New film depicts high reputation of ‘grassroots spirit’; ‘I was one of them,’ says the director

The promotional material for film Never Say Never Courtesy of the Wang Baoqiang studio

 
With a total box office of over 1.4 billion yuan, Never Say Never, a film that debuted in Chinese mainland cinemas on July 6, has garnered a good reputation, to which its director Wang Baoqiang, responded that he had ‘gambled almost all he has’ on the story depicted in the film, a story that is close to his own life experience. 

Directing the film while playing the hero in it, Wang Baoqiang has interpreted the character Xiang Tenghui, a coach who teaches a group of orphaned boys martial arts.

The story is rooted in reality. In 2001, former armed police officer Enbo- the prototype of Xiang Tenghui- spent years of his savings to establish an MMA fighter club for training 38 children in Southwest China’s Sichuan Province. 

His club was publicly criticized later in 2017 due to a wrestling video of those kids, that in reality had been choregraphed to be a performance. The performance was misinterpreted by the public and accused of portraying ‘child exploitation.’ 

Knowing about the story’s debatable nature, Wang Baoqiang told the Global Times that he has “never thought about to not to do it,” because he sees himself in these grassroots characters and the “big love and tenacity” of people who are at the bottom of the society.

“I grew up in poverty and fought my way up, so I’m someone who understands their struggles. If learning and teaching wrestling were the outlet to En Bo and those kids, then the ‘film’ is mine,” Wang Baoqiang told the Global Times. 

Finding his directorial “outlet” was a bumpy journey, especially when Wang Baoqiang, the actor-turned-director had once “failed” at his first attempt of directing the film Buddies in India in 2016.

He was nominated for and accepted the Golden Broom Award for his directorial debut. Akin to the Golden Raspberry Awards in the US, it is an annual prize given to the year’s most disappointing productions. 

“I entered in the low ebb after that film and I knew it would have been the end of my career as a director if Never Say Never failed too,” Wang told the Global Times. 

He spent six years to prepare Never Say Never and faced great difficulties in garnering investments for the movie. No one could see his potential as a director. 

“They always said to me- Wang Baoqiang, your market is comedy, if you don’t do that and only that, you’ll lose your whole game,” Wang told the Global Times. 

“Loans, mortgage, I tried every possible way to make it work,” Wang remarked. 

Prior to its debut, Never Say Never harvested over 400 million RMB (about $55 million) in preview box office sales, thus beating the previous war drama The Eight Hundred, and becoming the champion of the preview box office sales in Chinese film history. 

The film has become a hot topic on China’s Twitter-like Sina Weibo. 

“Although Wang Baoqiang is always good at this kind of grassroots role, this movie made me realize if you want to work on such a story, you must love it and believe in it,” Zhu Liuting, a moviegoer, told the Global Times.   

Even Bollywood star Aamir Khan has shared a video online to support the film. The Indian actor called the film was “encouraging,” and he hopes it can ‘break the Chinese film box office records.’

“I’m proud of myself,” Wang Baoqiang told the Global Times.