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Rong Yu, Chief Reporter of Jimu News

Photographer Xiao Hao

"We have worked hard enough, so we deserve respect and a better life."

At the end of the movie "Reverse Life", the delivery man played by Xu Zheng said these words to the camera, which actually explained why Xu Zheng made this movie with the delivery man group as the protagonists.

On August 3, the famous actor Xu Zheng came to Wuhan to promote the movie "Reverse Life", which he wrote, directed and starred in. When interacting with the audience in Jiangcheng, he said that if everyone can give a good review to the delivery man after watching "Reverse Life" and give the first takeaway they order when they go back, that is the value of this movie.

Wuhan roadshow site

Xu Zheng delivers food

No customer recognized him.

A 45-year-old unemployed man decided to deliver food.

In the movie "Reverse Life", Xu Zheng plays Gao Zhilei, a 45-year-old employee of an Internet "big factory". He suddenly lost his job in middle age and failed to find a "next job" after submitting more than 1,000 resumes. Faced with the medical expenses of his elderly parents, the tuition and miscellaneous fees of his children, and the monthly mortgage for his house, he decided to become a deliveryman and challenge himself to become the "order king" with a monthly income of 15,000 yuan.

At the takeaway station where Gao Zhilei works, there are female takeaway drivers who bring their children with them, "order kings" who seem very selfish but actually have their own difficulties, young people who broadcast their takeaways every day, and happy uncles who deliver takeaways with their fathers and sons... Behind the various people in the station are the real lights of thousands of families. Delivering late, getting scolded; having a bad attitude, getting bad reviews; and the most feared thing is getting into a traffic accident - Xu Zheng said that the experiences of these takeaway drivers in the movie are all based on the data collection, research and field trips by him and his team, and basically all have real prototypes.

In order to allow the entire crew to observe the life and work conditions of real deliverymen, Xu Zheng set up the location next to a real delivery station, and all the staff on and off the stage had to go to the delivery station to experience life first. "I took the entire crew to deliver food, including the photography teacher, art teacher, props teacher, and all of our actors. We went to different places to deliver food, because if you don't go there yourself, you can't understand those details."

Xu Zheng

According to Xu Zheng, the most impressive detail of his delivery experience was that "no one recognized me at all. I'm not saying that I should be recognized because I'm a celebrity, but most of the time, when people pick up the food, they don't even look at the delivery man's face, they just take the food box over."

Therefore, Xu Zheng deliberately shot a lot of deliverymen's faces in the movie this time. "I think every face is very vivid. Every ordinary person has his story behind him. Everyone has really worked very hard, so be nicer to yourself and others, okay?"

Food delivery

It's not just a simple physical job

In addition to Xu Zheng, Feng Bing, Wu Jiakai, and Liu Meihan, who played deliverymen in "Reverse Life", also participated in the Wuhan roadshow to share their creative experience with the audience. It is worth mentioning that when Feng Bing, who gained attention for his role as "Lao Mo" in the TV series "Kuang Bi", stood on the stage, an audience member immediately shouted, "Lao Mo, I want to eat fish!" Xu Zheng also cooperated with the audience and suggested that Feng Bing try to stand in the light, "otherwise the light will cover half of your face, which is quite like Lao Mo."

Feng Bing

Feng Bing calmly advised everyone, "Let's talk about "Reverse Life" today." He then talked about his experiences as a deliveryman in Shandong and Inner Mongolia. In his opinion, delivering food is a job that serves the people, and as long as it serves the people, it is worthy of respect.

Liu Meihan

Liu Meihan, who plays the female food delivery girl in the movie, repeatedly stressed to the audience that food delivery is not simple physical labor, but a combination of physical and mental strength. "You see the food delivery girl riding her electric bike and 'swooshing' past, but in fact, she has to check the navigation, contact the customer, and know how much time is left for the order. This is a great test of her brainpower and judgment."

Wu Jiakai

During the interaction, Xu Zheng said that he has always paid attention to realistic themes, and "delivering takeout" is a topic that everyone is very familiar with. "Every one of us has ordered takeout, which means we just use the mobile phone to operate it, and then stretch out our hand to take the food. But we hope that through a movie, we can take everyone to deliver orders in an immersive way, so that you can know what a deliveryman has to go through to deliver an order." Xu Zheng believes that the stories of this group of deliverymen have wide radiation and can create emotional connections with ordinary audiences.

The box office thing

Xu Zheng said he would not consider

When the movie "Reverse Life" was first released, some film critics compared it with "Dying to Survive", believing that both films were rooted in reality and had positive vitality. Regarding this comparison, Xu Zheng said that he hopes to convey goodwill through the movie, "Whether it is "Dying to Survive" or this movie, we hope that everyone can empathize after watching it."

As for whether "Reverse Life" can replicate the box office myth of "Dying to Survive", Xu Zheng feels that is not something he needs to consider. "If everyone sees it and thinks it is a good movie, they will definitely bring their friends and family to watch it again, so I don't need to consider the subsequent (box office) results."

Xu Zheng

Xu Zheng still remembers that when he collaborated with director Wen Muye on "Dying to Survive", "I was the producer and actor. Before the movie was released, we estimated the box office to be around 700 million or 800 million. Unexpectedly, this movie was booked out everywhere, including lawyers, courts, patient groups, hospitals... I really didn't expect it to have such a wide social impact, and the box office finally reached more than 3 billion."

Xu Zheng made no secret of the fact that he had made many commercial films in his career that did not perform well at the box office. Sometimes, even though the films were tailor-made for the audience, the audience just didn't buy them. "It's actually quite difficult. In the end, you can only rely on your intuition to make the judgment."

Xu Zheng

Xu Zheng hopes that "Reverse Life" can gain more empathy from the audience. "Each of us is very hardworking and hard-working. Sometimes we really need to give ourselves a little red flower. This (emotion) can be penetrated. If everyone can empathize with this after watching the movie, I think it is a victory."

(Source: Jimu News)

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