'My Lucky Star' director discusses new rom-com with Zhang Ziyi
0 Comment(s)
Print
E-mail CNTV, September 18, 2013
New movie release "My Lucky Star", with Zhang Ziyi and Wang LeeHom, will be opening simultaneously in China and the United States this month. The film is directed by Dennie Gordon, the first American woman to direct a feature for the Chinese market. Our Hollywood reporter Kristie Hang sat down with the director and asked, simply, how does an American who doesn't speak Mandarin direct a Chinese movie?
 |
|
'My Lucky Star' director discusses new rom-com with Zhang Ziyi. |
Taking place in various cities, romantic comedy "My Lucky Star" contains elements of mistaken identity and an international crime caper that takes Zhang Ziyi on a glamorous adventure from Beijing to Singapore, Hong Kong and Macau. Overseeing this production is Dennie Gordon, an American director best known for her work with comedy television shows.
KH: Hi Dennie, thank you for letting us into your home today. How did the idea for this movie materialize?
DG: I developed it with Zhang Ziyi and for Zhang Ziyi and she wanted me to create a movie for her that Anne Hathaway might star in or Jenifer Lawrence might star in, or what Kate Hudson might have starred in 15 years ago. She really wanted to do something along those lines. She'd never done anything like that.
In 2009, audiences fell in love with Zhang Ziyi's character Sophie, from the film "Sophie's Revenge". She will continue this character in "My Lucky Star".
KH: Zhang Ziyi reprises her role as Sophie. So is "My Lucky Star" a sequel to "Sophie's Revenge"?
DG: The two are really not related. Some people have said, oh, 'is this a sequel or is it a prequel?' But, really, it's its whole own thing. You would be hard to say whether it came before or after. And there's a message for Chinese women too because she works in a travel agency and she lives in her head, and she's a little afraid to branch out to take risks. And yet, through this adventure she learns that she can win very big by having courage and finding what she's really made of.
KH: So here you are, an American, on the set in Asia directing Mandarin speaking actors. How did you know when you had a good take?
DG: That was one of my biggest fears - how will I know that it's good? And in the end it was just kind of a gut instinct, and after a while I had the script written in English and in Chinese, and after a while even though I can't speak Mandarin, I knew what they were saying. I knew what they were saying at every moment. I knew the emotion, whether it was fear or distrust or young love, and I had to keep reminding the actors and myself what it was emotionally each moment.
KH: The film will be released in China and U.S. during Mid-Autumn Festival, are you excited?
DG: So we're very excited and I kept thinking that we should be putting out mooncakes with Ziyi's face on it or LeeHom's face on it. But nobody liked that idea as much as me, but we're very excited that we got the moon festival and we hope that everybody comes out to see it on both sides of the Pacific.
The version in United States will be subtitled in English and the director realized she is facing a group of audience who don't like to read subtitles.
DG: We made the subtitles very simple, which meant that sometimes we lost the wit and some of the comedy. We wanted the subtitles to be very simple so that it was easier for the audiences to follow. To get to that dream place of something that works in China and something that works in America, I think the movie really needs to be spoken in two languages.
Dennie also told us she is preparing another movie that will be produced in China, and she can't wait to explore more of China.
Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)