Romantic comedy for Zhang Ziyi
2009-08-04 13:24
Hong Kong - Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon star Zhang Ziyi is trying her hand at romantic comedy after a series of dramas.
In Sophie's Revenge, the 30-year-old will play a comic book artist who plots to get her fiancé back after losing him to an actor.
Written and directed by Chinese-American filmmaker Eva Jin, the 50 million Chinese yuan ($7.3m) Chinese-language movie also stars Chinese actor Fan Bingbing as Sophie's rival Joanna and South Korean actor So Ji-sub as Sophie's fiancé Jeff.
Zhang described Sophie's Revenge as a fun-loving movie.
"We will follow Sophie's journey in the movie, crying with her and laughing with her. I hope a story like this will resonate with everyone," Zhang said.
Change of pace
Sophie's Revenge, which will be released in China on August 14 and in South Korea on August 20, marks a change of pace for Zhang after four dramas.
She played a Japanese escort in the 2005 Hollywood movie Memoirs of a Geisha, then an empress in The Banquet, Chinese director Feng Xiaogang's 2006 adaptation of Hamlet. Zhang next portrayed a friend of late Peking Opera star Mei Lanfang in Chen Kaige's 2008 biopic Forever Enthralled.
She also played a villain alongside Dennis Quaid in the 2009 American-Canadian crime thriller Horsemen.
Zhang's new film, a South Korean-Chinese co-production, is also her debut as a producer. She said that director Jin approached her with her script and she secured funding for the project.
"I really learned many more things serving as the producer. I now have a better understanding of the work flow of a movie," she said.
Zhang made her film debut in famed Zhang Yimou's heartwarming 1999 love story The Road Home, but her career took off when Oscar-winning director Ang Lee cast her in his 2000 kung fu movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
With 10 years of acting and a producer credit to her name, will directing be next?
"It's so tough! You can only become a director when you're physically and mentally ready. Managing the situation on the set down to the smallest detail is really quite something," Zhang said.
- AP