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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
[This page is closed to new input. --Ed.]
(Updated
Tuesday, Apr 1, 2008, 05:49:59 PM)
Virgule
I am not a Vicki Zhao fan so plse insulting her is not going to score you any points. I like her but I am not going praise her to high heavens or make unrealistic statements like she is going to make it big in the US. Because realistically she can't. No Asian female stars have so far and they are far more beautiful and talented than Vicki - Gong Li, Maggie Cheung, just to name a few. No doubt there are also Japanese and Korean female stars whom I don't know about. Your insistence that Zhang Ziyi is now an international star based on one performance is way beyond realism. Come on, face it, if not for CTHD, nobody would have heard of her. You must have heard of the expression, "Flavour of the month". Zhang Ziyi has been the flavour of the month in the US and maybe you are right, she can become the flavour of the month again with the release of Hero. But at the moment she is just another pretty Asian face to most people in the world. The critics may love her and the directors may continue using her. But unless she featured in another groundbreaking movie, her chances are small. As for importance, she doesn't even rank at the moment amongst the greats in the Chinese moviemaking world. Her co-star Cheng Pei Pei is of much greater significance to Chinese movies than she will ever be. At least her fellow Chinese stars trying to make in big in the US, Chow Yun Fat and Jet Li has made significant contribution to Chinese movies before heading west. Don't you think it is an insult for these stars that fans of Zhang Ziyi are acting like she is the greatest ever? How can she be great when she hasn't even done anything to distinguish herself in the country of her birth? At least Vicki Zhao has made quite a few TV series and movies targeted at a Chinese audience.
IMO
Monday, February 11, 2002 at 19:00:00 (PST)
Well IMO, I guess you can't count either. I'm sure Zhao Who's television appearances are ALL so very historically memorable. Musa and Zu have not yet played in the US, so your crack about them coming and going is not quite accurate. Hero too is coming up later this year, making the real count 6 films. That makes 3 already shown in the West and three more coming up. Gosh, how many Zhao Who movies have played here? Well, let's count - zip, nada, zero, null, 0. Oh yeah, Vicki Zero is so famous alright.
Virgule
Monday, February 11, 2002 at 05:57:33 (PST)
Ok, I just have to say some thing in regards Zhang Ziyi. So many have said that she has no talent, and stares off, has cold eyes etc. The truth be told it seems AA have been status quo white American washed. Yes, Jen(Zhang Ziyi) was "cold". That was her role, and she played it well. Did you not also notice how well she played her warmer side? Jen (Zhang Ziyi) was in turmoil. There was a war within herself. That was recognized by Li Mu Bai (Chao Yun Fat)and portrayed very clearly in CTHD. So far the comments I have read seem to expect only one thing OR another from Asian female role. This is stereotype too, and also disregards essential balance to be found in everything. From the sounds of the ideas expressed thus far, the ending for CTHD most certainly "flew" past many here as well.
rootsdefinedabranches
Friday, February 08, 2002 at 20:48:51 (PST)
Virgule, you forgot to mention that Musa came and went, and blink an eye and you will miss ZZ in Zu Warriors(a five zzzzz movie btw). And Verb, like that yum yum very much. Watching ZZ makes me go zzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Heheheh.
IMO
Tuesday, February 05, 2002 at 00:04:10 (PST)
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