Welcome to Zhang Ziyi Infos, your best source for the Chinese actress since 2007. Zhang Ziyi is a famous actress known for her roles in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Memoirs of a Geisha, The Grandmaster and so many other great films. Zhang Ziyi recently directed the short film Poem in the anthology film My Country, My Parents. Read her full biography here.
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After being a spokesperson for Mercedes Benz and Honda Accord, in 2008 and 2018 respectively, Ziyi recently signed to become the ambassador of Lincoln Corsair in China. They actually came up with an amazing concept, recreating scenes from Ziyi’s most iconic films Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and The Grandmaster. The result is quite impressive.
As you may already know, Ziyi was the Jury president of the 16th FIRST Youth Film Festival in Xining this year. She attended a few events, including a screening of The Grandmaster, a press conference of the jury and of course the closing ceremony. There, she announced the best film’s winner: One and Four, directed by Jigme Trinley.
A retrospective of Ziyi’s career was organized in a theater in Beijing to mark her 20 years long career. She showed up and sat with Hou Yong and others to talk about her work and movies such as Crouching Tiger, 2046, The Grandmaster, and more.
Ziyi shared a lot yesterday during this masterclass, about her career and herself. She mainly talked about working of films like 2046, The Grandmaster, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, but a few others too. Some highlights of the interview were transcribed on the official website of the Cannes Festival.
About her fighting spirit:
I was born into a very traditional family. My mother worked in a maternity hospital and my father was an economist for the government. I didn’t grow up in luxury. My parents worked hard to bring us up and we did not have many activities. I don’t remember my parents encouraging me a lot or saying “I love you.” They have always been demanding with me even though I have won many awards in my career. This has taught me to be demanding of myself. Most of the roles I have interpreted have this perseverence as a a common theme.On the filming of Yi dai zong shi (The Grandmaster):
This film shoot was the most demanding of my whole career up until now. I was in a very anxious and melancholy period of my life. I remember asking for a day off in the middle of the filming, which was complicated because it would cost a lot of money. But Wong Kar-wai agreed. He knew that I was not feeling well and he showed himself to be very understanding. Today he is a very close friend. I could play any role for him.
Beautiful TV spots were released in China to promote I Am An Actor featuring the 3 judges taking part in their own previous work. The one with Ziyi is really amazing and include scenes from The Road Home, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, 2046, Memoirs of a Geisha, The Grandmaster and The Wasted Times.
The new 3D cut of “The Grandmaster” was released on Monday 5th january and the cast of the film attended various promotional events in Beijing. Wong Kar-wai, Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Chang Chen, Zhang Jin and Wang Qingxiang were all there to promote the film. During a press conference, “the director and cast members were asked to express the unique flavour of each other” and Wong Kar-wai compared Ziyi to an onion:
As to his leading lady Zhang Ziyi, Wong said, “She is like an onion. She is spicy and crunchy, a northern specialty. The flavour is sweeter when it’s more mature.”
Yesterday the cast attended a press conference with martial artists.
Wong Kar Wai is currently promoting “The Grandmaster 3D” and we know more about this new version…
the 3D edit was put together with shorter U.S. cut as a loose guide, however, previously unseen material was also incorporated. The final result? A movie that now runs 111-minutes-long (versus 122 in the original international cut) and apparently has a new structure and more streamlined storytelling.
[…]
The most mysterious martial art style of Zhang Ziyi’s character Gong Er, the “64 palms” might possibly show its true face again. In The Grandmaster, Ip Man and Gong Er only had two duels but was so deeply impressed by the “64 palms” that he found it hard to forget. He only wanted to see such great kung fu again, unfortunately due to various reasons Gong Er’s special abilities finally vanished from the world, without any “echo”. Yet in the end of The Grandmaster 3D‘s trailer, Gong Er’s line “If you want to see the 64 palms, you only have the time it takes to open a fan” was added. Seemingly there was room for something more.
Enjoy this new and very exciting trailer with a new fight between Ziyi and Tony Leung…
The video archive currently has 1033 videos.
 Harper’s Bazaar China | Oct. |
 W China | July |
