Office work is funny business

Within the past several weeks since the comedy hit Johnny Keep Walking! topped the country's single-day box-office charts for more than a month, Ying Luojia, the movie's producer and co-writer, has found herself reconnecting with many friends she hasn't been in touch with for a long time. "They jokingly said the characters in the movie are like their alter egos because they express their confusion and frustration while enduring immense workplace stress," Ying tells China Daily in an online interview.

This widespread resonance is the key factor behind the movie's soaring success as the biggest dark horse in the last month of the Year of the Rabbit. Since its release across theaters on the Chinese mainland on Dec 29, the 117-minute film has brought in around 1.24 billion yuan ($172.3 million) as of Tuesday, a remarkable achievement in the recently comparatively sluggish market.

The film tells the story of an honest and hardworking factory fitter who, by a twist of fate, is mistakenly transferred to the corporate headquarters located in the provincial city. When the human resources department's staffer who handles the transfer discovers the mistake, he resorts to every means possible to cover it up.

Ironically, due to the fitter's straightforward and simple way of thinking, as well as being incorrectly presumed to have a special relationship with the chairman, he receives consecutive promotions, resulting in his annual pay rising from 400,000 yuan to 1.5 million yuan. However, as the plot unfolds, the truth behind the unusual transfer is gradually exposed, revealing a scheme involving corruption and conflicts among high-ranking executives.

The protagonist is played by Da Peng, and the human resources staffer is portrayed by Bai Ke. Both actually experienced the daily hustle of commuting on congested subways and clocking in at the office before transitioning to become actors. This real-life experience made their performances authentic, in turn, helping the movie receive a lot of word-of-mouth praise from online users and hence accumulate a rating of 8.2 out of 10 on the popular review aggregator, Douban.

Director Dong Runnian, who is also Ying's husband and co-wrote the script with her, drew the initial inspiration for the movie from a reunion dinner with former university classmates in 2017.

Some of them were then working at internet companies and complained about workplace problems, ranging from nasty bosses to office bureaucracy and excessive yet ineffective overtime.

Dong, a native of Tianjin, a city that's known for its prolific production of cross-talk — a traditional genre featuring comedic dialogues between two performers — graduated from the Communication University of China after earning his bachelor's degree in the directing department and pursuing a master's in cinema. With a natural sense of humor, and already an established scriptwriter famous for blockbusters like Breakup Buddies and Mr. Six, Dong quickly seized the humorous and satirical elements in the anecdotes.

Ying recalls that she was not quite hooked when she first heard the idea for the film, as she couldn't relate to the original outline, which reflects upon office issues by telling a tale about a group of underdog staffers who successfully organize an annual company gala.

But as time went on, Dong delved deeper into his idea, interviewing almost 100 employees — ranging from ordinary staffers to middle management — in several giant internet companies over more than four years, leading Ying to develop a greater interest in the project.

A bottleneck occurred in late 2021. Although the creative duo had already written several versions of the script, their instincts about the market and audiences meant they were not satisfied with the story.

"Dong wanted to give up. But I, on the contrary, became the person who couldn't let it go," Ying says.

"Then, I said: 'Fine. Let's put aside all other work. We will dedicate a certain number of days, for instance, about 10, to solving the problem.'

"However, it turned out that we had imagined more difficulties than we actually encountered. We solved the key challenges in just five days."

The method sounds simple but was demanding — they treated the movie not as a comedy but as a story that should unfold according to its own logic.

"At first, we tried hard to write funny lines for the characters. But when you intentionally add jokes into dialogues, it may not quite work with the plotline. Dong was the first to realize this problem. He persuaded me to not consider the comedic elements but to imagine what would happen to the characters," she says.

After all, the story itself, about a blue-collar worker who obtains an absurd promotion to ultimately become the deputy head of the human resources department, is already satirical.

"No matter what the characters do or what they say, as long as they do it following the natural logic of the plot, it will be funny," Ying explains.

Dong, who joined his wife during the online interview, recalls that he also read news stories for inspiration. One that impressed him was a report about a homeless man who sneaked into a high-rise office building in Beijing's Wangjing area in 2020.

During the day, the man would hide in an abandoned storage room, waiting for the workers to leave. At night, he would come out and enjoy the free snacks and drinks in the office. Over time, he even learned which departments tended to work late, so he could find a quiet place to sleep by arranging a few chairs.

"The story deeply inspired me. It turns out that some stories in real life are even more absurd, unbelievable and ironic than movie scripts," says Dong.

The director also shared several behind-the-scenes stories, including how Bai improvised two famous lines from Tang Dynasty (618-907) poet Li Bai to depict his character's frustration, emphasizing that despite his talent, he couldn't get the recognition he deserved.

As Dong's second directorial effort after Gone With the Light, the 2019 sci-fi comedy, Johnny Keep Walking! has also earned acclaim overseas. Aside from its release in eight countries so far, including the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom and Germany between Jan 18 and Feb 1, it will also show in theaters in Cambodia from Feb 15.

"Most of the feedback is from overseas Chinese," Ying says. "They say they have been yearning to watch stories about their roots, especially after living or working in other countries for many years."