Culture

Q & A

(China Daily)
Updated: 2010-05-27 08:00

Q: When you were naked and under the spotlight, were you worried?

A: If I have had any concerns, I would not have taken the job. When I took it, I threw myself into it because I was clear about what I was doing. The final work turned out to be pure, innocent and beautiful.

It is a good idea to promote environmental protection with pioneering photographs because it makes it easier to attract people's attention.

Q: How was the experience?

A: I was lying nude, just like I did when I was four or five years old, and I was in short green grass in a studio.

The shooting conditions were very tough. We shot during the freezing winter and there was only one small radiator, which helped only a little. With water spraying my whole body, I counted the minutes and hoped it would finish quickly. Luckily, things went well because everyone was full of energy.

Q: In February, you were a juror at the 60th Berlin Film Festival and became the second Chinese actress ever to be given this honor following Gong Li. Was it the first time for you to be a juror at an international film festival and are you stressed to be compared to Gong Li or Zhang Ziyi?

A: It was my first time to be a juror at the Berlin Film Festival. Prior to that, I had been a juror at the Chicago International Film Festival and the Shanghai Film Festival.

I was born into an intellectual family. My family members believed I would enter Tsinghua University and become a mathematician like my grandfather.

This did not stop me from choosing film as my career. Titles or expectations for me are something of little significance. The most important thing is to know my own road, which will lead to my own end.

In fact, the finishing point of every life is the same, being old, while the scenery along the road to that destination is different for different people. I prefer the scenery along my road and to just to be myself.

Q: Now you are with Creative Artists Agency, the US's largest entertainment agency and you also starred in Speed Racer, a Hollywood action film made in Babelsberg in 2008. Does that mean that your focus now is in Hollywood and on the Western market?

A: Entering Hollywood is something that brings additional splendor but is not part of any plan.

It is impossible for an Asian actor or actress to be straight-A player in Hollywood, because you are not a representative of their culture.

I have never heard of any Asian players earning world fame for their performances in Western films. It is only in the films of my own country that I might get world recognition and success, just as the saying goes, "The national one is the world". As a Chinese person, I believe I am able to portray the culture of my own country better.

Largely, my focus is always in China and always will be.

Q: What's your standard for choosing scripts?

A: I must like them. Actually, I have never volunteered or competed to win any role. On the contrary, all those winning films come and find me. I believe what I can choose is films that appeal to my style, acting skills and emotion. Because of my style, I get these chances, just like different flowers attract different people.

Q: How do you treat an acting role after you accept it?

A: When I decide to take on a role, I will act seriously and never treat the role at random. It will bring me a strong feeling of satisfactory, no matter whether the process is tough or not.

(China Daily 05/27/2010)