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HOLLYWOOD -- Timid because her English is still a work in progress, Chinese star Zhang Ziyi doesn't say much in Jackie Chan's comic thriller Rush Hour 2.
But the 22-year-old Beijing actress makes an enormous impression in the current number one boxoffice hit. She does it with her leg kicks, her athletic prowess, her martial arts moves and her drop-dead gorgeous face.
"I am actually surprised, and not cognizant of how it came about, that I have picked up so many characters that are action-related," the charismatic Zhang says in formal language channeled through an interpreter. "It wasn't necessarily something that I had planned."
An international superstar is being born. Zhang is the stunner who mesmerized audiences in Ang Lee's Oscar-nominated Chinese epic Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
The Toronto Film Critics Association awarded her the best supporting actress award for her work as a feisty princess who moonlighted as a morally confused warrior, and many thought she should have earned an Oscar nom.
Now she is making her move slowly into Western culture and Hollywood movies. Zhang, trained as a dancer in Beijing and a gifted natural at martial arts, is already trying to keep from being typecast just as an action star.
"In the future, if I could do some roles that had a bit of action and had a bit of serious drama, (that would be good). I would love to do one or the other or maybe a role that had both."
There is a casting trap in only doing martial arts, she says. "That is why I would want to do more dramatic roles."
As for Hollywood and the West, Zhang says she would enjoy crossing over while continuing to make films in Asia. But it has happened by accident, not design, so far.
"There wasn't really any thought-out plan to come and break through in the American market," she says. "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was purely based on the opportunity to work with Ang Lee. That was the first and foremost reason I took on that project. And then from that project on to Rush Hour 2, it was something that I would never have fathomed because I would never have conceived of doing a Hollywood/Western film due to my English language capabilities."
Zhang can understand more English than she can speak and occasionally starts answering in Chinese before her interpreter has translated the question. A couple of times, she actually talks in English, flashing a smile to smooth over mistakes.
"I am definitely interested to further develop my career in the Hollywood/Western market," Zhang says. "But it would all depend on my English, definitely."
Meanwhile, she has already finished starring as the Ming Dynasty princess Puyong in the South Korean production The Warriors for director Sung-su Kim. She will also appear inHong Kong director Wong Kar-wai's 2046.
Next this summer is a role in the Ching Dynasty drama Heroes for her mentor, famed Chinese director Zhang Yimou (no relation). He discovered her while she was still in university, casting her in his low-key drama The Road Home while generating rumours that the two had become lovers (that led to her unwanted nickname of Little Gong Li because Zhang Yimou also had a famous extramarital affair with Gong Li).
To her credit, Zhang Ziyi ignores the unsubstantiated gossip and speaks only of her work. The script for Heroes, she says, is so profound she cried after reading it. "I just feel that, with a script that great, the film can only be spectacular."
But the 22-year-old Beijing actress makes an enormous impression in the current number one boxoffice hit. She does it with her leg kicks, her athletic prowess, her martial arts moves and her drop-dead gorgeous face.
"I am actually surprised, and not cognizant of how it came about, that I have picked up so many characters that are action-related," the charismatic Zhang says in formal language channeled through an interpreter. "It wasn't necessarily something that I had planned."
An international superstar is being born. Zhang is the stunner who mesmerized audiences in Ang Lee's Oscar-nominated Chinese epic Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
The Toronto Film Critics Association awarded her the best supporting actress award for her work as a feisty princess who moonlighted as a morally confused warrior, and many thought she should have earned an Oscar nom.
Now she is making her move slowly into Western culture and Hollywood movies. Zhang, trained as a dancer in Beijing and a gifted natural at martial arts, is already trying to keep from being typecast just as an action star.
"In the future, if I could do some roles that had a bit of action and had a bit of serious drama, (that would be good). I would love to do one or the other or maybe a role that had both."
There is a casting trap in only doing martial arts, she says. "That is why I would want to do more dramatic roles."
As for Hollywood and the West, Zhang says she would enjoy crossing over while continuing to make films in Asia. But it has happened by accident, not design, so far.
"There wasn't really any thought-out plan to come and break through in the American market," she says. "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was purely based on the opportunity to work with Ang Lee. That was the first and foremost reason I took on that project. And then from that project on to Rush Hour 2, it was something that I would never have fathomed because I would never have conceived of doing a Hollywood/Western film due to my English language capabilities."
Zhang can understand more English than she can speak and occasionally starts answering in Chinese before her interpreter has translated the question. A couple of times, she actually talks in English, flashing a smile to smooth over mistakes.
"I am definitely interested to further develop my career in the Hollywood/Western market," Zhang says. "But it would all depend on my English, definitely."
Meanwhile, she has already finished starring as the Ming Dynasty princess Puyong in the South Korean production The Warriors for director Sung-su Kim. She will also appear inHong Kong director Wong Kar-wai's 2046.
Next this summer is a role in the Ching Dynasty drama Heroes for her mentor, famed Chinese director Zhang Yimou (no relation). He discovered her while she was still in university, casting her in his low-key drama The Road Home while generating rumours that the two had become lovers (that led to her unwanted nickname of Little Gong Li because Zhang Yimou also had a famous extramarital affair with Gong Li).
To her credit, Zhang Ziyi ignores the unsubstantiated gossip and speaks only of her work. The script for Heroes, she says, is so profound she cried after reading it. "I just feel that, with a script that great, the film can only be spectacular."
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