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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, 05:49:55 PM)
[I compare her with Lucy Liu because they are both hot actresses even though the women IN China look better. Shandongnese females, Shanghainese... thats the real deal.]
Yes I agree, Zhang Ziyi really gets my taste buds goin.
But Lucy Liu???? What the f***?
Dude, are you on CRACK????
Jay... the sober hapa
Tuesday, July 16, 2002 at 23:28:15 (PDT)
yep she sure is peerrrrty. I thought the wet shirt in CTHD was kinda cool
SOG
Tuesday, July 16, 2002 at 18:44:50 (PDT)
You are wrong. There aren't any women who could have filled Zhang Ziyi's shoes in CTHD. There are plenty of kung fu girls in China but how many of them look god or can act? There are some other pretty actresses like Zhao Wei, Gong Li, Shu Qi but they are NOT as pretty or young as Zhang Ziyi and cannot do the fight scenes. Zhang Ziyi is simply an awesome actress with a flawless face. She is so cute it is unreal.
Michelle Yeoh and Yun Fat had simply no chance of upstaging her and Chang Chen certainly didn't. There can be no doubt, Zhang Ziyi will go on to become the greatest Chinese actress of ALL TIME.
PERIOD
Hidden Dragon
Monday, July 15, 2002 at 06:52:33 (PDT)
Jing Cha,
"ISNT ZHANG ZIYI the first Female Kung Fu universal talent?"
She doesn't know kung fu. It is Michelle Yao that knows kung fu. Just compare the ninja scene to the resturant scene that is suppose to be Zhang ziyi. They are not the same people. The person in the ninja outfit is a far better technician.
That another reason why Chinese people did not like the movie. The martial art choreography was pretty much standard for soap opera quality.
However, she was the only person in the movie whose mandarin was not an issue with most Chinese people. For whatever reason the other actors did not opt for their usually mandarin dub stand ins, which is weird for a Chinese movie of this level.
AC Dropout
Monday, July 15, 2002 at 06:46:12 (PDT)
I know women in Shanghai.
--I could give you 40 of them that could have filled Zhang Ziyi's shoes for CTHD.
-- For a westerner watching a Kung Fu movie IN Chinese language, we take WHAT you give us. Nothing more nothing less. Zhang Ziyi is beautiful but FAR from flawless. I compare her with Lucy Liu because they are both hot actresses even though the women IN China look better. Shandongnese females, Shanghainese... thats the real deal.
--If you really take a look at Zhang Ziyi's roles, they are SIMPLE. I feel Michelle Yao upstaged her in fact. But neither of them have real ON STAGE presence.
What people trip over is how CTHD was a Martial Art Flicks DOMINATED BY WOMEN and young girls. The Male Actor DIES (this is not a normal Kung Fu flick). Sure she was great and all but for us Americans, NOBODY can upstage Bruce Lee, Jet LI or Jackie Chan in fighting. Come to think about it, ISNT ZHANG ZIYI the first Female Kung Fu universal talent?
Jing Cha
Sunday, July 14, 2002 at 08:35:20 (PDT)
I like Zhang Ziyi cuz I liked the character she played in CTHD. (People have told me that she reminded them of me, personality wise. ) I also think she is very pretty in a natural asian way. American celebs like Pamela Anderson or Britney spears (fakies) don't hold a candle to her. ( I love natural beauty!) She is very charismatic and stole all the scenes in that movie. I didn't watch any of the other movies she starred in, but would love to. Well that is just my stupid little opinion, if anyone cared.
Moonshineprincess
Friday, July 12, 2002 at 18:09:01 (PDT)
Annapolis-Harvard law grad:
Umm...at least Oxford isn't rampant with GRADE INFLATION--like Harvard, where 90% get Latin honors!
At least Oxford politicians have brains, not half a brain like Yale and Harvard graduate, Dubya. (Even dumber than Princes Charles and Edward!)
"She's rather plain, in terms of attractive Chinese girls. Walk the streets of Beijing and every 10 minutes you see someone that looks like her."
What crap reasoning. In Norway, there are lots of girls who look like Gwyneth Paltrow...does that make her any less attractive?
Asian Dominatrix
Friday, July 05, 2002 at 21:27:00 (PDT)
both talent and a little Luck too
popmale
Friday, June 28, 2002 at 18:43:36 (PDT)
I can assure you, that you will not find someone as attractive or perfect as Zhang Ziyi every 10 minutes on the streets of Beijing (or anywhere else for that matter). Zhang Ziyi is stunning. there will surely be women who look like her, same with Gong, but none that look as good. Gong Li was good when she worked with Yimou but marriage is no excuse for her career going down the drain. Her time has passed. See Yimou's recent film - The Road Home and you will surely appreciate that Zhang Ziyi is, by far, the most attractive woman in Asia, period.
Oh, and by the way, Ziyi's next film (Hero) will also be directed by Yimou and will be far bigger than Crouching Tiger.
Hidden Dragon
Thursday, June 27, 2002 at 08:39:23 (PDT)
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