Actor Zhang Ziyi recently had a new identity, director. In the 2021 National Day movie "My Father and Me", Zhang Ziyi directed and starred in the 35-minute chapter "Poetry". Zhang Ziyi's biggest feeling as a director for the first time was: "Directing is really not a good profession. Despite this, her directing ability has been well received by many people in the industry.
Written by Liu Qian, a reporter of this magazine
Q: In addition to being an actor, you have a new identity, how do you feel as a new director?
A: It's a great honor to meet you as a director this time, I'm middle-aged actor Zhang Ziyi. This time, my biggest feeling is that I think the profession of directing is really bad. I used to think that, "Oh, it's too hard to direct, and directing really isn't a profession you should be doing." When I actually walked this lap myself, I found that it was really too difficult. But no matter how difficult it is, anyway, we have come all the way, I believe that all the audiences have been touched by the film, and no matter how difficult it is, I think it is worth it.
Q: It's said that a lot of the staff on your team this time are women, right?
A: Yes, it is that I feel that boys are sometimes not very reliable, haha, just kidding. I think this experience is still very touching, that is, we girls together, everyone gathered together, and then worked together. Our screenwriter is Teacher Li Yuan, who has written a very good film script for "Young You" and "July and Ansheng". Then my photography teacher was Yu Jingping, who has also made many excellent films, including "Young You". And then my chief producer is also a woman and so on, and my editor is also a woman, and she is also a very experienced teacher.
Q: Do you want to continue to challenge yourself on the road of directing in the future?
A: I didn't think about it, I thought that if any director comes to me to act, he must be the happiest director, because I experienced this time, I know how difficult it is for directors, they are really both fathers and mothers, all the big things, small things, they have to take care of, and then they have to worry about. So in the next scene, I will respect my directors more 200 percent, respect them more, and understand them more.
Chen Kaige commented on Zhang Ziyi:
We've also worked together, and for the first time she's grasped such a film as a director, I think it's very good, and I'm not against my heart, let alone perfunctory. Why? It is in such an era that we can experience warm affection, which refers to the fact that when the country has a task that requires us to complete, even if we lose our husbands, there is no complaint. I think what I want to say in particular is that while taking into account the shooting of the whole film as a director to grasp the overall situation, she still does not forget your own old business, as an actor in this play is also very outstanding, I think implicit and restrained finally there is an explosion, this layering is extremely clear, very clear. So I myself feel that she is now a director and acting double excellent, and the future can be expected.
Wang Feng commented on Zhang Ziyi:
Because I live with Ziyi, so the first time she directed this "Poem", I went through the whole process, the script alone wrote nearly 30 drafts, she basically experienced the nightmare process before the filming of this movie, and also experienced the process that she felt almost gave up, because she was contradictory, I think Ziyi's standards will never be lowered, but the pursuit of perfection always makes her feel that there are many dissatisfactions, and I can especially understand that she is very tormented. I was particularly pleased that Ziyi could make such a great 35-minute movie, and when I first went to the set in Hohhot to see the first shot, I told Ziyi that I thought this film would be great, not because I was your husband, I said this sentence for the movie.
Du Jiang commented on Zhang Ziyi:
Director Ziyi's requirements are very detailed, and she has to go to see it again and again after she finishes acting, and even if the small tape on my glasses, the gas of my glasses, and so on, these details have always been in her heart.