He just sang the song "A Cut of Plum", which is familiar to most Chinese people, the main lyrics are "snowflakes fluttering, the north wind Xiao Xiao" those few sentences, the video is only 12 seconds, he stands in the snow, spitting words hard, the tone seems to follow his "duck egg head" whirling and undulating. At the end, he grinned, his cheeks folded, and his lonely front teeth were exposed, full of joy.
Egg brother who sang "A Cut of Plum" and became popular. Image from the web
Text | Beijing News reporter Xiao Weiwei
Edit | Hu Jie Proofreader | Lucy
►This article is about 4314 words, and it takes about 9 minutes to read the full text
Zhang Aiqin, a special actor with a "duck egg head", did not expect that a small video he shot in the snow half a year ago suddenly caught fire and caught fire abroad.
Just such a small video was suddenly excavated by foreign netizens. His avatar was spoofed into a variety of duck egg-type elements, and Fei Yuqing's singing voice was matched, and the number of plays on foreign video websites easily exceeded one million, and "A Cut of Plum" also appeared on many foreign music charts, ranking at the top.
Netizens called him "China Eggman singing in the snow."
Zhang Aiqin's own stage name is "Egg Brother", as a special actor characterized by his iconic "duck egg head", he is a flash of chivalrous A, monk B, little bastard Ding and mermaid C in the movie, flipping out the photo of the protagonists in the mobile phone, in order to make people reluctantly respond, "Oh great, and the big star has acted against each other."
This summer, although it has not yet caused a big wave in China, the 41-year-old "egg brother" seems to be finally out of the circle, for him, this may mean taking more drama, so that the "family in the rural hometown of Shandong Province" can live a little better.
"You're on fire abroad, you know?"
In the early morning of the end of May, Zhang Aiqin opened the live broadcast, planning to nag with netizens. Usually, the live broadcast room where up to thirty or forty people watched, instantly poured into more than a hundred people, netizens brushed in the comments, "Egg brother, sing two sentences of snowflakes fluttering." ”
Zhang Aiqin wondered why he wanted to sing "Snowflakes Fluttering" in the summer, he sang two sentences with cooperation, and some netizens asked him, "You are old in foreign countries, do you know not?" ”
He was confused. Netizens said that his video was on fire in Europe and the United States, he had no concept, he had only been abroad once, and he was involved in the filming of Wang Baoqiang's "Big Trouble Tianzhu", he was one of the subordinates of the Golden Horn King played by Lin Yongjian.
He downloaded the relevant APP according to the requirements of netizens, and many videos in the recommendation had his avatar, clicking on the video of him singing "A Cut of Plum" in the snow half a year ago, but it was replaced by a variety of dubbing, and there were also foreigners who imitated him with crappy Chinese.
"XUE HUA PIAO PIAO" became a popular phrase, and he also appeared in memes. He can't read the name of the app, pointing to the icon to show to his friends around him, "A lot of foreigners use my video, you see the number of plays is very high."
The heat abroad has affected the country little by little. Several of his videos on Kuaishou rose to millions, and in a few moments, there were dozens of unread messages in the private message column; he received a call from a film and television company, wanting to sign him to make overseas movies; some people asked him to live sell goods, he basically refused, "I don't know if these products are good or not, there are so many scolds for selling goods, and I don't want to do business behavior now." ”
Walking on the road or on the subway, a stranger stared at him for a while, confirmed it, and then came forward to ask him, "Are you an egg brother?" Can I take a photo? ”
His cousin called, and the villagers in his hometown in Shandong were transferring his video in the circle of friends.
Egg Brother played one of the chivalrous guests on the shooting scene of "Sword Rain" directed by Wu Yusen. Courtesy of respondents
More and more people want to listen to him sing "Snowflakes Fluttering, North Wind Xiaoxiao" into the live broadcast, he simply set "A Cut of Plum" as the background music, "After all, I am not a professional singer, and the singing is not in tune." ”
In the video platform's profile, he added three titles to himself, "producer, director, actor", and listed a long list of movie titles. "I'm very happy in my heart, I have so many fans to pay attention, at least I know that I am a filmmaker, a film and television actor."
He published the WeChat account in his personal profile, most of the people who added him will write "snowflakes fluttering, north wind XiaoXiao" in the friend application information, he will pass, he hangs on the lips of a sentence, "Multiple friends and multiple roads, maybe someone just wants to shoot a drama, you can find me." Of the four WeChat IDs he applied for, 3 quickly filled up with 5,000 people.
Many netizens use his photo "duck egg head" as the avatar, he will frown when he brushes it, will leave a message to let them change the avatar, said several times the effect is not big, he clicked on the report. "I didn't mind much in the past, now the heat is so high, this is not right, make money with my avatar, send some other illegal things, do bad things? I'm definitely going to take responsibility. ”
"They all say special, I'll be more special"
Zhang Aiqin seems to have become accustomed to it, and almost everyone who sees him will first evaluate his appearance, which makes him happy and distressed. Happy because, even in the middle of a group of actors, he can "make people pay attention at a glance, very eye-catching"; the distress is that there are many words that make him feel "uncomfortable".
In the video comment area, the comments on his "duck egg head" were one after another, and he could feel whether the words were good or malicious, and some people said that he was like a small head father, and he nodded his like. Others say, "You must be having a smooth birth like this." "Will also comment on his teeth," three teeth no one cares about anyone, all live in a single room." ”
"There is a kind of sarcasm in the words," he laughed bitterly, "you don't take your happiness like this, based on my pain." You think my image is so strange and special that you can't say it. ”
Egg brother life photo. Courtesy of respondents
When he was a child, he fought countless fights for his "duck egg" head.
When he was in the first and second grades, some of his classmates at the higher level called him "pointed" and said to him, "The tip of the head is ugly, don't play with you." He recalled that it was enough to hear it twice, and the third time he heard it, he rushed up and punched people, sometimes he could knock people down, and sometimes he would be surrounded by three people on the other side.
"Tell the teacher and parents that there will be no practical things, and it is better to ask others than to seek oneself." Zhang Aiqin said that he applied for repetition for three consecutive years, "I repeat the grade, they are in the senior grade, they can't come and bully me, I am the biggest in the class, I have the advantage, and no one laughs at me." ”
After dropping out of middle school, he worked in an orchard in Xi'an, recalling those years, "Life was very plain. ”
The ordinary life also made Zhang Aiqin, who is in his 20s, feel "boring". He returned to Shandong, worked as a casual worker in the decoration team, and worked as a waiter in a bar. The waiter had to take a memorable name, he said it was called "duck egg", and the colleague stared at his hair, "very special".
Zhang Aiqin listened more, simply went to the barbershop to shave the middle hair, leaving the side of the hair tied into four small braids, "All said special, I will be more special, so that more people can see us." ”
The bar manager was amused when he saw him and asked him to go to the stage to perform skits. Videos of the show looped on the bar screen, making guests laugh.
"There is a sense of honor in my heart, which can bring more happiness and happiness to everyone." He remembers having strange guests greet him, "Duck egg, your image is very special, I like it." ”
Egg brother and Liu Shishi at the shooting scene group photo. Courtesy of respondents
Zhang Aiqin recalled that at that time, he did everything in his power to please his guests. Pole dancing was so popular that he wanted to try it. During the break, I went around the 6-meter-high steel pipe in the center of the stage, practiced on my own, grabbed the pole in my hand, tried to circle upwards, my hands were polished red, and at first I often rotated to halfway and slid down, falling on the thin sponge pad on the ground, "really hurting."
After the arm strength is trained, he can rotate around the steel pipe alone, and the guests around the stage will applaud, cheer, and shout, "After dancing, the guests are very fond of me." These "likes" can bring him thousands of dollars of income that day.
During a haircut, one of Zhang Aiqin's small braids was accidentally pushed off, and he simply shaved his head, "like a smooth duck egg." A guest who has been a director suggested to him, "Your image is rare in the country, I have not seen the second one, it is best to be an actor." ”
After acting in a sketch for several years, "No matter whether the performance is good or not, at least there is your shadow on the stage and screen." Zhang Aiqin wants to find a bigger stage and try to play some new roles, "because my image of the people in China is very rare, I want everyone to know us, two out of 100 people see, just see, 50 people see you, he will talk about what you do, there are 80 people to see you, you are the star." ”
Nameless special actor
In the winter of 2009, Zhang Aiqin came to Beijing alone with all his savings. He shaved his bald head with a razor early in the morning, went to the commissary to carry a case of beer, bought a bag of brine duck flavor, and sat on the steps in front of the Beijing Film Studio for a day.
After sitting for a few days, the group performers waiting for the play came forward and asked him to rub a bottle of wine to drink, and the conversation box was opened. "Where are the crews, which hotels to stay in, how to deliver information, how much money a day." Zhang Aiqin found out the way.
He didn't have any works, so he took a bunch of photos, wrote down his contact information, and went from hotel to hotel to deliver them. When he didn't go to the crew, he went back to the door of the Beijing Film Studio, according to him, whether he could act in the play, there were many doorways, he had to follow these old groups to act.
Egg Brother in the filming scene of "Wise Tiger Mountain", he played the bandit armor who was pecked by the eagle. Courtesy of respondents
Come to his play with one hand to count clearly, eight months passed, savings spent seven seven eight eight. Parents always chanted on the phone, the actor did not enter the account, and they threw themselves into calculating what was going on. "They asked me to be an ordinary person, I didn't listen to them, as long as I decided, what I wanted to do, I wouldn't give up."
When he was good, he could have four or five plays a month, and at most he had more than 3 pages of lines, and at first he didn't know how to act, so he stood next to the director and stared at the display screen, learning the performance of live actors.
There are also times when I can't receive a scene for half a year, and the money earned from filming is used to run the crew. Despite this, he generally still lives in the hotel of the third and fourth ring roads, he said that there is a lot of exquisiteness, "the actors who live in the fifth ring road all value money, the director is afraid that you are not good at acting, the actors who live in the third ring road will not be too poor, and they pay more attention to acting." ”
He keeps stills from almost every scene on his phone, and he is the chivalrous A, monk B, and mermaid C who flash in the movie. He would quickly name two or three famous actors in the film, "Zhou Xingchi's one, Deng Chao's one, you know?" ”
He opened the group photo with the lead actor and introduced the story behind the photo. "When filming "New Shaolin Temple", Andy Lau took the initiative to take pictures with me, Wang Gang was no one in the crew to drink with him, I picked up a cup and dried, the crew had to talk to me about the people, I would take the initiative to shoot with them." He sat up straight and leaned back in his chair, "There's no need to give someone the impression of a stutter." ”
He pointed out a still full of gold powder, he introduced, he played the eighteen bronze people who practiced iron head gong, "other copper people are round heads, in the lens, my appearance can be very eye-catching."
"As long as you participate, it's a work." Zhang Aiqin said that when shooting, he will devote his heart and soul to completion, sometimes shooting a few days of material, pouring ice water on his body more than a dozen times in winter, and finally showing it for only a few seconds, "This is a kind of fun of life."
But when the audience recognizes Zhang Aiqin, they can still only think of the characters in the film who do not even have names. "Roles that require special actors are generally not heavy, and the development path is obviously much narrower." One crew member said that as soon as the camera flashed by, they were rarely remembered by the audience.
"He hasn't changed at all"
On June 21, Zhang Aiqin made a cameo appearance in a friend's web drama crew, playing a man who has a crush on a single woman.
Zhang Aiqin wore a white modified Tang costume, slightly arched his waist, and the "duck egg head" leaned forward, staring up at the actress on the steps, and bursting out a "hey hey" laugh.
"His sense of humor is very strong, as soon as he relaxes, he doesn't have to look how to shape, and the joy comes out." Zhang Yilong, a director who has worked with him many times, said, "He doesn't just rely on appearance, it's also good to grasp a character."
After several years of filming, Zhang Aiqin got to know several special actors, dwarfs, big tall and fat girls, "encountering the feeling of the same kind of people," he had the idea of building a special actor alliance, which is convenient for everyone to share resources.
Egg Brother and several special actors party. Courtesy of respondents
Now, 72 special actors have been added to the "big league", and Zhang Aiqin has made an H5, adding photos of everyone's names to facilitate the distribution of casting directors. Such resource sharing will also cause some disputes, Zhang Aiqin remembers that he introduced several resources to a fat girl, she did not pass the audition, she complained in the group that the resources of the egg brother are not good, he is angry, and the group must be "good character and chat" in the future.
In recent years, some web dramas have found Zhang Aiqin, who has become the main actor with some special actors, and he likes to shoot roles with "higher degrees of freedom", "can speak naturally, do expressions and actions".
He even worked as a director of an online movie, and although he didn't learn how to shoot a scene, he felt that after shooting scenes for so many years, how to perform the picture was remembered in his mind.
Because the number of viewers of this work is too small, there is no rating, and the only comment is, "After watching it, I want to know if there can be a worse and more silly plot?" Can I score a negative score? He told reporters that he would not pay attention to the box office and the comments of netizens, this is just a small-cost movie, "I completed what I wanted to shoot, played it, and showed it to everyone." ”
"He's not like some people who don't dare to get close after they get red, he's not, he hasn't changed at all, he's particularly grounded, especially approachable." Director Zhang Yilong said.
The wife is in her hometown in Shandong with a pair of children. He said he wouldn't take the show on holidays, so he could go home and spend time with his family. In between filming, I sometimes video with my family, and under the camera is a cement bungalow in the countryside, and my 7-year-old daughter knows, "Dad works as an actor in Beijing." He said he wanted to make more money so that his family could live a little better and be happier.
For the planning after the popularity, Zhang Aiqin said the most is, "Let nature take its course." He wanted to shoot some fantasy characters, "more free, able to fly around in the sky"