by Xinhua writers Ji Shaoting and Li Jianping
BEIJING, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) - Wang Taili recalls telling a girl of his dreams of stardom at lunch in the school canteen when he was a boy.
"I'd sell one of my kidneys to make it as a pop star," the 41-year-old remembers saying. "I thought if I couldn't be a star, what's the meaning of life?
"The girl never spoke to me again."
It's an anecdote that typifies the crashing of dreams on the rocks of cold reality -- the theme of the hit on-line movie, "Old Boys," directed by and starring Wang and his old friend, Xiao Yang.
The 43-minute film has a simple plot: two middle school classmates dream of being a pop singer and a dancer, but become a wedding host and a barber after a series of frustrations. Years later, they remember their dreams when they meet a classmate, who has become a talent show producer. Then the two middle-aged "old boys" set up a singing group called "Kuaizi" (Chopsticks) to compete in the show with their young rivals.
In real life, Wang headed to Beijing from east China's Shandong Province at the age of 24 in 1993, aiming to be a star. But he had to live in a 6-yuan-a-night campus dormitory, a 100-yuan-a-month apartment, or even sleep in a cold doorway in winter.
Four years later, Wang founded a company to shoot TV commercials. He met Beijing Film Academy student Xiao Yang when he was recruiting a student actor to cut costs.
The commercial was Xiao Yang's first and he was paid well at the time.
