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ASIAN AMERICAN ISSUES
Zhang Ziyi: Major Talent or Lucky Starlet?
or some she was the most memorable part of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. They were mesmerized by the dark energy she brings to her portrayal of a freespirited young adventuress. For others she was one more annoying thing about a glacial, poorly edited sword-fight flick. They were left cold by the hard, souless gleam of her obsidian eyes and her puckish face.
Regardless of your opinion of Zhang Ziyi, one fact is indisputable: since the release of CTHD in late 2000, the media has lionized the gamin-faced actress. Virtually every glossy and tabloid has hailed her as the hot new Asian female actor and/or great new beauty. In the heat of CTHD's surprise success Zhang was signed to several projects, including Rush Hour 2, The Legend of Zu, 2046 (a science fiction flick), Hero (a Jet Li kung-fu flick) and Musa (a Corean film set during the wars between the Yuan and Ming Dynasties).
Luck is essential to every success, but Zhang Ziyi appears to have enjoyed more than her share during her brief acting career.
She was born February 9, 1979 in Beijing to an economist father and a kindergarten teacher mother. At the age of 11 she enrolled in a dance school. Four years later she decided to switch to acting despite some promise as a dancer. She went for a shampoo commercial audition and was picked out by the legendary director Zhang Yimou to play a schoolgirl who falls in love with her teacher.
When The Road Home was released in China in 1999, the young actress was promptly dubbed "Little Gong Li" on the popular suspicion that she had followed the great actress into Zhang Yimou's bed. (Zhang Yimou had discovered Gong Li in 1987 and lost her in 1994 when she left him to marry Singaporean businessman Ooi Hoe Siong.)
The Road Home received no attention in the U.S. but won the 2000 Jury Grand Prix Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival. It also caught the eye of Ang Lee who was casting Crouching Tiger. No one suspected that the low-budget film he was planning to shoot in China would go on to become the next year's most profitable film, ultimately grossing $150 million worldwide. It turned Zhang Ziyi into an international superstar in one fell, elaborately-wired swoop.
Is Zhang Ziyi really a great beauty and first-rate actor? Or is she a second-rater whose fame is as un-credible as her CTHD fight sequences?
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WHAT YOU SAY
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(Updated
Tuesday, Apr 1, 2008, 05:50:03 PM)
A few commercials doesn't make Zhang ZiYi an international star. In CTHD, a very ordinary movie with great cinematography, she was more or less playing herself - a young, naive girl thrust into the spotlight and she did very well. Like Madonna in Desperately Seeking Susan. For all the praise, Zhang hasn't really shown that she has that much talent. Not that I am saying she hasn't, but she has been extremely fortunate to be in movies that has been lovingly made by masters of the craft. It would be hard not to shine in them unless you are a really rotten actor. With CTHD she went all the way to the Oscars and thus into the international limelight. What's not to like about her? She is young, agile and sweet in looks but not yet a great beauty and so very approachable. Its interesting to note that she does not have a very large fan base in her homeland China, and not even in Hong Kong or Taiwan. So unless that improved or she can somehow sustain the same level of interest and expectation in the West, its hard to see her star rising very high.
IMO
Tuesday, January 15, 2002 at 23:56:52 (PST)
Well, there's a lot to say about Z, but I'll try to keep it short and simple. She deserves everything she has gotten recently,and then some. She was good in all of the movies I've seen her in(4), including RH2(which is one of my favorite action/comedies). I don't even know Mandarin or Cantonese, maybe a few words(but thats it), and I could still get the emotion and intensity she portrays in her characters. She's over-rated? How, exactly is she. You want over-rated, look at Britney Spears, she should have her face in the dictionary next to the word 'over-rated'. She's a good actress to me and she is gorgeous as well. In the word of Ben Stiller in "Keeping the Faith", God must have been showing off when he made her.
Storm
Tuesday, January 15, 2002 at 23:37:24 (PST)
Best actress EVER!
TRH AND CTHD are two of the best movies ever because of Ms. Ziyi. RH2 great as well.
Shadow
Tuesday, January 15, 2002 at 20:55:16 (PST)
Zhang Ziyi, wow at first glance you would say that she is stunning, beautiful face. Then you think...is that all?
You would then realize something, something different than the rest of them. She is a real talent. She can act, she can portray the role, she is the character. I concur that there are many, no, a lot of good asian actors, but she is one of a kind. It would not only take a good script, great and known actors to act with , a formidable director and an enchanting setting to make a smashing movie. It relies and depends on the talent, in CTHD Ziyi is the newfound talent. If she acted badly she would never have been recognized.
She might be an overnight success but the night is not over, it stays on and on and long for a surmountable period of time. As another asian to another, I am proud to see her take all the credits and fame. She's going to rock the world with Zhang Ziyi style!
SirQR
sirqr@aol.com
Tuesday, January 15, 2002 at 19:16:10 (PST)
Chinese21,
Su Qi has a cheap face! yuck!
AsianF
Tuesday, January 15, 2002 at 19:11:44 (PST)
BTW,ZZ is awesome,I was sooo captivated by her in CTHD.And she's dead sexy in RH2.
T3nchI
Tuesday, January 15, 2002 at 18:44:04 (PST)
First, some rebuttals:
To Snooks: Gong li may have some "Elagance and sophistication", but somehow there is something in her that makes her so bitchy and whorish...just ask Richard Corliss of Time, who compared Gong Li and ZZ. Gong Li was nothing without Zhang Yimou...just look at her today. Which is why...
TO Chinese21: Shu Qi may now have avoided making the same mistake; so far she's doing fine with Beijing Rocks and Metada Fumaca. But she has a long way to go. To compete with ZZ, she must do less of the B-movies that she has been making.
TO Asianite: ZZ has recently indicated in Time.com that she's warming more to her career at home rather than make it big in Hollywood. So Hollywood is out of the question. Besides, how many film in HOllywood are that great, really?
To Superficial Asian Guy: Hey, is it fair to judge somebody's beauty with just one picture? That seems to be a very superficial judgement...why don't you look at ZZ's other pictures.
And to whoever wrote "as un-credible as her fight scenes": CTHD is part fantasy, as you may see. So what's so un-credible about that?
Granted ZZ may be lucky.... But in any case, why is it that her major films were handled by the top Asian directors? And her films have been rated highly by critics, independent or not. SHe has done what Hollywood and some Asian actresses had not...and that alone makes her stand out.
a ZZ fan
Tuesday, January 15, 2002 at 18:04:59 (PST)
Hey, Chinese21, how come Su Qi is always in the wrong place at the wrong time and Zhang Ziyi is always in the right place at the right time. Could it be that besides her beauty, she's also well managed and smart as hell? All of life is luck my friend. Look at you, you're so very lucky to incur my anger. I can assure you, any actress with 400 million in box office has a tad more going for her than mere luck.
Virgule
v@ziyi.info
Tuesday, January 15, 2002 at 17:53:16 (PST)
ZZ was tops in Crouching Tiger. She was multi-faceted enough to go from being a snooty spoiled brat to passionate lover to feisty fighter to principled heroine. She didn't get to do much in RH2, given that it was your typical dumb Hollywood fluff. Apart from her not being able to speak English, the directors probably didn't want her upstaging Rosalyn (sp?) Sanchez, their white/Latina heroine.
Let's hope ZZ gets to play more relatively complex roles like that in CTHD. As someone has already pointed out, her language skills will restrict her to Chinese films. But with the more than likely probability that Westerners are getting more interested in Asian film--CTHD being a case in point--ZZ will probably get further international exposure anyway. I imagine she might become at least as good as Paltrow (which admittedly isn't saying much) by playing roles from Chinese and Japanese classic literature.
But even if ZZ does make a big hit out of playing bit roles for Hollywood's worst, turning into an over-rated second-rater with great looks, so what? There are enough mediocre-looking white actresses with even more mediocre talents like Jennifer Aniston (short and chunky), Sarah Jessica Parker (short and chunky), Calista Flockfart(!), Helen Hunt (chunky), etc.(the kinds who are no better than the average white girl on your block)--why not an Asian one for a change? Hey, let's just tip the balance a bit: worldwide, there are probably lots more Asian females than white females. It's time for more Asian women to be soaking up their share of the limelight!
Asian Dominatrix
Tuesday, January 15, 2002 at 17:28:27 (PST)
Ziyi definitely has potential, and she's from my hometown and everytime I see her act it feels like home. GL to her. But comparing her to Gong Li is like comparing Jennifer Aniston with Julia Roberts.
Brickmanli
Tuesday, January 15, 2002 at 15:15:16 (PST)
Has an actor/actress who doesn't speak any English ever been a success in Hollywood? If not, then Ziyi might become a star in Asia or around the world, but as long as she can only be cast into stereotypical Asian roles in Hollywood she'll only be a babe and not a great actress in my American eyes.
Thomas
Tuesday, January 15, 2002 at 12:57:11 (PST)
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