Gong
Li has recently become fairly well known in
America
with MIAMI VICE and MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA.
She also appeared in many critically acclaimed films such as
RAISE THE RED LANTERN and the Wong Kar-Wai romantic science fiction
drama 2046. Although her fame
here is nothing like it is in
China
, her seductive performance opposite Gaspard Ulliel’s wonderfully
creepy Hannibal Lecter in HANNIBAL RISING, she may be raised to a
higher level here in the States. She
gives power to her Lady Murasaki. Together,
they give the film a real pulse and when the blood spills, they keep
you involved.
I
had the chance to meet with Gong Li and speak with her through her
interpreter as she stopped by The Four Seasons in
Beverly Hills
. She a stunningly beautiful
woman and I see the attraction that so many have.
She had a very serious yet intriguing charm.
She spoke of the public’s fascination with Hannibal Lecter
and what it was like taking on an original role in an already
developed franchise. She is
lovely in person and just as lovely in the film.
Her career seems to be blossoming in the States and I’m
sure we will be seeing much more of her.
Gong
Li
So
have you seen the original SILENCE OF THE LAMBS,
HANNIBAL
and RED DRAGON?
Yes,
I’ve seen them all.
Favorite?
I
liked the first one, THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS the most.
What
was it about that movie that you liked?
I
liked it because it was a real psychological horror film.
It’s the kind of film that asked a lot of questions and
made you want to know why he was the way he was, how come he did all
those things, etc. And
the two lead actors in it were just wonderful, so THE SILENCE OF THE
LAMBS is quite different from a lot of other horror films where you
just watch them and find out the end and forget about it after that.
It made you want to know more about those things.
And the script was really well written, the dialogue was
quite amazing.
As
far as this movie, do you think it was easier for you to develop
this character because it wasn’t someone who was in the other
movies; it was someone who you could create yourself?
Yes,
because the character that I play in this film is a little bit
mysterious. We don’t
know very much about her, her childhood starting onward until when
we see her. So there
weren’t a lot of reference points therefore, actually, like you
said, room for me to create something.
What
kind of a back-story did you give her?
Well,
in this case, when we were discussing the story as we were preparing
the film, we were working directly with the writer because the
novelist himself was writing the script.
We were discussing things directly with him and so this
character that is from Japan… her father was quite rich so she
comes from a very wealthy family.
When she’s young she goes to Europe, at quite an early age
and [she] goes to school there and ends up staying.
So she’s a woman who comes from a very high background,
very wealthy background.
What
was it like working with Gaspard [Ulliel] because it seems like you
really did have a great relationship with him off-screen because it
translated on-screen?
He’s
a lot of fun to work with. He
doesn’t like to talk a lot on the set or off the set, but he pays
attention and he observes a lot of things.
And he’s also quite friendly with everybody.
You know, Europeans are quite interesting, they don’t speak
very loudly and they like to speak in a very intimate way to each
other so it made the atmosphere a lot of fun and very relaxed.
And Gaspard himself, of course, is very young and he thinks
young, he has a kind of child-like heart, sort of a child at heart,
and so he’s a lot of fun to hang out with.
How
did you prepare to play a Japanese character as a Chinese actress?
I
didn’t go through any kind of special preparation with respect to
the national background of this character.
I think the starting point for me was that she was a woman,
and women, whether they’re American, Japanese, Chinese, Korean or
whatever, have a lot of similarities around the world.
So I didn’t go and think, well I have to make sure that I
act in a particularly Japanese sort of way, how I hold my body, the
way I walk with small steps or very slowly or whatever.
It was important for me to understand the whole background of
the character and the experiences that she had gone through to build
this performance.
This
character has to see some pretty frightening things and even
participate in some pretty frightening things.
What frightens you?
Well,
something I find very terrifying is war.
It’s an awful thing and it’s the kind of thing where the
person, the individual person ends up looking really, really small.
Also the same with natural disasters; you know with war, you
can think well maybe you can avoid it or if it starts happening you
can sort of turn your back but then when it actually hits you, you
can’t hide and you really become very, very small.
And the same with natural disasters, these awful things that
nobody can stop and the individual human beings become tiny just
like grains of sand.
Why
do you think that Hannibal Lecter has become such an iconic figure?
Well
it comes originally from the novels, Hannibal Lecter, this character
is a very human sort of profound figure and the emphasis of course
is on this sort of dark or even evil side of human nature.
And of course most people, probably everybody would normally
kind of deny that they themselves have some kind of a mad side to
them. Everybody thinks
that, ‘everybody thinks that I’m a good person’.
‘If somebody does something bad to me, or why would
somebody do something bad to me.’
People find it hard to admit that you to have some sort of
dark side to you. So
what I think appeals to people about this character is precisely
that emphasis on the evil side, it shows that there is something
else there. It’s
written in this profound and memorable sort of way.
It makes a deep impression on everybody.
Do
you believe that because of your involvement in this film that it
will be released in China?
No.
I think highly unlikely.
Whether it’s distributed or not in China has nothing to do
with me. A film like
this, if you start cutting things as you say, some of the violent
scenes, the murder scenes; pretty soon you cut everything and
there’s nothing left. So
I think it’s going to be pretty difficult for this one to be
released in China.
I’m
curious, going back to the violence a little bit.
Did that attract you or did that kind of make you nervous
taking on this role, the violence in the film?
Well
I knew from the beginning, in this commercial film, sort of this
psychological thriller so I kind of knew in advance what it was
going to be like. And of
course when I saw the script and indeed there was a lot of violent
things in there and so on. So
I wasn’t especially worried about that part as I said I knew in
advance it was going to be that kind of film and there are
commercial reasons for that as well.
And
actually, what’s important for me, what was important for me in
considering this part was that I saw that for Lady Murasaki, that
kind of violence was something she was actually going to try and
stop throughout the film. It’s
something that she’s trying to prevent; she doesn’t want
Hannibal to do go ahead and do these vicious and cruel acts.
She does try and stop him but of course in the end, nothing
can stop him from committing all these brutal acts.
But for me it was very important when I read the script
initially, when I saw that this was my part that, in fact, she’s
tried to stop these things. This
was a very important consideration for me when I was deciding on
taking on this role.
Can
you talk about working with Peter Webber, the director?
Well
he’s a very warm-heated person.
When we started at the beginning, we were filming a scene
where Lady Murasaki is crying bitterly.
And at that point we did the scene and he said, ‘okay
great, cut.’ And I was still crying of course, being in the role
at that moment. And he
just came straight over and started talking to me very nicely,
trying to make me feel better so I would stop crying. And
he was joking around about things unrelated, to sort of get my mind
off it.
I
was a little surprised because it seemed like such an abrupt shift
for me, I hadn’t quite emerged from the mood of that scene yet so
it was kind of a strange feeling for me.
But from that I learned that he’s a very kind and gentle
man and it’s quite surprising that he can make a film like this,
which is filled with brutality and violence with war scenes, etc.
So from this you can see that he’s quite a
multi-dimensional person, a very talented director.
He’s very good at dealing with actors and reassuring them,
like I said in the scene where I’m supposed to cry and overcome
with emotion, he will come help you get back to normal.
You can see that he’s a very complex person; he’s a
really good director.
Let
me know what you think. Send
questions or comments to jimmyo@joblo.com.