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Issue Date: December 5, 2004
Earth angel
Ziyi Zhang's high-flying film career is grounded by inner strength.
By Lewis Beale
If she comes off as a stereotypical China doll, that's because in person Ziyi Zhang (say zee-yee zhang, with "zh" pronounced like the S in "leisure") is small, beautiful and self-effacing, with the giggly air of a high school sophomore.
"I don't like to look beautiful. I want to change."
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Onscreen, however, Zhang, 25, is something else entirely: a high-flying martial arts warrior princess who has thrilled audiences in such films as "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon;" "Rush Hour 2;" "Hero;" and the new "House of Flying Daggers," in which she plays a mysterious young dancer. She seems so skilled that when a reporter asks Zhang whether she can kick his butt, she replies, "You want to try?" and then laughs uproariously.
Zhang, who despite her independent financial status still lives with her folks in Beijing, faces the biggest challenge of her young career when she stars in her first English-speaking role as the lead in the long-awaited "Memoirs of a Geisha," based on the 1997 best seller. Now shooting in L.A., it's directed by Rob Marshall ("Chicago"). While Zhang's mastery of English is erratic (in this interview, she answers some questions in English, defers to a translator on others), she has devised her own tutorial: "I listen to pop music, like Norah Jones and Alicia Keys."
Zhang didn't plan a film career. Her parents sent her to dancing school because, she says, "I was sickly, and they [wanted me] to train my body." In her late teens, she was discovered by Chinese director Zhang Yimou, who cast her in her first film and "Daggers." But it was "Crouching Tiger," in which she plays the karate-chopping daughter of a nobleman, that launched her international star.
Not that success has gone to her head. She says her older brother manages her finances, she doesn't own a car, and when asked to name the most extravagant thing she has done since becoming famous, she says, "My daddy bought 100 copies of the first magazine I was on the cover of and gave one to everyone he knew." Then she giggles.
With no flying kicks, balletic leaps or fierce weaponry, "Geisha" is another milestone for her. One day, Zhang says, "I hope ... I can [portray] a character where people cannot recognize you. I don't like to look beautiful. I want to change."
Yes, she really did say, "I don't like to look beautiful." No mistranslation there.
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