12 years ago, at the press conference of the movie "Tangshan Earthquake", Feng Xiaogang offended all domestic film directors with one sentence:
I can say that I can shoot anything, and everything I shoot has a box office.
There is a box office for entertainment, and serious films that are not entertainment still have a box office, perhaps higher than that entertainment.
No way, who can surpass me, you find me one?
No!
I was especially lonely and defeated...
But since 2012, several films directed by Feng Xiaogang seem to have been wrapped in a tight curse.
This year, the blockbuster "1942", which he had carefully prepared for 18 years, finally came. Feng Xiaogang was full of ambition, did not expect the box office to be miserable, with a total investment of 500 million yuan, the box office was only 370 million.
In 2016, "I Am Not Pan Jinlian" only received 480 million yuan at the box office because of the scheduling, and whether he could recover the cost became a major test for him.
By 2017, "Fanghua" of 1.42 billion, breaking the highest box office record of Feng Xiaogang's films, was squeezed to the sixth place by the dark horse "Predecessor 3", and was thrown away by Wu Jing's "Wolf Warrior 2".
In 2018, Feng Xiaogang launched the movie "Only Yun Knows", but it only got 160 million box office, which became a joke in the film industry. In the same year, "I Am Not a Medicine God" exceeded 3 billion, creating a miracle at the box office of mainland movies.
He worked as a director for 28 years, making 34 films with a total box office of 5.047 billion.
However, this achievement was easily surpassed by Jia Ling, a rookie in the film industry, with the 5.495 billion box office of a "Hello Li Huanying".
This result undoubtedly made Feng Xiaogang, who had boasted about Haikou, have a good taste of falling from the altar. It can be said that how proud it was then, how much it is now a slap in the face.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="9" >01, seeking to ascend</h1>
After Feng Xiaogang became famous, some media asked him what he wanted to eat most, and his answer was "soy sauce bubble rice".
There is a reason why Feng Xiaogang said this.
Feng Xiaogang was born in Beijing in 1958 to an ordinary family.
He grew up in a single-parent family on the outskirts of Beijing, where his mother was a printer worker who supported him and his sister on a meager salary.
What they eat every day is soy sauce rice. This kind of life ran through his entire childhood.
He was often bullied by the children in the compound and then ran home to hold his heart.
At that time, he must not have thought that he would one day mingle with these children of the courtyard.
After graduating from high school, Feng Xiaogang went to become a soldier.
Because he has a good art foundation, he is highly appreciated by the leaders and often organizes some literary and artistic performances.
After Feng Xiaogang changed careers, although he had no background and low education, he worked seriously and was particularly clever, so he was arranged into a cultural unit and had a formal job.
At that time, he was a humble little artist under Zheng Xiaolong, and his daily job was to run errands for the crew, but this was not the life he wanted.
He wanted to do everything in his power to blend into the circle where Zheng Xiaolong was located, the Beijing circle.
In 1985, the 27-year-old Feng Xiaogang, who wanted to get ahead, quickly got the appreciation of Zheng Xiaolong because he was capable and sensible.
After that, he learned about Wang Shuo through Zheng Xiaolong.
Wang Shuo was the core of the Beijing circle, and he was the only one who could connect the entire Beijing circle at that time. In 1990, Li Xuejian's "Longing" swept the country, and this crowded drama was jointly created by Wang Shuo and Zheng Xiaolong.
Feng Xiaogang admired Wang Shuo. He envied Wang Shuo's talent and longed for Wang Shuo's emotional experience.
However, without a background in the compound, it was not an easy task for him to climb the relationship with Wang Shuo.
But all the problems could not hide from Feng Xiaogang's plan.
He was close to Wang Shuo and praised Wang Shuo every day in front of Zheng Xiaolong.
He knew that it was far better to boast about people behind his back than to flatter him in front of a Buddha-figure.
Zheng Xiaolong saw that he was so enthusiastic, so he introduced Wang Shuo to him.
Originally, Wang Shuo couldn't look down on him as a small person. Feng Xiaogang also knew that he would be much shorter when he stood in front of others.
Who would have expected that he would be able to recite Wang Shuo's novel backwards like a stream.
No matter how Wang Shuo held it, he couldn't resist such a little fan.
In 1991, Zheng Xiaolong wanted to shoot "The Story of the Editorial Department", but he did not expect that when the script was sent for review, something went wrong.
Wang Shuo had a good script that he had so hard to write, but he disappeared.
After the script was lost, Zheng Xiaolong asked Wang Shuo to write another copy, and Wang Shuo was worried about this matter, and Feng Xiaogang appeared.
No one doesn't like others to share their worries.
Feng Xiaogang volunteered, and Wang Shuo rejoiced.
However, in the creative stage, Wang Shuo found that in terms of script ideas, Feng Xiaogang could do it, which coincided with his own views.
In the end, with the help of Feng Xiaogang, the second version of the script was successfully polished and completed, and as a result, when the drama was about to finish, the lost script was found again.
As for what happened in the middle, the literary hero Wang Shuo saw through it but did not say that it was broken. He didn't even object, adding Feng Xiaogang's name to the screenwriting column.
Because, he really needed a worldly person like Feng Xiaogang around him. Only such a person knows better than him how to cater to the mainstream.
At this time, Feng Xiaogang was only one step away from success.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="7" >02</h1>
Feng Xiaogang gradually gained recognition in the Beijing circle, and he spread out around this circle and established his own network of contacts.
Through "The Story of the Editorial Department", Feng Xiaogang met Ge You.
Because of the popularity of this drama, Jiang Wen, who was fascinated by it, and Zheng Xiaolong saved up a "Beijinger in New York".
Under the recommendation of Wang Shuo, Feng Xiaogang became the executive director of this drama.
This drama is on fire, and Feng Xiaogang's talent is recognized. The gap between him and Wang Shuo was a little closer.
Later, just in time for the shelling of "leper literature", Wang Shuo bore the brunt of it and had to run abroad to avoid the wind.
Feng Xiaogang fought alone in China and made several tepid films, but they were not recognized by the audience.
Until 1997, Feng Xiaogang, who was nearly forty years old, was inspired by Jackie Chan's New Year movie "Red Fan District".
Feng Xiaogang took Ge You, used his personal connections, invited Liu Bei, He Bing, Li Qi, Yingda, Ye Jing, Yang Lixin and a group of other actors, and also managed to get a real tank.
In this way, a movie adapted from Wang Shuo's novel, "Party A and Party B", met with the audience.
As soon as the film was released, it was an unprecedented success.
It was also in that year that Wang Zhongjun, who was working hard in the business world, accidentally saw the poster of "Party A and Party B". Sniffing the business opportunities from it, he found Feng Xiaogang with great interest.
A year later, Wang Zhongjun invested in three films with arrogance. Jiang Wen and Chen Kaige's films did not meet expectations, but Feng Xiaogang's uniqueness earned him a lot.
That year, Zheng Xiaolong, with his first film "Gua Sha", only won a special award of the Huabiao Award.
Also in that year, Feng Xiaogang's film "Big Shot", not only won the Academy Award nomination, but also won a number of awards of the Volkswagen Hundred Flowers Award, becoming the leader of the fifth generation of directors in China.
Feng Xiaogang has become a real big name in the directing industry with "Big Names". Those seniors in the compound were surpassed by him one by one in that instant.
In the following years, he cut through thorns all the way, and successively made two high-profile and high-grossing films, "Mobile Phone" and "No Thief in the World", which further consolidated his position as a director.
He continued to ride the storm and achieved a good performance in 2008's "Do Not Disturb", breaking the box office record of Chinese films in the mainland.
For a time, he who "sought defeat alone" could be described as a spring breeze triumphant horseshoe disease.
In 2014, he tried his hand, directed the most top variety show in China - the Spring Festival Gala, and took advantage of the opportunity to star in the movie "Old Cannon" in the same year to reach the peak of his career.
At this point, he finally experienced the heroism of "overlooking the mountains and small mountains".
Feng Xiaogang, who has reached the top of the pole, stepped on the pace of success, became an observer of the well-known variety show "Smiling Proud of the River", and also served as a mentor with Jackie Chan and Li Bingbing in "I See You Have a Play".
In the program, his demeanor is not reduced, in addition to angrily rebuking the simple performance of the thick guy, he also called the big brother Jackie Chan, and gave himself a lesson to the big brother.
At that time, he would never have imagined how dashing the stars were, and how painful it would be when he fell.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="5" >03, falling altar</h1>
With the rise of new directors, Fung's films have been challenged like never before.
Once, he and several domestic directors, it was a competition between you and me.
But the rise of the rising star had to make him fully understand the bitter taste of being hung by the newcomer.
Jia Ling's success is difficult to hide feng Dao's former glory. At his peak, he tore up idol stars without reproach, but later pointed the finger at Wanda.
As a big man in the art circle, he is good at manipulating public opinion and has benefited a lot from it.
Because of the low schedule of "Pan Jinlian", he tore the Wanda boss:
What do you have to do with me!
And confronted Wang Sicong on social platforms, but was torn back by Wang Sicong.
After a few rounds, Feng Xiaogang was caught in public opinion and accused by netizens of taking the opportunity to promote his own movie, which is his consistent style.
Because as early as 2010, after Xu Fan, the heroine of "Tangshan Earthquake", missed the Golden Horse Shadow, Feng Xiaogang said sarcastically on the social platform:
Expect they will have this hand, the film sold 660 million and still give you the award? Hate you too late, it's ecological balance.
But "Pan Jinlian" was cold, but the Golden Horse Awards awarded him the best director award, and he changed his mouth to say that it was very fair.
The contrast between before and after is so great that it is difficult to earn a good reputation.
Even the audience who loved him was not spared, and became the object of his anger.
At the Shanghai Film Festival, Feng Xiaogang said bluntly during a discussion with Chen Kexin:
There are so many junk movies in China because there are a lot of junk audiences.
The implication is that his works are no problem, the box office performance is poor, the reputation is not good, and the audience does not know how to appreciate it.
In a word, it has offended thousands of viewers, and the reputation he has fallen is afraid that he will not be able to go back.
In April 2021, Huayi, which cooperated with Feng Xiaogang, released last year's annual report, showing that Dongyang Mera's net profit last year was only more than five million, far below the performance commitment.
According to the agreement, the rest needs to be made up by Feng Xiaogang.
Dongyang Meila is a company founded by Feng Xiaogang in 2015, and after several months of operation and almost zero performance, the old owner Huayi intervened to acquire it.
During the merger and acquisition period, Feng Xiaogang signed a bet.
Although he has to spit out more than two hundred million for this, in 2015 he got more than a billion. At large, he still has at least eight hundred million in the account.
And the big guy behind him, huayi brothers, life is far from being as good as his.
In May 2021, the Wang brothers became the executors again, and the amount of execution was as high as 300 million, while huayi brothers was heavily indebted, with debts as high as 6.8 billion.
Under tense circumstances, Wang Zhongjun has been selling famous paintings that he has collected for many years.
At that time, as a super star-making factory that had won a large number of popularity, Huayi was the first listed entertainment company in China.
Just 6 years ago, its market value was as high as 70 billion.
Huayi collapsed, leaving Feng Xiaogang without the greatest reliance.
In July 2021, after 25 years, Feng Xiaogang returned to the TV drama circle again and filmed a female-themed TV series "North and South".
This "self-redemption" that seems to be a failed bet, the reputation has been waterloo again, and it is laughed at by the audience as "Beijing's version of the small era".
It can be seen that now that he is 63 years old, it is difficult to integrate into the world of young people, and it is even more difficult to satisfy the appetite of young people.
The reputation of the work fell, the rating of the audience was not good, and it lost the backing behind it.
To paraphrase a classic line from his "Party A and Party B" that year:
The era that belonged to Feng Dao has passed, will young people miss him?