In the "Spit Conference", Wang Taili said to Xiao Yang: "I treat you as a brother, and you treat me as a chopstick." ”
Xiao Yang smiled and replied, "Chopsticks brother, one is indispensable." ”
In the summer of 2014, a divine comedy called "Little Apple" came out, with catchy lyrics and cheerful and dynamic melodies.
With the funny MV, since then this song has occupied the major music charts and become a "phenomenon-level" existence, and the chopstick brothers have become extremely popular.
After that, the two were almost inseparable, going to perform all over the world every day, and after walking the cave, Xiao Yang followed Ning Hao and other young directors to focus on the performance.
Now 8 years have passed, after the explosion of popularity, the "chopstick brothers" are still there, but the gap between the two is getting bigger and bigger.
Xiao Yang is still active on the screen, while Wang Taili has faded out of the public's vision.
So what is the reason for this gap?
01、
Before "Little Apple", Xiao Yang and Wang Taili were out of the circle because of the micro-movie "Old Boy".
In the movie, Xiao Yang and Wang Taili have had musical dreams since childhood, and with their love for Michael Jackson, the two have become friends.
Many years later, the two became their own families, doing ordinary work, running for chai rice oil and salt every day, until middle age, they regained the dream of youth.
Signed up for the talent show, as the oldest group, they were undoubtedly eye-catching, touching the judges with a song "Old Boys".
However, in the end, because of the program mechanism and various shady scenes, the two were eliminated and returned to their original lives.
In fact, the experience of the protagonists in the movie is adapted from the real experiences of Xiao Yang and Wang Taili.
Wang Taili, born in 1969 in Weifang, Shandong, has loved music since he was a child and regarded Michael Jackson as his idol.
Dreaming of one day being like an idol, standing on the stage of great attention, becoming a top singer, receiving applause and cheers.
However, his dream was unrealistic and unreliable in the eyes of his parents.
His father sold large machine tools and equipment, and when he saw that Wang Taili did not concentrate on learning, he often said that he would let him do business with himself.
Especially after graduation, the father watched the children of his colleagues around him take the examination for the public examination, and his son Wang Taili was still unrealistic, so he did not fight and often did ideological work for him.
With a dream in my heart, how can I be willing to return to reality. So at the age of 24, Wang Taili carried a net worth of 500 yuan and went north with a dream.
From a small county to a big city, Wang Taili is eager to open up his own place in this broader world.
However, in this vast land, there is no place for him, and he is quickly defeated by reality with hope.
From a small hotel to a youth hostel to a small bungalow with a monthly rent of 100, he gradually realized the difficulty of north drifting.
What struck him the most was that his musical dreams were repeatedly frustrated, and in order to worship under the famous teachers, he gave gifts and looked at maolu three times, but without exception he was turned away.
The money was gone, he couldn't stay in Beijing and went home, and after a while, he sorted everything out and made a comeback.
So repeatedly, finally when he was about to enter Beijing for the fifth time, his father gave him an ultimatum, and if he did not succeed, he would go home and fry fritters, so Wang Taili fought a battle.
Coming to Beijing again, what awaited Wang Taili was still refusing again and again, and because of this, the money on his body was quickly spent.
In desperation, he shelved his musical dreams, worked in restaurants, ran insurance, and spent several years setting up a cultural company, which is also an intermediary for performance endorsements.
02、
Unlike Wang Taili, Xiao Yang's dream since childhood was to be a painter and he liked to paint since he was a child, but unlike Wang Taili, Xiao Yang's family situation was not good.
Without the financial support of his parents, without the help of friends, he has ordinary family conditions, and can only save as much as possible.
At the age of 16, Xiao Yang came to Beijing from Chengde and wanted to apply for the Central Academy of Fine Arts Affiliated High School, but he fell behind in the first year.
Unwillingly, he chose World War II, saving money and sharing a room with the old lady, and there was a curtain between the two.
This year, he was successfully admitted to the attached high school and studied his favorite major.
However, the tuition fees of the Academy of Fine Arts are expensive, and when it comes to paying the tuition fees, the family has to borrow money everywhere, and Xiao Yang will continue to take over the work during this time and earn pocket money.
It was not until 1997, when he was admitted to the university, that Xiao Yang's life was buffered, and in order not to repeat the mistakes of the past, he applied for the film and television broadcasting director major.
Although the tuition fee is still very expensive, it is easy to find a part-time job in this major, so it has become the norm of Xiao Yang's life while making money while studying.
Writing storyboards and scripts for the company, going out to shoot, he already had a small asset in college.
It is also his hard work that gives him the reputation of "King of Work", in 2002, Xiao Yang's "Love he Chuan" was selected for the Taiwan China Times Advertising Golden Calf Award.
With this honor, Xiao Yang became a little famous in the circle and began to emerge in the advertising industry.
03、
In 2005, Wang Taili received a job shooting an advertisement, and in order to make a profit from it, he thought of finding a student who had just graduated from the directing department.
In order to have a deeper understanding, Wang Taili went to the canteen of the Central Academy of Fine Arts and asked for someone who would shoot advertisements.
Under the recommendation of the students, Wang Taili cooperated with Xiao Yang, and it can be said that Wang Taili is the first customer in Xiao Yang's advertising career.
After the cooperation was completed, Xiao Yang received a remuneration of more than 100,000 yuan, and Wang Taili also recognized Xiao Yang's skills.
After that, the two became long-term partners,
In 2007, the era of online blogs and CRBT began to rise.
Wang Taili's musical dream also awakened again, and after consulting with Xiao Yang, the two decided to shoot a short film as a ringtone promotion advertisement.
Invested 20,000 yuan and filmed a funny MV of up to 6 minutes.
And during the meal, the combined name of the two was set "Chopstick Brothers", which means an inseparable whole.
The witty performance form and sad music made this video quickly popular on the Internet, and won the love of the majority of netizens, even with Wang Taili's singing of "Bless You Dear".
For a time, the name of "Chopstick Brothers" was widely known, and the two became new Internet celebrities, and then the two shot several short films while the iron was hot.
In 2009, the two were invited to participate in the "Young Directors Support Program" launched by the video platform.
Before that, the two had made a lot of money with the blessing of various awards, and they also had their own houses in Beijing.
After the career is too good, the two are also very satisfied with the status quo, as to whether to continue in the future, they are also caught in the choice.
After all, there is a lot of other work to be done between the two for the sake of life, and there is not much time to create.
The reason for changing the status quo and making the two persist is the death of Michael Jackson, the idol of Wang Taili.
The death of the idol made Wang Taili heartbroken, and at the same time he also felt the ruthlessness of time and years.
So he wanted to leave his youth behind through movies, so he called Xiao Yang and used the short video contest to make the movie he wanted to make.
Feeling inspired, Wang Taili wrote a song "Youth", when the platform only planned to shoot a 10-minute short film, giving a budget of 100,000.
But the script has been written, in the face of the requirements of the platform, the two are not willing to compromise, so they shot this 40-minute long micro-film at their own expense.
The filming of this movie is not easy, except for the heroine Yu Beibei, who is a professional actor, the others are amateur help.
In order to replenish the funds, Xiao Yang took out the money for the renovation of his new home, and just when the two let go and shot halfway through, Wang Taili's father was diagnosed with cancer.
Staying is not filial piety, and it is very likely that he will not see the last side of his father;
If you are unfaithful, abandoning your partner and delaying the progress is likely to fall short.
After some difficult decisions, Wang Taili returned to his father's side, and then transferred his father to a hospital in Beijing.
Filming during the day, accompanying him at night, and from beginning to end his hard work was seen by his father, he did not like the industry his son did, and the films he made that scandalized himself could not be on the table in his opinion.
Hearing that the content of the son's words changed a lot this time, the father still said proudly: "I want to see what is cut out." ”
But unfortunately, he did not wait for that day, under Xiao Yang's night-time editing, he still could not let Wang Taili's father see it.
And this has also become an eternal regret in Wang Taili's heart, after the micro-movie was issued, in just one week, the number of hits has approached tens of millions.
This film, infused with all the efforts and feelings of the two, became the best rated film at that time.
This success also gave the two the courage to persevere, so the two adapted Wang Taili's song "Father" into a movie again.
The film won the 9th Huading Award for China's Best Micro Film Award, and the theme song of the same name was also selected by netizens as the top ten golden songs of Baidu Boiling Point in 2012.
With the experience of the first two times, the two discussed the filming of a real movie "Old Boy's Raptor Across the River".
This time, the two no longer had the dilemma of insufficient funds before, and after becoming famous, the sponsorship came uninvited.
Unexpectedly, the movie has not yet been released, but the film's promotional film has gone out of the sky.
The promotional song was the original fire of "Little Apple", and the two of them appeared on the stage of the National Music Awards with this song, becoming the first Chinese artist group.
The song also won the International Pop Music of the Year award, and was later bought by the South Korean girl group for cover rights.
04、
Although the film eventually earned 210 million at the box office, in fact, the reputation of this movie is not good, and it is still about the dream journey of the two people.
The story and rhythm of the micro-film continue, but his heat after aesthetic fatigue is far less than before.
It was also during this period that the two gradually parted ways.
In fact, from the very beginning, the two people's paths are different, Wang Taili has a strong attachment to music, and Xiao Yang is committed to film and television.
However, after "Little Apple" and "Raptors Across the River", Wang Taili's music creation had a bottleneck, and Xiao Yang's test as a director also failed.
After all, it was systematically learned, and there was no way to go with a director, So Xiao Yang transformed and was sent by the state to Hollywood in 2014.
And during this period, he met Chen Sicheng and was excavated by him.
In 2015, Xiao Yang was invited to star in the movie "Detective Chinatown" directed by Chen Sicheng, in which he played a Thai policeman with his own sense of comedy.
In the second part, a change of the previous character setting, playing the mysterious person Song Yi, went to different acting skills to be recognized by the audience.
After meeting Chen Sicheng, Xiao Yang gave up his previous funny image in movies, and in 2019's "Manslaughter",
He played a father with a high IQ, contributing a good visual experience to the audience, with this film, Xiao Yang was nominated for a number of film awards including Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers.
In addition, Xiao Yang also tried to direct and act in some comedy movies, such as "Weather Pre-explosion", and his comedic talent was completely excavated by himself.
It is also the image of a comedian that is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, so the other roles he plays seem surprising.
With the rise of his career, Xiao Yang has now become an actor and director with a net worth of more than 100 million.
Wang Taili has also starred in film and television dramas and participated in many variety shows since then, but for various reasons, he has never caught fire.
Perhaps it is middle age, Wang Taili compared with Xiao Yang, from the appearance of the lack of comedy feelings, he revealed from the bones is a kind of shyness.
Perhaps compared to variety shows and filming, he is more suitable for taking the road of music.
And now he is the same, in addition to making music, accompanying his family and children, he is not willing to toss in the year of destiny, and the focus of his career is on music and family.
Like he said, to keep up with the changing pace of the times, he needs a lot of strength.
In 2020, the news of the "cancellation of chopsticks brothers studio" has aroused widespread concern, and rumors of the dissolution of the group have also been revealed.
In response, the two responded that the solo flight is not disbanded, but naturally develops separately, and each of them is wonderful and does not affect the cooperation between the two.
In fact, in the final analysis, it is the choice and personality of the two people, Xiao Yang loves adventures and challenges, and Wang Taili Buddhist family loves a peaceful life.
Xiao Yang still focuses on movies, using movies to pin his feelings and emotions on life.
Wang Taili has never stopped creating new songs, and now he has set his sights on cultivating his daughter to debut.
It is precisely because he has been difficult in the entertainment industry, so after learning that his daughter Wang Wanchen wants to enter the entertainment circle, Wang Taili expressed strong support and constantly cheered for her.
As for the two, they will still cooperate today, singing the promotional song of the film, their development path is different, but each is wonderful.