A STAR IN THE EAST
Although her name may not come instantly to mind Ziyi Zhang is on her way to becoming the world’s biggest female movie star. Already a household name in Asia where her face peers out from magazine covers and down from billboards, the 26-year-old Beijingborn beauty is rapidly becoming a star in the west.
She made a huge impression as the young swordswoman in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and again in the martial arts epics Hero and House Of Flying Daggers. However it is her latest starring role in Memoirs Of A Geisha that is being seen as a major breakthrough in Hollywood.
Already described by Time magazine as “China’s gift to Hollywood” in their list of the world’s 100 most influential people, Ziyi Zhang already has the kind of fame in her own country that most movie stars can only dream of. Now she is determined to make a career in the west as well.
When she made her debut in Rush Hour 2 she spoke no English.
For the last two years however Ziyi Zhang has been working steadily to learn and although there is often an interpreter on hand she is able to hold her own.
Memoirs Of A Geisha was one of the film industry’s great unfilmable books.
Arthur Golden’s story of a young woman who is sold by her family as a geisha – a living work of art – and then rises to the heights of her profession has been read by millions of women all over the world. Ziyi Zhang was one of them.
“I read it five years ago. I’d heard about it from many of my friends who just loved it, ” she says. “I loved this story, it was so special. I never thought that one day I could be in this story, playing this character. So for me, the first time I heard I had got the role I was happily surprised.
“At the same time I felt tremendous pressure, because I knew Rob (director Rob Marshall) was going to make this movie in English.
“For me that was my biggest obstacle, because English is my second language. I just felt that then I had to live up to their expectations and had to give all my best efforts. You can’t have any regrets, you have to do your best.”
You could argue that one of the reasons the book took a long time to come to the screen was that it was waiting for the right cast.
The film is unique in that it is the first Hollywood film to have an entirely Asian cast. Ziyi Zhang is joined by Michelle Yeoh, Gong Li and Ken Watanabe – superstars all in the east – as they take the leading roles.
There has been criticism, however, of the fact that this quintessentially Japanese story, albeit one written by an American man, should be played by mainly Chinese actors.
Watanabe, star of Batman Begins and The Last Samurai, is the only Japanese actor in a leading role.
It is a criticism Ziyi Zhang has heard often and is well prepared for.
“For us, in this group, we have two girls from China, Michelle is from Malaysia and a few other women from Japan, ” she explains.
“I think no matter who it was, from whatever cultural background, you had to learn and train hard to become a convincing geisha. Their world is so different, you have to learn it, even if you’re Japanese.
“Anyway, ” she adds, “this is a very international movie, it’s not a Japanese movie.
“That’s why we had very intensive training, for six weeks, we had to learn every single detail.”
The six weeks of training to be a geisha took them through seven different stages. Co-star Michelle Yeoh called them “the seven rooms of torture” and only appeared to be half-joking when she said so.
In the music room they had to learn to play the shamisen – the traditional geisha instrument – then there was the dancing room where they learned the delicate fan dance.
Learning to walk in a kimono was an art in itself, with the layers and the weight of the garment.
The actresses had to do the geisha walk with a piece of paper between their knees and a sake bottle on your head during training, so they could glide across the floor.
Like Michelle, Ziyi Zhang is a trained dancer. She has no formal martial arts training and uses her dance background in her martial arts roles.
So, which would she rather do, epic swordfights or walking like a geisha?
“To be a geisha is harder than fighting, ” she says without hesitation.