The movie "The Annual Party Can't Stop!" released on December 29, 2023! " is a funny and heart-wrenching comedy - Hu Jianlin, a fitter played by
Dapeng, was transferred to the headquarters by accident when the group was laying off employees, and Ma Jie, the human resources manager played by Baike, was caught up in the "wrong transfer" incident. , and was forced to go around hiding things for him in order to protect his job. From "factory" to "big factory", from "blue collar" to "gold collar", Hu Jianlin was full of jokes because he was incompatible with the environment of the big factory. It was also like a "workplace demon mirror" that showed the faces of all living beings in the workplace...
"The Annual Meeting Can't Stop!" "Poster
Among the short comments on Douban, the one with the highest number of likes by Gao Hang jokingly said that this is "about the sudden collaboration between China's two earliest online drama tycoons." This meme refers to the two actors in the movie. Starring Dapeng and Baike, who can be called the originators of "Internet comedy", other actors in the film include Zhuang Dafei, Wang Xun, Sun Yizhou, Li Naiwen, Tong Monan, Carnivore, Ouyang Fenqiang, Wang Hao, Kong Lianshun, E Jing Wen and others have brought together various comedy platform genres. From the cast configuration, there is a sense of matching that inexplicably matches the temperament of the film's title "Annual Meeting".
From screenwriter to director, what Dong Runnian has to do is not just an annual gathering of comedians.
Dong Runnian is a native of Tianjin. He has been exposed to the cross talk environment since he was a child. He served as the screenwriter of the costume sitcom "Qingming Restaurant" 20 years ago, thus starting his screenwriting career. Looking through his resume, he worked in many sitcoms in his early years and later collaborated with director Ning Hao on films such as "Beautiful Heart" and "Crazy Alien". Dong Runnian has been making audiences laugh since he entered the industry.
《The annual meeting cannot be stopped! 》The project was started in 2017. At that time, major Internet companies were in the spotlight and the talk show industry was booming. The self-deprecating term "beating workers" had not yet become popular on the Internet. It was not uncommon for companies that made a lot of money to spend money like water at annual meetings. Comedy shows that poke fun at the interpersonal relationships between bosses and colleagues are always the most popular.
Dong Runnian thought, although the workplace is a fresh and foreign concept, isn't "going to work" a life that most Chinese people take for granted? This most mainstream lifestyle has been ignored in film creation because it is too common. So he used the weaving skills that screenwriters are good at to weave various characters into a series of misunderstandings. The overall structure is progressive, giving the whole story a sense of classical drama and absurd yet realistic workplace jokes. and the unspoken rules of society, which make a lot of baggage come out with a pungent taste of irony. The change in the title from worker to "worker" also reflects the changing times of economic and social development and the change in people's hearts.
When the movie was released, the layoff setting that was originally a fantasy became more heart-wrenching, and the absurd jokes were mixed with a stronger sense of realism, which made Dong Runnian himself sigh, "I never expected it."
On December 30, the movie had a roadshow in Shanghai. On the same night, Douban gave it a high score of 8.0, and the audience in the theater laughed and clapped. Director Dong Runnian breathed a sigh of relief and felt "at ease". "Hearing the laughter of the audience encouraged me more than any achievement." Before the release of the
movie, Dong Runnian accepted an exclusive interview with reporters from The Paper and talked about "not being able to make it." The creator of "Guo Shi" observes the workplace, and a comedian who has loved to think about how to make people laugh since childhood observes and thinks about today's era.
Dong Runnian
[Dialogue]
"Going to work" is the most mainstream way of life
The Paper News: would like to introduce the origin and source of inspiration for this film. How do you view the environment and current situation of the workplace?
Dong Runnian: The first time wanted to write this story was in 2017. I found that there were some young friends in the workplace who started to like to complain about the workplace and their own work, including the "Talk Show Conference" and "Tucao Conference" started at that time. Comedy forms like this have also emerged. Coupled with observations on the Internet, I feel that complaining about the workplace and leaders is a topic that everyone likes and is very enthusiastic about.
was doing research on this topic, and I suddenly realized that now we use a very foreign word to call it workplace. In the past, it was just called work. From our parents’ generation to the current generation of post-00s, working people are actually the mainstay of this society. With such a large range of mainstream people and their mainstream stories, why are there some dramas that show this part of life, but few movies show this aspect of life? I just want to make a workplace comedy.
The Paper: How could think of using the perspective of an annual meeting to enter the workplace?
Dong Runnian: The theme of was determined from the beginning because I like annual meetings very much. It reminds me that when I was a child, the class would always hold some New Year parties. Everyone put aside the differences between teachers and students and seemed to Extraordinarily warm and cozy.
still remembers the Spring Festival Gala when I was a kid, especially back in the 1980s. It was a bit crude, but I had a very fond memory of everyone sitting around and whoever’s name was called would go on to perform a show. On the contrary, as the technology became more and more perfect, the parties became more and more grand, but the flavor of the New Year and the warmth of everyone getting together became less and less.
We communicate with many friends who are in the business, and this situation also occurs at the company’s annual meeting. In the past, when the company was not so big, there was no hierarchy among everyone, and it was good to have fun together. As the company grows and develops, things become more and more different. Many people have to prepare for the annual meeting a month in advance, rehearse various things, and finally go on stage to report to the leadership.
I think this change is quite interesting. It also represents the economic development and social changes in China over the years, as well as the changes in the relationship between people. So from these perspectives, we especially want to create a workplace with the annual meeting as the carrier. The comedy annual meeting is an introduction and an entry point. From this entry point, we can see how to tell a story about helping and beating workers.
《The annual meeting cannot be stopped! 》Stills
The Paper: In the film, the factory and the "big factory", two very iconic workplaces of the times, were set up. What were the considerations? In your observation, what changes have occurred in the position and mentality of "workers" in the times?
Dong Runnian: At the beginning of , there were many versions of this story. It was written from 2017 to 2022. It was still being revised when filming. In fact, it took 5 years to write. There have been many different versions in the process. The "big company" in the movie is not a big Internet company. The entire company is a comprehensive company, and the more representative one is a rank logo. The setting of the
factory was in the process of Hu Jianlin's character gradually evolving and related to our theme expression. In the first draft, the protagonist was closer to the character Ma Jie. Later, in the middle draft, he was closer to the character of Section Chief Zhuang. The role changed until later, and finally he became a worker.
I think it should be a symbol of the changing times of the entire society. For example, for my parents' generation 20 years ago, entering a large state-owned enterprise was the choice and destiny of many people, and it represented the mainstream of society at that time. Nowadays, it seems that major Internet companies have become the aspiration of many young people. This is a symbol of the changes in the times themselves.
The Paper: Working in is a very mainstream way of life for Chinese people, but workplace dramas seem to be a big category that movies don’t quite touch on. You have been working as a screenwriter for so many years. What do you think is why related topics are rarely covered?
Dong Runnian: I think is because the workplace space is relatively large, and the workplace itself is a very complex and broad proposition.
In my own experience, the combined time I spend with some colleagues is longer than the time I spend with my family. I am a Beijing drifter. I don’t see my mother once a year, but I see these colleagues every day.
If it is a very broad way of life and aspect of life, the length of the movie is indeed limited. It may be difficult from which dimension to show it and from which entry point to show it.
There is another reason. After all, there may be few film and television creators who work. Many of them are freelancers, or even if they have worked, they may no longer work. This kind of first-hand experience is still a little Anything less would definitely make creation more difficult.
The Paper: Before , people loved to complain about workplace dramas, and they often said that practitioners in this industry hardly had to "go to work." How do you make up for this?
Dong Runnian: I have been working as a screenwriter and director, and I also work. I also have a studio and a company, and I often go to the unit every day to work and attend meetings. I also have this feeling. Although it is not a big company, But there is also this physical feeling.
Of course, in order to do this project, we have indeed done a lot of interviews and research in the past few years. I learned about the status of many migrant workers, including those in factories, large Internet companies, and some public institutions. We all conducted some interviews. One was that we got a lot of materials and stories, as well as the feelings of many characters. In the end, it helped us refine the things and people that appear today.
《The annual meeting cannot be stopped! 》Stills
The Paper: When did the creation of the project begin? Did it just happen to catch up or did it come from the current moment?
Dong Runnian: In fact, in 2017, layoffs were a background of our story, but I didn’t expect it at the time. When it was released, layoffs have become a common concern and discussion among everyone. When
was written in 2017, my own feeling was that my parents’ generation were employees of state-owned enterprises. During the period around 1996, 1997 and 1998, they also experienced the shadow of the crisis of being laid off.
Going to work is our only source of income and the only way we can support our lives. Losing a job is a stone in the heart of every working person. It's just that when the economic situation is good, everyone feels that they will be able to find a new home and do not want to be wronged. I hope everyone can get some comfort and strength after watching this movie.
Comedian’s “Annual Meeting” starts from a serious creative approach
The Paper News: ’s choice of actors this time is very interesting. “Diaosi Man” and “Wang Dachui” are both the first generation of working-class Internet celebrities. It is a good idea for them to join forces to rectify the workplace. On purpose? There are also representative comedians from "Love Apartment" and talk shows. Do you want to achieve the effect of a comedians' get-together in the movie?
Dong Runnian: The selection of actors in is very interesting. Various representative comedians from different platforms, various age groups, are all gathered together. This is a deliberate idea of selecting actors.
After writing the script, we went to rehearse the actors. When we looked at who might be able to act, we found that in fact, there are only a few comedians in China that everyone knows, and there are only a few that can be hired over and over again. At that time, we were thinking about whether we could be a little more innovative. In terms of casting, we boldly found some up-and-coming newcomers who were unfamiliar to the audience, because Chinese comedy has been developing very well in the past few years.
The highly motivated Hu Jianlin (played by Dapeng)
Dapeng and Baike, in the field of comedy, they are the originators of Internet comedy. They led the earliest Internet short dramas, but after they entered the film industry, these two I have acted in many serious characters and works throughout the year, but not many comedies.
I checked the information at that time and found that these two people had never collaborated before. I always felt that there might be interesting sparks in the cooperation between these two people. Then when I chatted with them separately, I mentioned that if you and Baike were together , or if you are with Dapeng, what do you think will happen if you cooperate? They both were very interested and readily accepted. The two of them have always cherished each other and have always wanted to cooperate, but they had no chance before.
The diligent Ma Jie (played by Bai Ke)
In addition to the two of them, Sun Yizhou and Wang Xun are both comedies and are also very experienced actors.It just so happens that in recent years, talk shows and sketch formats such as the "Annual Comedy Competition" have also introduced many young and talented comedians. We contacted them, hoping to bring people from different styles and genres of comedy together to see what would happen.
In fact, what the audience is always pursuing is new things, that is, you show the audience new things. Of course, some experiments may fail, but I feel that the overall direction of innovation is not wrong, so we finally formed this It is a collection of about 20 comedians from different genres and platforms.
The Paper: As a director, does need to coordinate everyone’s comedy style?
Dong Runnian: They have never cooperated with before. When we first started working on it, the idea was great, but each of us was a little confused, including the actors themselves, who said they were a little uncomfortable at first.
You see, Dapeng is the representative of Northeastern comedy. He is Zhao Benshan's apprentice. His performance method is relatively traditional, while Baike's method is that of nonsensical "cold jokes". These people in the "Comedy Competition" prefer stage performances. Actors such as Tong Mo Nan and Carnivorous Animals in the talk show are all "electric shock" for the first time. They have never acted in a movie before.
How can we make these people in one dimension without appearing jumpy or chaotic? At that time, we thought of many ways, and in the process of communicating with these actors about their roles, we gradually found a direction for comedy.
The actors are also very serious and do not follow their own routines. For example, Bai Ke chatted with me for a long time. Regarding his character, his understanding is that this character should not act in a comedy. This character should be a very normal character. All lines and reactions should be in the way of a normal character. to perform.
Zhuang Zhengzhi (played by Wang Xun)
Wang Xun wrote me a 10,000-word biography before joining the group, which is about Chief Zhuang, his lifestyle, the composition of his family, his overall origins, and the history of his life. The experience and purpose are all written down. After reading it, I was very moved and inspired. He completely considered what the character should be like from a serious creative perspective. After
talked with them about this, we gradually came to the conclusion that our comedy is a structural comedy and does not rely on comedic performances and lines to create a comedy atmosphere. After coming to this conclusion, it will be easier to handle. Everyone should not act exaggeratedly or have too many excessive body parts.
Comedy is produced because of the dramatic purposes of these people, the conflicts between them, and the dislocation of identity and consciousness, including the information gap between them and the audience. The audience knows what's going on with them, but they don't. So in terms of performance, everyone was united in a realistic and realistic performance atmosphere. In the end, I think the effect was very good.
is just like the talk show actor Tong Mo Nan and Carnivore. They had some technical weaknesses when they first started acting. For example, they didn’t know the camera position well, and they might have turned away from him while acting and couldn’t take the picture. But these It's easy to overcome, just a little adjustment.
Tong Monan guest-starred in
The Paper: Did the group of people create any special sparks when they were working together during the filming of ? Will there be a lot of improvisational things that came out of the collision on set?
Dong Runnian: For example, in the audience feedback, everyone liked it a little bit. Ma Jie picked up Hu Jianlin for the first time and said downstairs, "I hope for the stars and the moon, and finally I have you here. From now on, you will be my subordinate." He bent down. A special humble bow with a handshake.
There are these lines in our script, but we did not specify the way it should be said. The scene where the two people shook hands on the spot was based on the scene where people sometimes clink glasses with each other at the wine table. kind of attitude. The lines have not been modified, but in the entire performance, they will collide with a lot of sparks on the spot.This is the case in many cases. There is no change on the big plot, but the details of the performance and the actors add a lot of brilliance.
The Paper: How does balance the entertainment and satire of movies? It seems that some comedians no longer dare to "offend the audience" anymore, or they feel "unsafe" if they satirize reality too realistically.
Dong Runnian: is indeed very difficult. We will also consider this issue when we start to create. Can we talk about this thing? Will this thing have any problems in the future? But later in the process, with this idea , you won’t be able to create or write many things.
During the writing process, including the subsequent shooting process, we didn’t care. The premise is that I only need to believe that we believe the satirical thing I did, or the phenomenon we mentioned is true and credible, as long as it is based on realistic logic. It really exists, I'm not making it up. I think this thing can be satirized.
I am not attacking a certain kind of person out of thin air, but I am pushing it to an extreme situation based on the real situation to show it. I feel that as long as the audience has the same empathy, they can understand it.
I think comedy creation is one of the art forms that has the closest connection with the audience, but sometimes creation also needs to be a little provocative or confrontational, but the premise is that it is sincere and not to create a topic or challenge for a gimmick.
Dong Runnian on the set
Putting people in extreme environments to examine human nature
The Paper: As a screenwriter, where does your creative inspiration usually come from? How do you view the relationship between real life and film creation?
Dong Runnian: There are actually quite a lot of s out there. We can’t stop taking "Annual Meeting!" 》, the creative inspiration comes partly from a social news I read. For example, while doing general cleaning in a large factory building in Wangjing, I discovered that a homeless man had been living there secretly for a month without anyone noticing him. He locked himself in a quiet tool room. When others got off work at night, he would sneak out and go to the tea room to find food. He knew which office did not have people working overtime at night, so he would sleep there. I find this news about
very interesting. No matter how strict the management system is in our understanding, if you are smart enough and cunning enough, you will have a chance to find gaps in it and survive. Our films have also been influenced by some traditional cross talk, such as Mr. Liu Baorui's "Three Levels in a Row", which is also reflected in our films.
The specific sources of inspiration sometimes come from various sources, such as a certain stimulus or an unexpected event. Overall, my creative habit is to put people under some extreme environments and pressures to examine them. human nature, to conduct a "thought experiment."
Like "The Man Caught by the Light", it is based on the premise of extreme science fiction. It imagines that if all the people we love disappear and are taken away, how will the people left behind face the "lovers" around them? How to face other people around you. "The annual meeting cannot be stopped!" 》The idea is that in the case of extreme layoffs, if a person who does not understand the rules of a large factory is transferred in by mistake, how will other people around him react? These smart people may be "smart", It is possible to be "clever but mistaken by cleverness". This is an experimental proposition that is proposed to oneself when starting to create. All subsequent plots and character creation are completed under this premise.
《The annual meeting cannot be stopped! 》Stills
The Paper: Many creators are resistant to short videos or superficial entertainment, but you seem to be a person who is willing to embrace these. Can you talk about the impact of this on your creation?
Dong Runnian: I do have a wide range of interests in , and my interests are also very wide. I like watching comedies very much. I watched them all when "Dickboy" and "Wonderful Unexpectedly" were both popular. I am from Tianjin and grew up listening to cross talk. I remember that the radio station in Tianjin started singing and playing cross talk every afternoon from 3:00 to evening.
I later became a screenwriter myself, and I first started writing sitcoms. Several of the movies I wrote also contained a lot of comedy elements. Now I am more concerned about all comedy-related things and can watch them. Including many short videos and comedy jokes, I may not like some of them, and I may not incorporate them into my creations in the future, but at least I want to know why the audience laughs. I am always curious about the one who makes everyone laugh. What is it? I think these things are quite important to me.
The Paper: can also see a certain "evolution of comedy" from the gathering of so many comedians. There are also many funny short videos on the Internet. As a person who has been studying comedy, what do you think is the point of laughter for the public? Are there any changes?
Dong Runnian: There are indeed changes in . If I listen to cross talk from a few years ago, many traditional jokes are not so dense in laughter. They have a lot of foreshadowing. For example, in many of Mr. Ma Sanli's works, there is about 5 minutes of foreshadowing in the front, and finally Make you laugh once. But now in the short video stage, if you don’t laugh within the first 5 seconds or 10 seconds, people will have already left. Everyone’s tolerance for laughter is getting higher and higher, and it is indeed getting harder and harder to make today’s audience laugh. .
But the audience has the same point. If we can structurally allow the audience to accept the foreshadowing, we can create a lasting laugh that makes the audience laugh. Many burdens can echo the foreshadowing, and this kind of happiness truly comes from the heart. It will also be stronger.
So we decided during the entire creative process that we wanted to make this kind of structural comedy. I am also a screenwriter myself, and I attach great importance to narrative and the structure of this kind of drama. For example, my favorite comedy masters from the classic period, Lubitsch in the 1930s and Billy Wilder in the 1960s, did not rely on one or two jokes and lines, but really relied on these overall narrative techniques to keep the audience engaged for a long time. To immerse myself in his laughter, and even let the audience predict in advance that I will laugh next. I like this kind of comedy better, and of course it is more difficult. I hope that I can follow this path in comedy creation. road.
《The annual meeting cannot be stopped! 》 Stills
The Paper News: There is a line in the movie where Dapeng said, "Isn't chicken soup bad? Take more supplements." Do you think "The annual meeting cannot be stopped!" "Can it be considered a "worker-friendly movie"?
Dong Runnian: We didn’t think of good or bad movies during the creation process, but I personally feel that looking at the world’s film industry, there have been many, many movies in recent years, regardless of their form, such as "Parasite" and "Taxi" "Driver", you will find that it is a trend of thought in the entire world, or an inevitable development. It is an issue of social justice that everyone is paying attention to.
This is an issue that everyone from ordinary viewers to creators are concerned about now. Since everyone is so concerned about this matter and feels the same way, it must be that everyone feels this way in reality. There are many unfair things that make people feel depressed.
Our story started from the early stage of creation. Basically, we wanted to explore the issue of fairness, that is, whether an ordinary person has the ability or courage to fight for fair treatment. It seems that if it is really consistent with reality and achieved, then the final result will seem a bit satisfying, because fairness and justice in life are indeed too difficult.
