Zhang Yimou's new work "Manjiang Hong" arrived as scheduled - although it was the second time to enter the Spring Festival file, it was unsurprisingly a big hit.
Many film critics felt that "National Teacher" was as stable as ever, and at the same time perfectly pleased the audience with entertainment.
In addition to the luxurious lineup of popular male stars such as Yi Yangqianxi, Zhang Yi, Lei Jiayin, Yue Yunpeng, Shen Teng's appearance seems reasonable, but it gives people an unexpected feeling.
After all, before this, he was a "variety show brother" who would laugh when he saw it, and his previous works were full of jokes as long as the "content" was high enough.
However, Shen Teng, who has been continuously exporting "laughing fruits" to the audience for several years, seems to have always wanted to break through this layer of "shackles".
Until Zhang Yimou issued an invitation and "Man Jiang Hong" appeared.
But will this become Shen Teng's transformation masterpiece? How far is his path to transformation?
1. Accidentally hit the comedy circle
Shen Teng played Zhang Da, one of the two male protagonists in "Manjiang Hong", and it is said that the prototype is a junior colonel who assassinated Qin Juniper.
Although his every appearance still carries an inexplicable sense of joy, in fact, this role is very different from any image he has played before.
Shen Teng, who is most impressed by the audience, is Hao Jian, Xia Luo or Wang Duoyu, Shen Guanglin, and is also the "funny responsibility" in various variety shows.
But in recent years, the audience may be able to see a trace of hesitation or helplessness in his slightly tired face.
After all, the pointer of time goes back to 20 years ago, he was just a "little fresh meat" who took the literary and artistic route, and he also had a unique pursuit of performance.
Shen Teng was born in 1979 in a wealthy family in Qiqihar, Heilongjiang, and had an older sister named Shen Na, who was 5 years older than him.
The siblings have lived in honeypots since childhood, especially the older sister showed super artistic talent at a very young age, and later became a famous soprano singer.
Parents did put a lot of effort into cultivating the pair of beautiful brothers and sisters, Shen Na was admitted to the military art very early, and her younger brother also successfully enrolled later.
At that time, seeing their son going to study far away, the parents were relieved, and even moved their family directly to open a restaurant near the school, just to accompany their son through college.
Because his appearance is too high, the young Shen Teng walked on the campus of military art, and soon became a beautiful landscape, which is a veritable "military art school grass".
During his studies, he was sent by his teacher to guide the rehearsal program of new students, so he met Wang Qi, a freshman girl who was only 19 years old at the time.
The two rubbed each other because of this, but they sparked in the future relationship, and Wang Qi soon became his girlfriend under Shen Teng's "alternative pursuit".
Soon, he is about to graduate, but because his parents' protection is too good, Shen Teng has always been very lazy, playing games in the rented apartment all day to get by, and will not hand over resumes and look for drama appointments like other classmates.
When Wang Qi saw such a Shen Teng, he even threatened to break up and encourage him to cheer up and go out to seek opportunities.
In 2003, 24-year-old Shen Teng accidentally entered the Happy Twist Repertory Theater during an interview.
At that time, he had an irregular daily schedule, did not eat and sleep well, and sat and played games for a long time, resulting in hemorrhoidal attacks and surgery.
Because his butt hurts too much, during the interview, Shen Teng seemed very relaxed, and could only sit on the sofa, but he didn't expect to be hit by the director: "This boy is very personal!" ”
Since then, Shen Teng has entered Happy Twist, starred in stage plays with the troupe, and embarked on a different comedy road.
2. Keep breaking through after becoming famous
At first, Shen Teng, who was very good-looking, could only start from the dragon set, and in his spare time, he went to various small theaters to watch performances, and once on a certain stage, he saw Ma Li, who was 3 years younger than him.
At that time, Ma Li was also depressed, and was teased by her acting teacher: "Your upper lip is protruding, like a monkey, knock out 4 front teeth and wear braces." ”
Indeed, after entering the entertainment industry for the first time, Ma Li never had a chance until she met Shen Teng.
In 2005, Shen Teng starred in a drama because of the temporary absence of an actress, and he thought of Ma Li.
After that, the two began the cooperation model of "two swords combined", and gradually became everyone's favorite screen CP.
In fact, after Shen Teng entered Happy Twist, his embarrassing acting path did not change much.
At that time, the drama was not popular, and the cost of the performance was not low, but the box office was not good.
Years later, Shen Teng recalled that the most dismal one at that time, a performance in the Thousand-Seat Theater, only sold 4 tickets in the end.
And Shen Teng's financial source to support his dream is still his parents, that is to say, he spent the period before becoming popular in the way of "gnawing the old".
The days of not giving up persisted for several years, until 2008, when the Happy Twist drama tour began, and gradually made many dramas into classic performances, at least no longer living beyond their means.
Shen Teng, who has a reputation, also received an olive branch from the Spring Festival Gala:
In 2012, at the age of 29, he incarnated as "Hao Jian" and riveted enough energy to earn himself enough popularity in his first Spring Festival Gala appearance.
The following year, he took Ma Li in "Today's Happiness 2", with the sentence "It is not naivety that defeats you, but 'no shoes'" and "killing crazy".
As we all know, if the Spring Festival Gala can create a well-known IP, it is very advantageous: such as Baiyun, Black Earth, Big Flicker, etc., all of which have been performed for several years in succession.
But Shen Teng did not want to take advantage of the fame of "Hao Jian" for too long, at that time, for him, letting everyone really know "Shen Teng" was the most important thing.
Therefore, two years later, at the Spring Festival Gala, Shen Teng took out the sketches "Helpless" and "Cast His Favor".
In 2015, it was the year when Happy Twist broke out with Shen Teng and Ma Li, and they first participated in the recording of the reality show "Happy Comedian" in the form of a team, competing with Jia Ling's team and Song Xiaobao's Xiaoshenyang team.
It is worth mentioning that in the process of the competition, Shen Teng also took out the mime "Where is the Thief" in an unusual way.
Although the day before the official performance, he was still organizing the actors to rehearse constantly - although many audiences may not be very comfortable with it after the performance.
But this skit eventually made the Happy Twist Group, and the team beat other strong opponents to win the championship of "Happy Comedian Phase 1".
Two months later, the movie "Charlotte Troubles" produced by the Happy Twist team was released, which grossed 1.4 billion at the box office, hitting the top five box office lists that year.
Shen Teng played Charlotte in the film is timid, nesty, and good-faced, and became a winner in life after crossing over, but after getting everything, he saw through that ordinary life is the greatest happiness in life.
This film is still taken out by fans from time to time to review, and it also makes people really know the charm of comedian Shen Teng.
It can be said that from the initial stage play, to the sketch art creation in the middle, and then to rushing into the big screen, Shen Teng has been thinking about breaking through his comfort zone, getting rid of a form of performance, and finding more possibilities for artistic display.
3. There is a lot to be done in the future
Sure enough, after that, he appeared in many films:
Shen Teng has Shen Teng in works such as "Iron Fist of Shame" and "The Richest Man in Xihong City".
Especially in the former, even if there are only a few shots, Shen Teng can become a highlight in the entire work.
In 2021, after the release of the movie "Me and My Fathers", Shen Teng also became the first filmmaker in the Chinese film market to exceed 20 billion.
Therefore, Shen Teng was also labeled as the "new king of comedy" by the outside world, and was known as "Stephen Chow's successor", and there was no one.
But in fact, is he really content with the title of "successor of XX"?
In "Flying Life", Zhang Chi, the former car god played by Shen Teng, is in addition to being funny, but in essence a down-and-out middle-aged man image;
In "Four Seas", he became a particularly unreliable father Wu Renteng;
Shen Teng in "Walking on the Moon Alone" is a maintenance worker Duguyue, which can be called a play supported by one person, in a closed space, his performance is very layered, and different emotions are transmitted to the audience in funny...
Although he has been "staying" in the Spring Festival file for several years, this time Shen Teng challenged the "little soldier" Zhang Da in "Manjiang Hong".
When promoting the film, he still did not play cards according to common sense, bluntly saying that "no matter where you go, you are going forward".
Indeed, Shen Teng, as a dreamer of internal entertainment, has always been moving forward.
And his transformation has not stopped, as early as 2019, he participated in the movie "Broad Daylight".
This work is different from all Shen Teng's previous film works, and it is a love action crime suspense film.
The male protagonist played by Shen Teng, Zun Fei, was a boxer in the ring, immigrated to Macau more than a decade ago and obtained a lawyer's license, although he changed into a suit, but he finally chose Jianghu.
An accident, he met Su Xiao, the woman of the "big brother", and had a mutual affection with him.
It is worth mentioning that Shen Teng also partnered with the most popular actresses Zhang Yuqi and Cai Wenjing in the film, which sounded "quite contradictory".
But maybe this is Shen Teng all the way from 2012, although in the seemingly inadvertent, there is not much change, always a "greasy middle-aged funny man" look.
However, in fact, it presents a very diverse, advanced and changeable deductive path.
It can be seen that when everyone expects the "content" to be higher and higher, he chose to gradually weaken his advantages.
The ultimate reason behind this may be that Shen Teng wants to become a more malleable actor, not just a comedian.
Just like Fan Wei, although he appeared as a "sketch actor" in the Spring Festival Gala in his early years, and later began to participate in comedy movies, he came up with excellent works such as "Aromatic Journey", "Tracking Kong Lingxue" and "One Sentence Top 10,000 Sentences".
Finally, with his outstanding performance in the movie "No Problem", he won the Golden Horse Award for Best Actor.
Today's Fan Wei appears again, still making people feel cordial and laughing, but when he acts in a formal drama, his acting skills are not dramatic at all, and he is a respectable artist.
Perhaps, this is the transformation brought about by true love, surprising and more respectable.
I believe that Shen Teng, who is always "uneasy about the status quo", will also succeed in his transformation in the future:
While bringing warmth and funny to the audience, there is also a deeper presentation of the performance, looking forward to it!