Box-office hit YOLO beats its competition to the punch, becoming the year's highest-grossing film so far, Xu Fan reports.

In the summer of 2021, action choreographer Wang Cheng received a call from Jia Ling, one of the most successful female filmmakers in China, offering him the opportunity to join the team for her new movie, YOLO.

During their first meeting, Jia revealed her seemingly incredible plan. To portray the protagonist — a woman named Du Leying, who rediscovers her self-esteem after a boxing competition — Jia intentionally gained weight and then spent over 10 months shedding 50 kilograms.

Wang was a student at a sports school before working for more than a decade as an action choreographer for the domestic film industry. He tells China Daily that he has become accustomed to seeing people endure physical difficulties and engage in extensive exercise to shape their bodies.

"However, it's still very challenging for me to imagine that Jia — who also needed to be heavily involved in her directorial and acting roles — could achieve this goal in just 10 months. I know it must have been a very tough and difficult time," says Wang.

For almost a year, Jia disappeared from the public eye, making YOLO — an anagram of the phrase "you only live once" — one of the most highly anticipated blockbusters when it made its Spring Festival debut on Feb 10.

Thanks to headlines about Jia's herculean effort and the down-to-earth tale resonating with many theatergoers, the 129-minute film has earned over 3.4 billion yuan ($472.3 million), soaring to the title of highest-grossing blockbuster of the year so far.

Sony Pictures, which acquired the English remake rights to Jia's directorial debut, Hi, Mom, in October last year, once again demonstrated its confidence in her by announcing the acquisition of the international distribution rights to YOLO last month.

Hi, Mom, a time-travel comedy inspired by the passing of Jia's own mother, earned 5.4 billion yuan in 2021, propelling her to the position of world's highest-grossing female director. It was a record she held for around two years until she was overtaken by American director Greta Gerwig on the back of her 2023 global box-office smash hit Barbie.

YOLO also stars Lei Jiayin, and Jia's longtime collaborator, Zhang Xiaofei, who plays Du Ledan, Du Leying's younger sister. The story unfolds as the long-unemployed protagonist, who is introverted and directionless, refuses to participate in a TV show that might lead to a job opportunity for her, causing a dispute in the family.

Further turmoil arises when she discovers that her boyfriend and best friend are cheating on her with each other. Crestfallen and frustrated, she decides to leave home and start anew as a waitress in a barbecue restaurant. She encounters a boxing coach, portrayed by Lei, who she mistakenly believes is a man deserving of her love and trust.

After experiencing all these setbacks, Du Leying is rocked further after she discovers that she is also being exploited by her relative, a journalist working for the TV station that aired the show. In desperation, she turns to boxing to vent her frustrations and discovers a new sense of purpose, pouring all her passion and effort into the sport as she trains to enter a tournament.

The competition scenes, which took nearly four months of preparation, were shot over eight days and were the most important for Wang.

"We choreographed more than 10 versions, and the final scene contains around 150 moves," recalls Wang.

"When the scene was being shot, I didn't sit by the monitor screen as usual. I walked to the boxing ring, standing close to Jia. I needed to encourage her again and again," says Wang.

For Li Miao, the movie's production designer, YOLO has provided him the opportunity to witness the progress of the Chinese film industry.

Despite being set in a city, and with most of its scenes taking place in ordinary locations, like a neighborhood gym, a small restaurant, and an inconspicuous apartment building, Li reveals to China Daily that most of the scenes were shot on soundstages.

"The light in the studio can be artificially controlled, making the shooting process more relaxed and unhurried in terms of time. Even at night, we can shoot daytime scenes without having to wait for natural light," Li explains.

One of the most impressive scenes was shot in a four-floor set, standing 14 meters high, on a 28-meter-tall soundstage in Qingdao, Shandong province. The scene features the protagonist attempting to take her own life by jumping out of her apartment window after being overwhelmed by all of her painful experiences.

"We shot the scene in one long take. The audience will have an immersive experience, feeling as though they are following Du as she ascends the stairs, sits on the edge of the window, and then jumps out in a desperate emotional state," says Li.

As one of its most highlighted visual effects, the movie uses a mirror as a key prop. Revealing his inspiration from the 1941 novel The Garden of Forking Paths by Argentine writer and poet Jorge Luis Borges, Li mentions a scene featuring Jia's character walking through a hallway leading to the boxing ring before the competition begins. The protagonist suddenly shifts her head, looks at herself in a mirror, and sees her previous self smiling back at her.

Li explains that the scene seeks to convey a thought-provoking message: A person's fate can be completely altered when they encounter a crossroads in life and choose a different direction.

A graduate of the fine art and design department at the Communication University of China, Li was invited to work on the movie shortly after concluding shooting of the drama, Home Coming, in the Ningxia Hui autonomous region in 2022.

Expressing gratitude for the opportunity to collaborate with an exceptional director like Jia, Li said after the movie's release that he hoped to see the movie shown abroad so that it reached a wider international audience. He added that the film would provide foreign viewers a closer look at the lives of ordinary people in China.

Currently, YOLO has a score of 7.8 points out of 10 on the popular review aggregator Douban.

The movie has since been released in over 200 cinemas across North America, starting on March 8, and pulling in $800,000 on its opening weekend. It then became the highest-grossing Chinese film in the US market during its opening week, according to American box-office tracker Box Office Mojo.