Zhao Wei: Acting as a foster mother is challenging
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E-mail China Daily via Agencies, August 31, 2014
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Chinese actress Zhao Wei poses during the photocall for the movie "Qin'ai de" (Dearest) at the 71st Venice Film Festival August 28, 2014. [Photo/Agencies] |
It was a surprise for fans to see Zhao Wei, one of the most famous actresses in China, who portrays a rustic rural mother with a simple mind in a new movie presented at the ongoing Venice film festival.
In a career of almost 20 years, Zhao has starred in 26 films and 13 TV dramas, working with some of the most renowned Chinese filmmakers.
Notable works include Stephen Chow's Shaolin Soccer, Ann Hui's Jade Goddess of Mercy, Red Cliff I and Red Cliff II by John Woo, Gordon Chan's Painted Skin, The Resurrection by Wu Ershan and Daniel Lee's 14 Blades.
This time Zhao ditched makeup and wore short hair in Qin'ai de (Dearest) by Hong Kong director Peter Ho-sun Chan, as she featured Li Hongqin, a foster mother of a kidnapped baby boy brought home by her late husband.
When the biological parents comb through half China and find their son in the remote village, they realize that he only sees them as strangers. Li is led by a trail of consequences to a fight for the custody of the child.
"When I was asked by Chan to play this character, I though it would be very difficult for me," Zhao told Xinhua in an interview.
"But then I told myself that I should trust such an experienced director, if he believed I was able to make it," she added.
An opportunity to collaborate with the leading director in the Asian film industry was precious, said the actress.
Zhao said she had to work hard to build her character.
"At the beginning I had no image in my mind of this mother from the countryside, and I had to attentively look for her. I reasoned a lot, until I gradually managed to get closer and closer to Li," she said.
In the meantime, the actress had to learn to speak a rural dialect.
Qin'ai de was based on a true story that Chan learnt from a news documentary around two years ago. He decided to turn it into a film that is able to show both sides of the story.
For this reason Chan opted for a switch of protagonists. He centered the first half of the film on the biological mother's struggle to rescue her child, while dedicating the second part to the heart-broken foster mother, who is seen as a criminal.
Zhao, whose directorial debut "So Young" was a major success at the Chinese box office last year, said that playing in Chan's new film was an opportunity for her to rediscover the value of working as an actress.
"At the end I found out that portraying Li helped me uncover and express some emotions and feelings that were hidden in my heart," she said.
Based on positive reactions at the Venice film festival, Qin'ai de is expected to be especially appreciated for its valuable contribution to raising social awareness about child abduction.
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