ZHANG ZIYI OF “HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS”
by Daniel Robert Epstein
Zhang Ziyi became one of the biggest international martial arts stars after her amazing performance in Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. She has also appeared in Rush Hour 2, Zu Warriors, 2046 and Hero. She’s currently the female lead in House of Flying Daggers and will next be seen in Rob Marshall’s Memoirs of a Geisha.
UGO: What was the hardest part of doing House of Flying Daggers?
ZHANG ZIYI: I didn’t know how to live blind. I tried to live as a blind person for two months and that was the hardest part. Also I needed to be blind while doing all the action and all the movements.
UGO: In doing all those actions, what special training did you go through?
ZHANG: In Crouching Tiger, I used the sword. I trained for just how to use that, and this time I learned how to use bamboo.
UGO: Was that harder?
ZHANG: [laughs] It was heavy and very long so I hit myself all the time.
UGO: I noticed in one scene, it looked like you were doing the splits, with two bamboo trees. Were you actually doing that?
ZHANG: Yeah, my legs helped me and wouldn’t let me down.
UGO: Did you study dance?
ZHANG: Yeah, traditional Chinese dance and two years of ballet.
UGO: How was it working with director Zhang Yimou?
ZHANG: It’s my third time working with him. He’s very special, because my first movie with him, Wo de fu qin mu qin (The Road Home), was also my first movie, so I knew nothing at that time. I didn’t know what focus meant or what camera meant, and he does each movie differently. In the first one, he didn’t want me to read the script. He wanted me to act naturally. But in this movie, he wanted me to act and create the character myself.
UGO: Has it gotten easier to work with him?
ZHANG: It actually got harder because at first when he saw me starting, he could see how far I could go, as far as acting. But now he’s seen how much I’ve improved, so at this point he’s given me this character that is much harder to perform. After my first film with Zhang Yimou, I worked with many other directors as well. Now he wants to see how I’ve grown as an actress.
UGO: I know that martial art experts can be recognized by their style, and I was wondering if you had to change your style to the way your character does martial arts?
ZHANG: I don’t belong to any school or style myself. I’m actually unusual in this respect, because I used to study dance. So when I do these action martial art scenes, the way that I do them has a certain kind of softness to them on the outside, but in fact in the inside there’s also a lot of strength I give to it.
UGO: Was it difficult going back to China to do movies after Rush Hour 2?
ZHANG: Not at all, because making films in China is a tough life. So when I made some films in Hollywood and then went back, it wasn’t such a big problem.
UGO: What’s your favorite scene in the movie and why?
ZHANG: The drum scene, probably because only in this one film will there be a space like that to perform. Although you only see about two minutes of it, it took us a long time to make. Every day we had to shoot one shot at a time, over and over again. Sometimes we’d have to take 10 or 20 takes and it was so difficult. So there were a lot of extras in the background, who when I did something well, would encourage me, by applauding me and cheering me on.
UGO: If you had to fight someone at this table in this position, what would be your first move? ZHANG: [laughs] Jump on the table.
UGO: Can you talk about working with Andy Lau, and were you a fan of his work prior to this?
ZHANG: I think at 16, while I was studying ballet at a dancing school, he had a concert in Bag Zing but we didn’t have the money and we still really wanted to go to watch it. We got to the security guard, we said to her, “Hi, we’re from the dancing school and we really want to see the concert, but we don’t have any money to do so.” She said, “You’re from dancing school? How do I know?” So we started dancing for her. We stood in line and went, “One! Two! Three! Four!” and she went, “Oh that’s so cute!” and she let us go in.
UGO: Have you seen Kill Bill?
ZHANG: Yeah, I have and I especially like the scene toward the end where Lucy Liu and Uma Thurman are fighting.
UGO: You think you could have given them a better fight?
ZHANG: [laughs] Well, I think they did it very well.
UGO: How different was it working with Ang Lee vs. Zhang Yimou?
ZHANG: Actually when I was making Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Ang Lee was under a lot of pressure at the time. In all of the cast and crew there were two people who had the most pressure on them: him and myself. Me, because I was the youngest and the most inexperienced, so anyone could start complaining and criticizing me. For Ang Lee, it was his first martial arts film and there were all these big star actors and actresses in it. I remember in making Crouching Tiger I had my first action scene. They had me strung up in the air and I had to fall down to the ground. About five people came over and started criticizing me, saying that I didn’t know what to do, so I was just stunned and I didn’t know what to do!
UGO: Did you ever feel afraid while you were fighting during House of Flying Daggers?
ZHANG: Yeah, I’m definitely scared, but I don’t have a choice.
UGO: How do you cope with the fear?
ZHANG: Just hunch down and get on with it!
UGO: Having done Chinese films and now doing a Japanese film, Memoirs of a Geisha, have you learned any insight into the differences or similarities between the two cultures?
ZHANG: In the Japanese film, we had to learn more about posture and things. But I think it’s also hard being Chinese, wearing the shoes that bound feet.
UGO: What superpower would you like to have?
ZHANG: I wish I could just eat endlessly and never be full. Because I eat just a little bit, but already feel full.
UGO: Do you have a preference?
ZHANG: Steak.