella. The umbrella isn’t used to block the wind and dust but it is used to block the sun. If wearing a down jacket can help fend off the chill in the morning and during evening, then an umbrella can be used like a big shady tree when it gets really hot during the day and there is nothing around you to help shade the sun. Don’t underestimate an umbrella. There are times when shooting a scene where actors have to stand around under the sun, waiting for the director or the cameraman to make the call for the real take. The actors can’t go anywhere and they can’t take off their thick layered costumes if they want a break. All they can do is stand around and wait. At these times, I’d ask crew members on the set to open up an umbrella for them. It doesn’t matter if it’s for an actor, a martial artist, or a stand-in, I’d still ask the crew to open an umbrella for them. Today while we were filming, there was a young stand-in actor who worked under very hot conditions. He couldn’t stand the heat and fainted twice. It was just too hot and he couldn’t handle the heat so in the end, I asked someone to take him back to the hotel for a rest.

Apart from the umbrella, I also brought many of my personal products made by my company to share on the set. For example, the Segways, tents, foldable chairs, multi-purpose waist bags, hats, gloves, face clothes and others. These products may not seem like anything special but when we’re filming out on location, especially when we have to film in an unpredictable environment, these things actually become very useful.

Although the environment at the shooting isn’t that great, the place where we stay at is not bad at all because this is actually a scenic area and the hotel where we live in very beautiful and comfortable.

I think that if you’ve been reading my diaries, you would know that whenever I’m making a film in mainland China, at each place I go to, I’d always make arrangements so that one room is used for the kitchen and one room is for the gym.

All the rooms in this hotel have been fully occupied by the cast and crew of the movie. Everyone in the production lives here. There are rooms for two people, rooms for three people, and even rooms for four people. This is the style that I like; I like to be with the people I work with. I think this is very convenient because I can easily have meetings with people, see everyone, have meals together, and chat. There is a small garden outside the room. This is where I have meetings with the actors and director whenever I have spare time or when I come back from work in the evening. Sometimes we all just sit out there and talk together. We like to talk about a wide range of things such as film and movies, the future development of film, the economy, and even about the universe.

I also brought along the Disciple members (now called the “New Seven Little Fortunes”) to play some characters in the film. Although you may not recognize them or the characters they play in the film because their parts aren’t very big and their roles aren’t very important, they can still absorb a lot of experience from making a movie and working on the set. I also know that they trying very hard with acting and learning, everyone is involved. When they don’t need to work on the set, they practice martial arts or even practice dancing. As their sifu (master), I am very impressed to see how they’re working so hard and trying to do well.

Making a movie is totally different from doing any other kind of work. Most of the time with other jobs, you have to work in a set environment and you have work with a fixed group of people all the time. But with film making, the environment changes according to whatever requirements are needed for the script and the people you cooperate with are also different. While filming this movie I met up with some old friends and I also became acquainted some new friends.

Previously in my diaries, I remember mentioning Leehom Wang. Even though we’ve known each other for quite a while, this is actually the first time we’ve worked together in a movie. Usually I’d teach him how to practice kung fu and he would teach me how to sing.

It’s already been two weeks since we first started filming and I think this production crew is the cleanest I’ve had. Maybe it’s because before the camera started rolling, I asked everybody to be clean and environmentally friendly. I’m also a man of my word. I made a promise that I’d ensure everybody has more food to eat and that everyone gets enough time to rest and I didn’t forget. I remember one time, we didn’t finish work until three in the morning and the producer said that we had to start work again at 7:00. I said no and changed the time to 9:00am. They said to me that crew members from China can handle the workload and they’re not afraid of hard work. But I think it’s not right to do that. We need to respect every single crew member in the production team. They’re just made of flesh and blood, and we need to respect them as human beings. Just because they can manage the workload doesn’t mean that we should let them carry the heavy load.

Fortunately, the weather has started to warm up these days and the mornings and evenings are not as cold as they used to be. But mid and late afternoon are still extremely hot. That doesn’t matter. When you’re in the film industry, you get to experience many things that a lot of other people don’t get to experience and you go to places where a lot people may never consider going to. This is what makes film-making so fascinating.

Text and photos © 2009 The JC Group

All Rights Reserved

Jan 26  - 16（星期一至星期一）

有意思的事情：

          首先跟大家说声对不起，很久没有写日记了，因为之前老是忙这忙那，飞来飞去，不能解释到底是忙些什么，就是忙一些非本业的事情。可是，我又不能一直带着写日记的人，自己又没空录音，所以迟迟没有最新的日记跟大家见面。

          如果要说回我之前做过些什么事情，来来去去都是开记者会、录歌和参与公益活动等等，我想这些大家都耳熟能详，也没有什么特别要写的事情。

          对我来说，最有意思的事情就是开工拍戏了。因为，我又可以回复过正常的生活。另外一件我觉得有意思的事情就是我们一家三口第一次一起过农历新年。其实，我们从来没有一起过新年的，这算是第一次了。

禁还是不禁？

          我听见朋友说晚上会在家里放烟花，邀请我们去看。我去了朋友家里，看到整个车房都摆放了烟花，原来朋友买了几十万元的烟花。我看到以后觉得很惊讶，为什么要放那么多烟花呢？朋友说因为政府禁了放烟火很久了，现在才让市民放，加上中国人的习俗是希望借着放烟花把衰的运气（衰气）赶走。我不禁问朋友：「到底现在是什么年代，还相信用烟火爆竹可以把衰气爆走！我真的不敢相信，烧了烟花后，运气就会好起来。」

          朋友们在放烟花的时候，场面真的很壮观，可是我脑袋里就想，到底烟花过后，那些燃烧时所产生的烟会不会造成污染呢？另外，那些包着烟花的纸去了那里呢？我看着那好几百盒的烟花不断地在燃烧，一个除夕就烧了八百吨的纸了！除了浪费之外，我觉得烧烟花是非常危险的。我又跟朋友说：「这样真的会酿成火灾的，而且烟火燃烧后的纸屑散落到满街满巷，你们会不会觉得不环保吗？明年不要再放烟花了。」朋友说一年才一次，应该放的，而且他们有防范，不会有火灾的。

          从这件事，我就想到新加坡给市民吃口香糖，一些不检点的人就把吃过的口香糖吐在椅子上或是一些漂亮的大会堂地板上，于是如新加坡这样的国家就把口香糖禁了。如果吃口香糖的人不是乱吐的话，就不会禁了。又例如我们享有言论自由，我们应该珍惜言论自由，而不是滥用。现在政府重新给人民放烟花，大家就要爱惜这些机会，要顾及安全，难道真的要出了事才小心吗？果然，中央电视台这一次出事了，证实了是因为不小心放烟花引致的。所以，有些事情到底禁还是不禁呢？我不敢讲，但是，一定要不影响他人为主，不影响公众安全为主。

《大兵小将》开机了：

          这一次开工是在云南的元谋土林。元谋位于滇中高原北部。元谋拥有三大世界级旅游资源，一是世界公认的，有170年历史的‘元谋人’文化，它是东方人类的发源地，同时也是人类文明的发祥地之一；二是世界罕见的地质奇观──47平方公里的元谋土林，其规模之大、造型之奇堪称世界之最；三是世界上规模最大、品种最齐的‘恐龙公墓’──在30多平方公里的范围内，发现的恐龙化石多达160多具，其年代在一亿年前至六千万年前，横跨侏罗纪早、中、晚期和白垩纪早期。由于元谋人是我国境内已知最早人类，所以在中国，小孩子历史科第一课就读元谋人。

          新戏的名称是《大兵小将》，英文名字暂定是‘Big Soldier’。这部戏我在二十多年前已经想拍，一直没有拍，直到我拍‘Rush Hour 3’的时候，我再次把这个剧本整理好，找来丁晟导演拍。当我在忙于非正业的工作的时候，丁导演就忙于做前期工作，去看外景、找演员和做一些筹备工作。

          今天终于在云南元谋正式开机了，除了丁晟导演之外，演员有我、王力宏和韩国男星刘承俊。尽管早前我宣布了不进行开机仪式，但是新戏开拍酬神祈福是在所难免。我没有宗教信仰，但是可以让剧组每一个人都安心的话，我还是会拜神的。

          祈福后，我站在高台上跟大家说：「我很开心新年回到中国拍戏，又重遇很多朋友和认识了新的朋友，我希望在开工前，把我一些规矩告诉大家。这一部戏的工作人员来自不同的地方，有香港人、韩国人、台湾人、上海人、北京人、蒙古人等，由于大家所讲的语言不同，可能工作时会有一些言语不通而引起的磨擦，希望大家尽量去适应和包容。我不抽烟，希望大家拍戏时也尽量不要抽烟，而且烟头不能随处乱扔。还有，所有吃过了的饭盒和喝完了的塑料瓶要压扁后放进垃圾袋里，也是不可以乱扔。这是我要求大家做的事情；相反，大家要求我做的事情，我都一定能做得到，例如：我会加菜、提供足够饮料给大家，还会给大家有足够时间休息。」跟着，我就派开工利是，每人一百块，现场大概有三百人，派了三万元红包，收到了开工利是以后，大家都很开心。

          可能大家不会相信，我刚来到元谋的时候，我觉得这里的天气很好，但是到了晚上，气温降至零下10度，早上的气温也是零下10至12度，中午却是33度。为了适应这个挺大的温差，大家把春夏秋冬的衣服都穿到身上，冷的时候可以御寒，热的时候我们就脱衣服，一直脱至只剩下夏天衣服。

          除了那温差以外，土林最让人感到不适的就是当有风的时候，总是尘土飞扬，任何一个人走路都刮起泥土。每天收工回到酒店，每一个人洗澡的时候，都看到流过头发和身上的水都变成黄色，所有身上有孔的地方都是泥尘，说难听一点，小便都似乎有沙似的。开工的时候，其他人还可以戴上口罩挡风沙，可是我们做演员的就不行了，因为要拍戏，我们又化了妆，戴口罩是很不方便，又担心会弄花化好了的妆，所以我们只好忍受了。

          另外，凭我过去的经验，身处土林拍戏，有些工具是不可缺少的，例如：伞子。大家不要误会，我不是拿伞子来挡风沙，而是挡太阳。如果穿羽绒衣可以在早上和晚上御寒的话，那伞子在烈日当空下，就像是一棵遮荫的大树。不要小看这一把伞子，在拍摄一个镜头的时候，演员都站在太阳下等候着导演、摄影师在叫正式拍摄，他们既不能走开，又不可以脱下厚厚的戏服休息，只能站着等，这个时候，我就会叫场务同事为他们打伞，不论是演员或是武行或是替身，我都叫工作人员为他们打伞。今天拍戏的时候，就有一位年轻的替身在高温下工作，终吃不消晕倒了两次，他就实在太热了，受不了，最后我们把他送回酒店休息。

          除了伞子以外，我还带了不少自己的私伙东西来到现场与大家分享的，例如：思维车、帐篷、折椅、万用腰袋、帽子、手套、面巾等。这些物品似乎不是什么特别的东西，可是拍外景的时候，特别是在恶劣环境之下，这些东西都大派用场呢。

          虽然拍摄场地环境不是很好，可是我们住的地方是蛮不错的，因为这是一个风景区，所以我们所住的酒店也很漂亮和舒适。你们看看：

          相信看过我的日记的人都知道，我在国内拍戏，每到一个地方，都会安排一个房间是厨房，一个是健身房，大家心水清的话，可以从照片中找到我的健身区在那吗？

          这里的房间都给我们《大兵小将》剧组包了，整组人都住在这里，有两人房间、有三人房间、四人的也有，这都是我喜欢的方式，我喜欢跟我的工作人员一起住，那很方便就可以跟他们开会、见面、吃饭、聊天等等。你们看看房间外面的小院子，有空的时候，或者是晚上收工之后，我就在这儿跟导演和演员一起开会，或者是跟大伙儿聊聊天。大家聊天的范围很广，谈到电影、未来电影的发展、经济，甚至宇宙。    

          这一次拍《大兵小将》，我也把龙传的人（现在叫‘新七小福’了）带来演一些角色。虽然这些角色大家未必认出他们，因为戏份不多，也不是很重要的角色，可是他们可以从中吸收拍戏和在现场工作的经验。他们都很努力的演和学习，大家都投入，不用开工的时候，他们就练功或者是练舞，看到他们那么努力，身为师傅的我还是高兴的。

          拍戏跟其他工作很不一样，其他工作大多都有一个固定的工作环境，跟一班固定的同事合作，但是拍戏的环境随着剧情需要而变更，合作的人也有不同。这一次拍《大兵小将》我重遇一些老朋友，也认识了一些新朋友。

          早前我的日记都有提及王力宏，虽然大家认识了好一段日子，但是第一次合作拍电影。平常我教他练功，他教我唱歌，

          可能在开机的时候，我已经告诉大家要保护环境清洁，所以从开始拍摄到现在已经两个星期了，我想这一个剧组是最干净的。而我也是一个言出必行的人，我答应了大家加菜，给足够时间大家休息，我没有忘记。我记得有一次，我们在深夜三点收工，制片说明天七点开工，我说不行，改九点吧。他们说中国的工作人员可以撑得住，不怕辛苦的，可是我认为不可以，我们要尊重每一个工作人员，他们都是血肉之躯，我们要尊重他们是人，不能他们能捱就让他们捱下去。

          幸好，现在天气开始回暖了，早上和晚上都没之前那么冷，可是中午和下午还是挺热的。没关系了，拍戏这一行，就是会经历很多人可能不会经历的事情，去很多人可能不会去的地方，这就是拍戏吸引的地方之一。