david chiang and ti lung hate each other(story)
Asked for a verdict on the relations between former "blood brothers" Ti Lung and David Chiang, one could not call their recent relationship hate but antipathy and indifference.
But how did two superstars who shaped the history of Hong Kong cinema become that way?
Well, against the initial considerations and the initial professional hindsight of Chang Cheh (Please bear in mind, that David Chiang was (not at least due to family obligations) a favoured protégé of the superstar director) young Tam Fu Yung got his start in the biz. Instead of simply replacing Wang Yu, who was slowly on his way out of SB and had a deep rift with Cheh going on, Cheh had been forced into a dilemma of being overruled by the main studio executive, who really ran the show on behalf of Run Run Shaw, despite being the “million dollar director” and main attraction of the franchise. He had chosen Chiang as his next superstar, but had now to integrate a second utterly handsome, but professionally lacking actor (He would gain respect for the “other guy” in the years to come and would finally and support his “second choice” more than his main protégé).
So, instead of being the brand new male top star, Chiang became only one third of the “iron triangle” that would take the box offices around the globe by storm. The start of the career the remaining third of this trio was largely due to the influence of said studio executive Mona Fong, who favoured the “other” actor to lure female audiences into the cinemas (She is also rumoured to be solely responsible for Tam’s stage name “Ti Lung”, a close verbal derivation of the name “Alain Delon”, her favourite movie star at the time of French dominance of the film market).
For nine years, between 1969 and 1977, both actors starred together in no less than 29 movies (attention SB movie trivia fans: only three of those 29 were not created under the influence or collaboration by Chang Cheh but rather by Chu Yuan (x2) and Li Han Hsiang (x1)), an output that speaks for their greed to live with severe private differences rather than give up lucrative revenue streams and stakes. Chiang started his career with a bang, getting awards and applause while Lung took the back seat in many cases. Then came 1973 and Lung took the critics by storm (Blood Brothers) for the first but not the last time. By 1974, both had financial stakes in SB, as well as in Cheh’s new company Chang’s Films Ltd, which was operating out of Taiwan to burn tax-bound funds for Shaw’s. During their most prosperous times together they had been awarded with kick backs and extra payments and it started to emerge that Lung cashed in more than Chiang. Still, the SB PR department refused to acknowledge problems (first the hassle over top star billing on the posters and in news coverage, then the rift between both due to their private life (the love triangle of Chiang with Lily Li and his later wife, which was despised by Lung and his wife who had rather conservative ideas. Then Chiang hit back with references to Lung’s former love Li Ching and to an alleged affair with Ching Li and another HK socialite), and finally their respective careers and future paths (Lung started to collaborate with other directors, Chiang (at the end) had to beg for starring roles before leaving the studio to go down the hill until it was only TV work and the odd cameo, whilst Lung (after kicking his alcohol problems) started a second and third career culminating in awards and global recognition).
The public relations bubble about two superstars being close friends, colleagues and business partners burst in 1975, after, in the course of the filming of “Empress Dowager”, it became clear that both had severe clashes on and off the set. Slowly, the bigwigs started to realise that their favourite milking cows had no future together. By the time “Naval Commandos” and “Death Duel” were filmed both actors could not even be forced to be together at the same set, let alone to appear in the same scenes. The even had contracts that stipulated that fact and it is rumoured that libel lawsuits had been filed between the two stars.
In the years until now, there had been several attempts to bring them together, but to this day, they refuse to be seen together at all. They even “could not attend” the funeral festivities of their mentor Chang Cheh together and despite being offered major §§§ they refuse to walk on the same side of the street together let alone attend some functions or share another single moment on the silver screen. Too much porcelain has been shattered and despite official lip services when asked in public about their relations (it goes as far as not answering or ignoring questions or giving thin lipped standard empty phrases praising each others contributions to their life) or niceties mumbled in hushed style, there is only a chance of a snowball in hell, that both see or speak to each other again.
