1. Passionate opening remarks: "Never Expected", an online comedy crew that was once popular all over the world, has now gone through ten years of vicissitudes and has different fates.
Under the clear skies of early summer 2023, the warm sun fills the air, and the gentle breeze blows on the cheeks, bringing a touch of coolness. I sat quietly by the floor-to-ceiling window of the café, carefully flipping through the script that evoked the depths of my memory—the 2013 popular web comedy "Never Expected".
According to statistics, the total number of mainland netizens reached an astonishing 618 million in 2013, and the first season of the show was played as many as 600 million times, which means that every Chinese who has access to the Internet has watched the series at least once.
What's more, this drama has also created many popular Internet buzzwords, such as "become the general manager, become the CEO, marry Bai Fumei, and walk to the peak of life", which are still widely circulated today.
However, the most striking thing is that the main creative staff of this drama are almost without exception not professional actors. The actor Bai Ke originally studied broadcasting and hosting, with a helpless facial paralysis expression; Zhang Benyu, the "father" who made people feel pity when he laughed, actually studied in international trade and finance; Kong Lianshun, who often played female roles, and Ge Bu, the "heroine" who had high hopes, were all "grassroots" who came out of the streets and alleys.
However, the most unexpected thing is that it is such a group of seemingly ordinary actors who have won the enthusiastic popularity of audiences across the country through their self-deprecating plots and grassroots performance styles in the improvised crew.
The Douban score is as high as 8.4, and the number of Weibo fans has exceeded 10 million, which can be called a model work of grassroots "inspirational and cool writing".
However, who would have expected that ten years later, these former creative members have embarked on a completely different life journey. Some are still shining, others are lost, and there are even those who are making their mark in another field.
Recalling the bits and pieces of the crew back then, those interesting things that happened in and out of the play made me sigh, "I never thought of it".
2. Transform into an "Internet celebrity director"
In the crew, Yi Xiaoxing is undoubtedly the most dazzling star. This post-80s road and bridge supervision engineer has a unique understanding of comedy scripts, and finally chose to join Wanhe Tianyi Company as the director and soul of "Never Expected".
The unique style of the work is full of exaggeration and humor. At the beginning of the film, he typed the subtitle "This episode is sponsored and broadcast by the Korean Aerospace Agency", cleverly ridiculed the "Siberian Tiger" phenomenon in South Korea back then, and even deliberately matched special effects for Wang Dazhui in the scene, with the words "ice and snow" and "flame" written on it, in order to laugh at the crew's tight budget and unable to hire a professional special effects team.
This unique self-deprecating filming technique, as well as a bold narrative that challenges authority, quickly won the love of the audience, making him known as "Stephen Chow in the Internet era".
Although the crew lacks funds and the cast is difficult to grow, Beast Yi Xiaoxing has always done it himself, making guest appearances in various roles. Whether it is a middle-aged man running in the sunset lamenting the passage of time, or an Indian monk who speaks curry-flavored English to solve problems for Wang Dazhui, he has personally participated in the battle, showing the wildness and uninhibition of grassroots culture and Internet culture to the fullest.
What's even more rare is that he has a discerning eye and has excavated and cultivated two future Internet celebrities in the comedy industry, "Wang Da Hammer" Bai Ke and "Jing Hanqing".
However, the road to comedy has not been easy. In 2015, the movie version of "Never Expected", which was called Beast Yi Xiaoxing's first foray into the big screen, only got a dismal score of 5.9 points, and the reputation fell all the way.
In 2020, the "King of Bath" directed by him also failed to receive praise, and in the face of the dilemma of about to fall from the altar to become a professional household of bad movies, he learned from the pain and resolutely decided to suspend the work of a film director and devote himself to the new company founded in 2020 "Breaking out of the shell" This time, there is also the high-profile Wang Sicong in his investor list who has transformed from a former "Internet celebrity director" to CEO, and the career of Beast Yi Xiaoxing has undergone a huge change, which is really unexpected.
3. The "rich and handsome" who was once praised as "worthy of being ten times more popular than now"
When it comes to the crew of "Never Expected", the first thing that many people think of may be the "Wang Sledgehammer" played by the actor Bai Ke. However, what impressed the author was the actor Zhang Benyu, who looked "underbeaten" but innocent, and was affectionately called "Father" by netizens.
In fact, Zhang Benyu's academic background can be described as rich, he mastered the essence of international trade as an undergraduate, and after graduation, he set foot in the distant Netherlands, and obtained a master's degree in finance through his efforts.
As an accounting elite of Yenching University of Technology, his future is undoubtedly full of infinite possibilities and a bright future, however, unexpectedly, at that moment, Zhang Benyu made a bold and "crazy" decision - he gave up a comfortable and stable financial career, with a deep idealism, and returned to his motherland without hesitation to devote himself to the actor industry.
Talking about this, I can't help but smile. Back then, when Zhang Benyu first got involved in the Wanhe Tianyi crew, he was ridiculed by his colleagues as "the last step left to marry Bai Fumei from the peak of his life".
Although he has a high degree and a superior family environment, he has always gone all out in acting, from the role of "father" who repeatedly threw Wang Dazhui to the ground in "Never Expected", to Luo Li, who bravely pursued love in "Riding the Wind and Waves", to the confused and confused Ah Xing in "Flying Life", every role fully demonstrates his excellent acting skills and broad acting path.
What impressed me the most was Zhang Benyu's wonderful performance in director Liu Xunzimo's film debut "Rise to Fame". The corner of Qi Leshan he created can be called a "living fossil of performance", when facing the police who are about to break in, his eyes are full of murder, but when he faces his girlfriend in an instant, he becomes gentle as water, and the word "responsibility" is vividly interpreted.
In the TV series "Jianghu", he played a ruthless character just right, six points uninhibited and four points of profligateness, which attracted the audience's praise for "a wave of sexual tension rushing to the face".
A director once sighed: "Zhang Benyu's potential is endless, he deserves ten times more brilliant glory than now!" Now, at the age of nearly 38, he has finally released his huge potential in the film and television industry.
Interestingly, this scholar has the romantic feelings of an artist, he is a big fan of Hollywood comedy giant Jim Carrey, and even uses his classic character "Riddler" as his online nickname "Riddler" Zhang Benyu's "rich and handsome" image, as well as the inner connotation of "cultural man", which makes him highly praised.
Fourth, from the Internet celebrity "Wang Da Hammer" to a powerful movie star
In the crew of "Never Expected", which is popular on the Internet, the most eye-catching character is the male protagonist "Wang Da Hammer" played by Bai Ke! His face, which seems to be born with a paralyzed expression, can be called the best material for comedy.
It is reported that Bai Ke studied at the Nanguang College of the famous Communication University of China in the mainland. Back in his college years, he made a name for himself by voicing characters in the hilarious Japanese anime "Funny Manga Hiyori", and his unique mantras such as "I'll it" and "Don't give it a damn" have been widely spread online.
When the talented director called Beast Yi Xiaoxing fell in love with Bai Ke at a glance and invited him to be the leading actor in "Never Expected", Bai Ke himself was very surprised.
It is with the superb interpretation of the role of "Wang Da Hammer" that Bai Ke quickly became popular on the Internet in a short period of time and became a well-known comedy star. However, the sudden increase in fame also brought him new troubles - the role image of "Wang Da Hammer" was too distinct, which had a certain degree of constraints on his acting career.
For example, in the 2017 tribute blockbuster "The Great Cause of the Founding of the Army", which commemorated the 90th anniversary of the founding of the army, he played the role of Qu Qiubai, an important revolutionary. However, due to Bai Ke's facial paralysis comedy appearance, some netizens criticized him, accusing him of "disrespecting revolutionary martyrs".
However, in the sci-fi film "The Man Caught by the Light", released in the same year, his wonderful interpretation of a complex lovelorn character with emotional entanglement, pain and confusion won praise from the audience.
Faced with the dilemma, Baike decided to bravely seek a breakthrough and transformation. He began to actively try to take on some roles that are completely different from the image of "Wang Da Hammer", from the rich child in "Fresh Meat Teacher", to the perverted villain in "Door Lock", and then to the role of Bai Mulin, an idealistic intellectual, who successfully portrayed the idealistic intellectual Bai Mulin in "The Three-Body Problem".
In every performance, Bai Ke impressed the doubters with his solid acting skills and won the applause of the audience.
The recently released movie "More than Endless" has witnessed the complete subversion of Bai Ke's image of "Wang Da Hammer". In the film, he plays a reporter who has dreams in the north, and his persistence in his ideals and perseverance in life are moving.
Even the well-known director Zhang Songwen specially arranged a small role for Bai Ke in the film, which shows that Bai Ke has been highly recognized by the mainstream film and television industry.
According to the data released by Douban, in the coming days, we will see as many as 13 wonderful film and television works starring him be released one after another, which is undoubtedly the best interpretation and praise for his gorgeous transformation from Internet celebrity Wang Dazhui to a powerful movie star!