Star rising in the east

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By Sami Sillanpää
     
      Her boots are a golden colour. Her jeans fashionably come halfway down her calf, and the knit cap which covers her dark hair is at an endearing slant.
      Zhang Jingchu is a ready-made film star. When she speaks, the 26-year-old woman rolls her big eyes and gestures with her arms in a charming manner.
      In the Chinese fashion she nevertheless affects an air of modesty. Zhang says that she is an ordinary girl who has experienced unexpected things.
      "Oh, I never planned to do it. It is fate", she says.
      Zhang is talking about the possibility that she may be China's next Hollywood star.
     
Zhang is giving an interview at the China Warner office in Beijing. Chinese communism has made way for market forces, and propaganda films have been replaced by cinematic art.
      Increasing numbers of films are produced in cooperation with foreigners.
      China has more people than the European Union, the Untied States, and Russia combined. In the view of Chinese young people, the film business is hen ku, the coolest thing that a person can do.
      Zhang Jingchu has swept away a number of competitors to become an actress, and is described as China's hottest rising talent.
      Zhang was chosen out of 1,000 applicants for her first title role. Peacock was given an award last year at the Berlin Film Festival. After that, she got a role in the martial arts film Seven Swords.
      Then came a truly unusual proposal: "Would you like to act in a Finnish kung-fu movie?"
     
The role in Jade Warrior, directed by AJ Annila, sent Zhang to the distant north. The most lasting impressions were of Kuusamo in the winter. That is where a scene was shot involving a wolf hunt.
      "Kuusamo was like a fairy tale land. An icy lake surrounded by forest. Fantastic!"
      Working with Finns was an experience in other ways as well. When scenes for Jade Warrior were being shot in the southeast of China last autumn, Zhang noticed that the director really wanted to hear her opinions. She said that Chinese directors only bark out orders.
      "I would discuss my lines with AJ late into the night. Sometimes there was no sense in the Chinese translations, so I made some suggestions for improvements."
      Warner China's marketing budget for Jade Warrior is bigger than that of any of its films so far. It will be shown in at least 80 cities in China.
      The great leap from obscurity to stardom has made Zhang a rich woman by Chinese standards.
      "Much has happened. I did not expect anything like this. Life has become quite colourful", she says on the office sofa.
      The Chinese are enthusiastic about stars. Zhang says that she wears a hood when she goes shopping. In Beijing she had to change apartments after her neighbours started getting too nosy.
     
China also has gossip magazines nowadays, and rumours about who Zhang might be dating spread over the Internet.
      Still, there is one difference between Zhang and more familiar megastars. Zhang maintains her own blog on the Internet, and this week she chatted with her fans on Sina.com, one of China's favourite portals.
      Zhang attends parties of the film business, which she considers a type of acting.
      "I take them as role play. I portray a big star. I think that I am pretty good at it, but it is not real", she says.
      "I enjoy being at home the best.
     
The best-known Chinese filmmakers have long come from Hong Kong or Taiwan.
      The first actress from Mainland China to achieve an international reputation is Zhang Ziyi.
      The two women studied at the same drama school in Beijing, but Zhang Jingchu had a considerable advantage over her rival: she speaks fluent English. This is why she is expected to become an even bigger name in Hollywood.
      Zhang has already signed her first movie contract in Hollywood. She will not yet disclose the title.
      Because of the new film, Zhang is in Paris this week, and next week she will be in Los Angeles.
      At home in Fujian Province, her parents, a civil servant and a teacher, were not at all pleased with their daughter's choice of careers.
      "They don't know anything about entertainment. Mother and father think that my life is a real mess.
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print in the NYT weekend supplement on 13.10.2006


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Jade Warrior Brings Kalevala to China (6.10.2006)

SAMI SILLANPÄÄ / Helsingin Sanomat
sami.sillanpaa@hs.fi