Interview with Ma Yuke ｜ This time it’s finally ＂Duan Kun, Tsim Sha Tsui＂!

1905 movie network feature Since the movie was released, the box office has exceeded 100 million, and the platform’s estimate of the box office has also risen. For a new director’s work, it is not easy.

The director began preparing for this story at the end of 2013, when he had just become the unique "Duan Kun" in everyone’s hearts with a corner of the movie. In his new film "Raging Tide", he found his partner "Zhang Ziwei" in "Anti-Drug". After all, the other party’s sentence, "Duan Kun, I’m sure" once became a buzzword.

After many years of cooperation, the outside world seems to be a "reconciliation", but it is more of a coincidence and suitable.

Ma Yuke’s interview with 1905 Movie Network happened to be the day after the movie’s premiere, the day before the premiere, running the hall, sweeping the building… Although all kinds of publicity methods have been experienced in the past, this time as a director, especially before going on stage, he stood in front of the theater and looked at the last scrolling letters, "That feeling is happy and uneasy, very subtle."

"Angry Tide" was Ma Yuke’s starting point as a director, and he had been preparing for it for many years. He had asked many screenwriters to participate, and he had also asked the director of "Anti-Drug" for advice. Even before the movie was released, his second directorial work "Rebirth" had been completed, almost continuing the original cast of "Angry Tide".

The creative difficulties behind "Rage Tide" are hard to describe, but for director Ma Yuke, has this finished film fulfilled his expectations?

"Create."

Audiences familiar with Ma Yuke may know that he is Duan Kun in "Anti-Drug".

In fact, his acting experience can be traced back to when he was 9 years old – his father, Ma Hongen, was an actor in the Gansu Provincial Repertory Theater and one of the actors in that film.

No matter whether it was his family environment or his childhood experiences, Ma Yuke always had a sense of "reverence for movies." Throughout his growth process, he had worked as a scene writer in the crew, gradually became a group actor, and later became a supporting role in various movies, but there was always a gap in his heart.

Being a director turned the passive into the active, becoming the point for Ma Yuke to fill this gap. Therefore, in 2013, he began to try to make his own screenplay, which was a very long process. Although he became famous because of "Anti-Drug", his commercial value was not recognized in the big market.

During this process, he used his salary to find a screenwriter to write the script. During this period, he also asked Tan Huizhen, the screenwriter of "Anti-Drug", and other screenwriters who worked with him to help, "but everyone never reached a point of convergence." This also caused the whole creative process to be intermittent and did not really take place.

Until 2018, when Ma Yuke was filming, he met the screenwriter Gu Haoran. The two mentioned the project during their chat, and found that they had the same idea, so they could shoot it, "almost overturned and re-structured."

After that, Ma Yuke almost threw himself into the whole creation. He even gave up the chance to act in many subsequent Hong Kong films.

In Ma Yuke’s opinion, he is not a lucky person. In the middle of three years, due to the investment of the film and other problems, six times to turn on and off, "I thought it was okay every time, but the result was a problem. That experience made me feel that I am not afraid of despair, but I am afraid that there will always be a glimmer of hope."

It was not until 2021 that the cast of "Raging Tide" was finalized and officially launched.

"Cheung Ka Fai."

The re-union of Zhang Jiahui and Ma Yuke is really a wave of "feelings killing" to the outside world, but in his opinion, he is not running for this wave of feelings.

The film "Raging Tide" focuses on the overseas dark crime industry chain, telling the story of Chen An’s transformation into a revenge killer after the murder of his sister, triggering a melee and killing by multiple forces. Ma Yuke, considering the environment, hopes to find actors from all over the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan to join according to the text requirements.

"He is a very pure actor." Before looking for Zhang Jiahui, Ma Yuke hesitated again and again, "Although we have worked together, they are all creators who cherish their feathers very much. How can I get their trust?" Later, the management sent the script to Zhang Jiahui. He always knew that the "crazy" actor who was on the set at that time worked hard for this script for a long time, and also asked many directors for guidance for this script.

After Zhang Jiahui finished reading the script, he liked it very much, but he didn’t agree to it. Instead, he had a conversation with Ma Yuke for more than an hour, asking him why he wanted to be a director and how he planned to be a director. It is true that at that time, Zhang Jiahui had already created three films as a director, and he knew the mood of a new director very well.

After this conversation, Zhang Jiahui told his agent, "Xiao Ma can be trusted and can cooperate." That promise gave Ma Yuke enough confidence, "At that moment, for me, whether in the drama or in life, I have been a supporting actor all year round, I have received a lot of confidence and encouragement."

After the movie really started, Zhang Jiahui gave Ma Yuke enough space as a director, "The cooperation between us is truly 100% trust. When we were on the scene, everyone had no other chops, and we didn’t care about other details. We just wanted to work hard to make this movie well." Although the two worked together again, they didn’t think about adding a plot to show the feelings of "Anti-Drug" when creating, and even at the end of the movie, the two rarely had real opposite scenes.

In fact, before the preparation, the role Ma Yuke reserved for himself was actually Ma Wenkang, who was to play later. But the actor who was originally scheduled to play Ugo withdrew due to scheduling problems. To this end, Ma Yuke himself went into battle and invited Wang Continental, who he knew earlier at the event, "I also adjusted this role appropriately for him."

"Style."

Although "Raging Tide" looks like a Hong Kong-made film in terms of subject matter and cast, it is actually a pure "mainland production".

However, it could not be ignored that many directors who had been filming in Hong Kong for many years had more or less influenced Ma Yuke’s creation, and in his system, crime films were definitely the first choice. In the past, these expressions had more or less affected his aesthetics.

Ma Yuke also wanted to break the routine. Before the preparation, he made it very clear that he wanted to make a crime mystery film, but the discussion of various crime films in the world has been repeated for a long time, "I want to be able to reverse the genre, and everyone wants to innovate."

In the final script, he made a very bold two-paragraph expression. The audience saw the front and thought it would be a traditional crime movie, but after the beginning of the middle, there were some surprises, and the whole emphasis was placed on the dawn, "I think as a person who purely loves creation, can I be shameless and have the courage to try it?"

This kind of attempt was seen by Zhang Jiahui. In the middle of the shooting, he pulled Ma Yuke to talk, "How did you do it like a Hong Kong movie, but not like it; there is a shadow of a Korean movie, but it is not. It really feels like your own."

It seemed that Ma Yuke had no answer to this question so far, "I just look at the picture. It’s the composition I like, the mirror movement I like, and the light and shadow I like." Every staff member behind the scenes gave him enough support, "I don’t want to pay tribute to anyone, the starting point is purely’I like ‘."

Now that the film has been officially released, the second director’s work "Rebirth" created by the original cast has entered the later stage. Looking back at "Rage Tide", what is Ma Yuke’s answer?

"My expectation was to try to make a movie that I hoped to finish, and I thought it was done."