The stand-ins of the six superstars, now there is a huge gap in fate, some have become superstars themselves, and some have passed away

Pippi Films said

2024-06-24 17:26Published in Jiangsu film creators

Not long ago, action movie star Donnie Yen released a mourning update, which attracted the attention of netizens.

The deceased was named Zhang Lei, who was only 39 years old due to ineffective treatment for heart disease.

Before that, he was a Chinese parkour veteran and Donnie Yen's royal stand-in.

Donnie Yen's "October Siege", "Jingwu Fengyun Chen Zhen", "Frozen: The Gate of Rebirth", "Special Identity", "Martial Arts", "Havoc in the Heavenly Palace" and other films are all stand-ins made by Zhang Lei.

If we look back at the following two GIFs, you should have some impressions.

He also worked with Yuan Hua in the TV series "Legend of Shaolin Temple 3".

As a professional stuntman, he has a high reputation in the film and television industry.

In addition to filming, most of his energy is spent on parkour.

Zhang Lei began to practice parkour in 2006 and has been committed to the promotion and training of parkour, and has initiated and organized domestic parkour events many times.

In order to better promote parkour, Zhang Lei began to serve as a special parkour coach at Sammo Hung's International Film and Television Training Base in 2010, and has been involved in film and television production since then.

It's a pity that stuntmen like Zhang Lei, who is committed to behind-the-scenes work and silently contributed, rarely show their faces in front of the stage, and not many audiences know them.

In fact, stuntmen are an indispensable part of film creation and play a vital role in the shooting of action scenes in movies.

Unlike extras who are responsible for standing and sitting as a backdrop, stuntmen do "life-hard" work, which requires professional training to be competent.

For example, professional flying car stuntmen, parkour stuntmen, extreme sports actors, etc., as well as action doubles with martial arts skills.

Due to the particularity of their work, the salary of these stuntmen is much higher than that of ordinary extras.

But compared to those leading actors, there is still a big gap.

As a stand-in, you will naturally be able to get more opportunities to show your talents.

But there are still very few people who can really get ahead, and it takes not only talent, but also a lot of luck.

Sighing at the unpredictable fate of life and the unpredictable world, today Brother Pi would like to introduce you to the "stand-ins" of several superstars.

Let's go through their different experiences in the entertainment industry to understand the untold story of the profession of stand-ins.

01, Qian Jiale, from the most desperate stand-in in Hong Kong to the famous martial arts finger in the circle

was once recognized as the hardest stand-in actor in the Hong Kong film industry, and it was Qian Jiale of the Hung family class.

The two brothers, Qian Xiaohao (formerly known as Qian Jiahua) and Qian Jiale, are both disciples of the Great Sage Splitting Jacket Sect.

Qian Xiaohao entered Shaw Brothers when he was 15 years old, became Zhang Che's godson, and began to star in action movies.

And Qian Jiale, who is two years younger than Qian Xiaohao, can only join the Hong family class and start as a martial artist.

Because of his dexterity and courage to fight, Qian Jiale soon won the trust of his eldest brother Sammo Hung, and did those difficult and dangerous actions for Jackie Chan, Yuan Biao and Sammo Hung .

For example, in "Food Truck", he jumped from the 2nd floor to the downstairs, and his butt hit the ground first, which made people feel pain when they looked at it.

In "Flying Dragon", he first did a somersault for Yuan Biao, and then did a difficult roundabout kick for Jackie Chan in the fight between Jackie Chan and Binny Yuquedez.

The most classic "8 people jump together" in "Dragon's Heart", including Qian Jiale.

He jumped off the building for Zhong Fa again, originally jumping from the 3rd floor to the 2nd floor on the tarpaulin, and then borrowed the elastic force of the tarpaulin to fall to the ground, and was caught by the car that happened to drive below.

As a result, when filming started, Qian Jiale used too much force to hit the glass, and rushed out and did not fall on the tarpaulin, but fell directly on the cement floor, almost shaking out his internal organs.

This shot caused him to have a fractured hip and lay in the hospital for 3 months.

The scene of Sammo Hung jumping off a cliff and flying to a moving truck in "Oriental Condor" is also a stand-in for Qian Jiale.

Sammo Hung couldn't finish it because he was overweight, and other stand-ins didn't dare to jump, only Qian Jiale had the guts, and it was perfectly completed with only one shot.

Because of Qian Jiale's efforts, Sammo Hung gave him a lot of opportunities to star in movies very early.

The characters in movies such as "Uncle Zombie", "Wesley's Overlord Unloading Armor", "Tantric Dragon", "Green Hornet", "Jingwu Yuan" and other movies have left a deep impression on the audience.

At the end of the 90s, Qian Jiale played the role of "Big Boss" Yang Tian in "The Dragon of the Troubled Boy", and later participated in "The Winner is King", making him a member of the "Golden Brothers".

He is very close to Ekin Cheng, Chen Xiaochun, Xie Tianhua, Lin Xiaofeng and others, not only participating in movies, but also holding many concerts.

Qian Jiale is low-key, does not like to be in the limelight, and rarely comes out to show his face.

Over the years, he has retired behind the scenes as an action director and director, and his fame is on par with that of his brother Qian Xiaohao, and he is already a figure in the circle who can take charge of himself.

02, Yuan Hua, the transformation from Bruce Lee's stand-in to an acting movie star.

Another highly respected figure in the Hong family's class is Yuan Hua, the "King of Fighting".

Someone on the Internet once released a video of Sammo Hung, Yuan Biao and Yuan Hua doing somersaults on the show, pointing out that Sammo Hung and Yuan Biao were both vigorous when they were young, but Yuan Hua was the "king bomb" in the somersault.

As early as the 70s, Yuan Hua became Bruce Lee's somersault stand-in because of his good skills.

Bruce Lee's somersault scenes in "Jingwumen" and "Enter the Dragon" are all stand-ins made by Yuan Hua.

In the list of "Dragon Family Class" formed before Bruce Lee went to Hollywood, Yuan Hua is the most important member.

It's a pity that due to Bruce Lee's sudden death, Yuan Hua also lost the opportunity to go to Hollywood for development, and could only continue to struggle at the bottom.

In 1974, there was a scene of high-altitude jumping into the sea in Gui Zhihong's "Mouse Hunt", and the director coaxed Yuanhua to say that the height of jumping from the plane to the sea was 20 feet, but the actual height was 100 feet, that is, more than 30 meters.

When it was time to turn on the plane, Yuanhua didn't dare to jump down, but he was touched by another person on the plane, lost his center of gravity, and fell down.

When it fell into the water, the water pressure was like a hammer, giving Yuan Hua a blow to the chest.

Then he was bleeding from his mouth and nose, and it took him half an hour before he could speak.

Later, Yuan Hua gradually mixed up in the Hong family class, and Sammo Hung also gave him a lot of opportunities to perform.

The first role that impressed the audience was the Vietnamese general played in 1987's "Oriental Condor".

At that time, Hong Kong people thought he was a Vietnamese actor, and his evil image made the audience unforgettable.

Because of the relationship of "Bruce Lee stand-in", Yuanhua has had a close relationship with Stephen Chow for a long time.

The two have collaborated on many movies such as "Love Saint", "Comic Dragon", "Descendants of the Dragon" and so on.

As a result, Yuan Hua began to develop from an action actor to a comedian, and played a role in TVB dramas.

In 2004, when Stephen Chow was filming "Kung Fu", he asked Yuan Hua to play the charter man in the film, and he also ushered in the second spring of his career because of this role.

Now that Yuan Hua has turned to the development of online movies, he does not receive a high salary, but his performance is still excellent.

For example, Yan Chixia played in "A Chinese Ghost Story: Love in the World", which left a deep impression on Brother Pi.

Of course, some people say that he eats his old book, mixes with inferior quality and has a big network, and "looks ugly".

However, a 72-year-old actor of the older generation is actually not easy, let's be more tolerant.

03, Xiong Xinxin, from Jet Li's stand-in to action movie director.

Jet Li was accidentally frostbitten during the filming of "Shaolin Temple", and then "went into battle with injuries" when filming "Shaolin Kid" and "North and South Shaolin", so he also began to use stand-ins frequently.

The actors who served Jet Li as a stand-in in "North and South Shaolin" are Mai Weizhang in Liu Jialiang's Liu family class, and Jet Li's friend Xiong Xinxin.

The lion dance stand-ins in the movie are actually done by Xiong Xinxin, who also showed his face in the film.

Because of the opportunity of this performance, Xiong Xinxin later simply joined Liu Jiaban and followed Liu Jialiang to Hong Kong for development.

has also participated in many movies such as "Tiger Guard", "The Story of Deer and Ding", "King of a Thousand Faces", etc., but they are all stand-ins and play some thug roles.

When Jet Li and Tsui Hark collaborated on "Once Upon a Time", Xiong Xinxin used Jet Li as a stand-in.

Because Jet Li accidentally fractured his left calf during the filming of "Bamboo Ladder Battle", Xiong Xinxin, Gu Xuanzhao and Ling Zhihua worked together to complete all the long-range martial arts shots in "Bamboo Ladder Battle", and he also won Tsui Hark's trust.

During the filming of "Once Upon a Time 2: Men Should Be Self-Improvement", Tsui Hark gave Xiong Xinxin a role, playing the role of the White Lotus Sect leader Jiugong Zhenren in the film.

But this role didn't make Xiong Xinxin popular, so Tsui Hark arranged the classic role of Devil's Foot Seven for him in "Once Upon a Time 3: The Lion King".

He also got out of the circle smoothly and got the nickname of "Seventh Brother".

Xiong Xinxin has always been conscientious, although he became famous, he did not forget his original intention, and he can still be seen in many of Jet Li's later movies.

For example, in "Once Upon a Time: The Lion of the Western Regions", he returned to play the role of Ghost Foot Seven; Worked behind the scenes in "Black Man" and played the role of a thug.

Now Xiong Xinxin has also moved to the mainland, and has directed the action movie "War Wushuang", and has won the popular beating girl Jiang Luxia with one hand.

In recent years, he has also switched to online movies, and has participated in films such as "The Return of Fang Shiyu's King", "Southern Shaolin's Angry Eyes King Kong", "Shaolin Temple's Legend of Debao", "Heaven and Dragon Slayer: Jiuyang Divine Skill" and other films, and he is still young.

04, Ke Shouliang, from stuntman to the first person to fly over the Yellow River.

The 3 mentioned above are all action doubles for fame.

A stand-in like Zhang Lei, who has a skill in itself, is also highly favored.

For example, "the first person to fly over the Yellow River" Ke Shouliang, he was once the premier flying car stunt stunt actor in Hong Kong and Taiwan, known as "Little Black", and has a close personal relationship with Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, Andy Lau and other big names.

Ke Shouliang, originally from Ningbo, Zhejiang, went to Taitung, Taiwan with his family in 1955, and became a fisherman after dropping out of middle school.

But he always wanted to be a movie star, so he went to Taipei alone to apply for the movie star school.

Because he is good at driving motorcycles, he has become a motorcycle stuntman, and also serves as a martial arts instructor, director and stunt double.

What made Ke Shouliang famous was "Best Partner" in 1982 in New Arts City.

In the film, there is a shot of the actor Xu Guanjie driving a motorcycle and flying downstairs through the glass on the second floor.

Due to the high danger, no local stuntman in Hong Kong dares to do it, only Ke Shouliang is willing to give it a try.

Everyone present sweated for Ke Shouliang, but he relied on his solid skills to easily complete it in one shot, and his reputation has since resounded throughout Xiangjiang.

Later, Sammo Hung and Jackie Chan also invited him to join films such as "Food Truck" and "Dragon Brother and Tiger Brother";

Movies directed by him, such as "Yafei and Yaji", "War Dragon in the Wild", and "Curry Pepper", also have a good reputation.

Although he is in Taiwan, Ke Shouliang has not forgotten that he is a native of Ningbo, Zhejiang.

With a sincere patriotic heart, he has always been concerned about the motherland.

In 1987, he drove a motorcycle over the 80-meter-wide Haihu Grand Canyon in Taoyuan, Taiwan, known as the "Death Valley", proving to the world that Chinese can also do difficult flying stunts.

On November 15, 1992, in order to express his patriotic enthusiasm, Ke Shouliang jumped over the beacon tower of the Great Wall on a motorcycle.

When he heard that there were stuntmen abroad planning to drive across the Yellow River, he was in full swing to prepare.

Finally, on June 1, 1997, under the lens of CCTV's live broadcast to the world, he drove a car over the Hukou Waterfall of the Yellow River.

On October 1, 2002, Ke Shouliang drove over the 30-meter-long Potala Palace Square under the pressure of altitude sickness.

It was also his last adventurous performance.

On December 9, 2003, Ke Shouliang died at the age of 50 after an asthma attack caused by excessive alcohol intake in Shanghai.

05, Yuan Wu, from Sammo Hung's stand-in to the master of "Sichuan Opera Changing Face".

Hong Kong's action actors are collectively known as "Dragon and Tiger Warriors".

Although during filming, in order to protect the protagonist from injury, a stuntman will be used.

But after a set of actions, it is often the case that whoever does a good job will be let go.

Leading actors like Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, and Yuan Biao have also been stand-ins for others, and even director Tang Jili completed the "earth-shattering jump" for Jackie Chan when he was filming "Red Fan Zone".

Sammo Hung has such a "large tonnage" figure, some people may think that he can't find a stand-in.

In fact, Sammo Hung also has his own full-time stand-in, which is his junior brother Yuan Wu.

Since the early days of the establishment of the Hong family class, Yuan Wu, who is more introverted by nature, has been following Sammo Hung to "escort" Sammo Hung and his fat body shape is very close to Sammo Hung .

At the beginning of "Rich Train", Sammo Hung has a fight scene in the snow, and he needs to roll naked on the snow outdoors, which is difficult to imagine.

Viewers who have watched that episode must be worried about Sammo Hung 's body.

Especially a shot of flying down from a tree and plunging headlong into the snow, the kind of cold that ordinary people can't stand.

But in fact, Sammo Hung also frequently used stand-ins in those shots, and the person who was stuck in the snow was not himself, but the stand-in Yuan Wu.

In "Five Lucky Stars", there is also a shot of the snitch played by Sammo Hung sliding from upstairs to downstairs with a sling and falling directly into the police car, which is also a stand-in made by Yuan Wu, and the camera did not shoot his face.

One of the most dangerous scenes Yuan Wu has ever done is in "Provincial and Hong Kong Flag Soldiers", where he was asked to smash his back on the ice rink from the height of the 5th floor of the shopping mall.

Although the footage has been edited, according to the estimation of netizens, it should have fallen from the 2nd floor, but the impact of the back on the body is not something that ordinary people can bear.

At that time, Yuanwu was seriously injured after falling, completely lost consciousness, and was rushed to the hospital for rescue.

Now recalling the scene of the year, Yuan Wu frankly admitted that he was young at that time, and in order to make a good movie, he fought with his life, and those classic shots were also exchanged for his life.

It's a pity that people who work so hard have not been able to usher in the highlight moment of their acting career.

Although Yuan Wu has participated in many movies, he has played some tricky roles, standing behind the protagonist as a background board.

Because of the more and more injuries on his body, as he grew older, Yuan Wu began to feel powerless, so he simply left the Hong family class.

In order to support his family, Yuan Wu went to the mainland of Sichuan to learn from famous teachers and change his face, and later stayed in the mainland to develop.

Whenever the "Seven Little Blessings" gather, Yuan Wu still goes.

He is now an old man, but he is still very flexible and can do many difficult movements.

06, Yang Sheng, from Lin Qingxia's stand-in to Shaolin Temple's senior brother Hong Xiguan.

When we look back on those old Hong Kong films now, we will be amazed by the hard work of filmmakers at that time to shoot action scenes.

At that time, Hong Kong produced more than 400 movies a year, and in order to get a better box office, it had to work harder than its peers in terms of camera performance, so there was a crazy involution.

In that era when there were no CG special effects, under the fierce competition, the Chengjia class, the Hong family class, the Yuan family class, the Liu family class, etc., often tried to make some extremely dangerous shots when filming scenes.

Sometimes it's the stuntmen themselves, sometimes it's the actors who take huge risks to complete the action, and if they are not careful, they can get injured and even lead to lifelong disability or death.

For example, in Jackie Chan's "Police Story", there is a shot of Shalena played by Lin Qingxia jumping into the swimming pool from the roof of the villa.

Because the rooftop is far away from the swimming pool and the height is at least more than 30 meters, if you jump directly and accidentally fall into serious injury, netizens who have watched the movie will definitely feel frightened.

And the person who jumped off in that shot couldn't see his face at all, but looking at the figure, it was obviously not Lin Qingxia herself, it was done by a stand-in.

That stand-in is actually Yang Sheng of the family class, he is a native of Beijing, alias Yang Yifan, who went to Hong Kong as early as the 80s to develop.

Because of his good skills, he was favored by Jackie Chan and entered the family class, and later became an assistant martial arts instructor by Cheng Xiaodong's side.

Yang Sheng has always been engaged in behind-the-scenes work, and has participated in the filming of Tsui Hark's "Sword and Horse", "A Chinese Ghost Story", "Smiling Proud Jianghu" and other films.

And his highlight moment was when he played the elder brother of Shaolin Temple Hong Xiguan in director Lin Lingdong's "The Burning of Red Lotus Temple", and he had a lot of rivalry with Ji Tiansheng who played Fang Shiyu.

It's a pity that "The Burning of Red Lotus Temple" was too cult because of its style, and the box office was not good after it was released in Hong Kong, and Yang Sheng failed to usher in a turning point in his career with this film.

After 2000, Yang Sheng left Hong Kong and returned to the mainland to develop, and participated in many TV series, such as "The Legend of the Condor Heroes", "Jingzhong Yue Fei", "Sword Shadow", etc., and gradually gained a certain fame.

But after 2014, Yang Sheng had to leave the film and television industry due to physical reasons.

On July 28, 2021, Yang Sheng died at the age of 58 in Tianjin Cancer Hospital due to ineffective medical treatment.

On the afternoon of August 7, 2021, Jackie Chan also posted on his social media to mourn the former member of the family class.

More stuntmen can't leave a name, life and death are like smoke

Like the 6 mentioned above, they have all left a strong mark in the film and television industry.

Although it has paid a lot, it has also been affirmed by the audience and is deeply loved by fans.

There are many stuntmen who, although they have also put in the effort, have not been as successful as them, and have not even been able to leave their names.

Let's give another example of 2 stand-ins.

In 1990's "Tiger Out 2" directed by Liu Jialiang, the "buffalo" played by Li Yuanba jumped off a pedestrian bridge nearly 20 meters above the ground in order to chase the fugitive.

In the shot, the actor was supposed to grab the long pole of the street lamp 3 meters away from the overpass in mid-air, but he fell to the ground because he failed to grasp it.

That shot was not made by Li Yuanba himself, but most people don't know who his stand-in is.

In fact, the stand-in is called Xu Baohua, and he has always been famous in the film industry for ignoring his own dangers.

When filming this thrilling scene, Xu Baohua accidentally fell down due to a mistake, broke a pair of legs on the spot, and lay in the hospital for a long time.

Xu Baohua has also participated in many Hong Kong films such as "Thin Tiger and Fat Dragon", "Bullet Rental", "Liver and Bladder Photography", "Truant Dragon" and many other Hong Kong films.

The most glorious moment was playing a perverted killer in "The Fat Pink Couple", and had a wonderful fight scene with Sammo Hung.

But with the decline of Hong Kong films, Xu Baohua has gradually left the film industry, and now there is no news of him at all.

In 2011, when Jet Li participated in "The Expendables 2", there was a stand-in from Qingjian in Shaanxi named Liu Kun.

On October 27, while filming a group of rubber boats exploding on the lake, too much explosives were placed at the scene, and an accident occurred when it detonated.

Liu Kun, who completed the action for Jet Li, was killed on the spot, and another stand-in, Sun Nuo, was also seriously injured.

After the incident, the filming schedule of "The Expendables 2" was not affected at all, and the film company only compensated his family 25,000 US dollars (equivalent to about 160,000 yuan) in the end.

Liu Kun was only 26 years old at the time, he had a dream of being an actor, and he wanted to follow Jet Li to become an action superstar, but he lost his life due to an accident.

If there is no accident, maybe Liu Kun is still active in the film industry now, and maybe he has the opportunity to get ahead and become a well-known actor.

Or leave the film and television industry, marry a wife and have children, and live an ordinary life.

But none of this is possible.

No matter how much insurance money there is, it can't get back Liu Kun's precious life.

After all, there are only a few people who can get the opportunity to become famous, and more of them are unknown all their lives, like Xu Baohua, who was seriously injured due to filming, and may be plagued by pain for the rest of his life;

It is even more unfortunate that people like Liu Kun lost their lives because of an accident.

But a successful commercial film is inseparable from the efforts in front of and behind the scenes.

Every aspect needs to be done as well as possible, which depends on the efforts of the special effects team and stuntmen.

Those stuntmen who have been behind the scenes all their lives, risking their lives to complete stunt shots, and silently contributing to the film, deserve our recognition and respect.

Pico hopes that one day, filmmakers will be able to find stuntmen who have not been able to leave their names and tell their stories in a documentary.

Text/Pippi Film Editorial Department: Bloody Danxin

©原创丨文章著作权：皮皮电影（ppdianying）

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