The Bund Paper
16th May 2006
[The Longest Night in Shanghai] is Japan's Movie Eye Entertainment Corporation’s third movie investment with China after [Last Love, First Love] and [About Love]. The male and female leads are respectively Japan’s well-known actor, Masahiro Motoki and Zhao Wei. Japan’s famous movie actor Naoto Takenaka, Hong Kong actor Sam Lee, Taiwan actor Dylan Guo and Japan youth idol Takashi Tsukamoto will also participate in this film.
One Japanese cosmetologist, one Shanghai lady taxi driver, both respectively with doubts towards their own emotions and future, meet one particular night in a beautiful dazzling Shanghai. [The Longest Night in Shanghai] movie is about the surpassing the boundaries of language, about searching for their own identity, about a tender love. Besides having the hesitations with love among modern people as in the previous [Lost in Tokyo], the language barrier initiating humorous scenes will let audience have a good laugh.
Zhao Wei: I am already over the urgency to prove my own phase.
For Zhao Wei, [The Longest Night in Shanghai] is among her few purely commercial movie to date. Until today, she still does not know how her own role is, she still anticipates a breakthrough in her individual role.
When a lot of media labels Zhao Wei’s acting in [The Longest Night in Shanghai]’s role as acting on her own personality, Zhao Wei said, this is not my own personality acting, “I don’t even know what my own personality is.” On May 1st, when Zhao Wei sat in an open air coffee shop by Heng Shan Road, without her sunglasses on, and inviting of all the staff to drink coffee without any star posture; only then revealed her truest side.
When facing the fact that there are still certain people associating ‘Little Swallow’ with Zhao Wei herself, Zhao Wei was quite helpless: “ The mistake is that I have acted too well, isn’t it?” She looked at the reporter, that pair of big eyes that were once vivid now appears calm with slight vicissitude. The Zhao Wei at present is already a 30 years old actress and singer. In such short period of a few years, she has experienced the high peak and down times, from the extreme popularity to great coldness, ‘Teeth fall down, swallow into the stomach’ (Chinese Proverb), regaining strength after failures.
“I am already over the urgency phase to prove myself.” Indeed, Zhao Wei has already matured.
Cinderella has yet to fall in love with the prince.
The lady taxi driver in [The Longest Night in Shanghai] is a role that ‘damaged’ the appearance; of course according to Zhao Wei’s own claims, she has never been too particular about her appearance. This time, an expert Japanese cosmetologist has invented a city Cinderella image for Zhao Wei. Those attires that looked normal are actually branded attires bought by the designer from Tokyo; then the brand new cloths are all made to look old, even the worn out tear at the leg of the pants was also done with much consideration. However, after the design is exposed, many Shanghai female taxi drivers protested that, in reality they don’t wear such worn and torn attires. Zhao Wei defended saying this is once again the expert artistic of an exaggerated performance about life.
“This is a love movie, but the male and female leads have yet had the chance to spark up love.” Zhao Wei’s explanation left people doubtful. This is a story of the meeting of a Japanese cosmetologist and a Chinese female taxi driver, seeing a typical storyline of the prince and Cinderella, but added with the language barrier as the humorous premise, causing the whole movie to surface a lot of misunderstandings and humorous scenes. The prince and Cinderella each have their own emotions entanglement, after experiencing a night of chicken and duck talk, the two finally achieved communications and understanding, and the movie will then abruptly end. Zhao Wei frankly said that the female taxi driver role is her own versatile role: “I am inclined to this type of outwardly strong, inwardly soft female role.”
Playing the male lead is Masahiro Motoki, a well-known Japanese actor. When they first started filming, both of them were very cautious with etiquette, Zhao Wei cautiously, through the translator, explained that for the next scene they will look at each other, or the next moment they will be bumping into each other’s body. After a long time of interacting, they completely leave out these, and naturally formed mutual understanding.
As actors, there is no flexibility for choices.
From [Warriors of Heaven and Earth], [Goddess of Mercy], [Green Tea] to [A Time to Love], Zhao Wei’s movie performance is not exactly extremely successful, the directors that cooperated were all artistic film director, not very familiar with a commercial production. Zhao Wei is also satisfied with one-movie-per-year progress, not wanting to become an acting machine.
“Actors are very passive; I don’t have much flexibility for choices of roles.” To date, Zhao Wei still remembers that after watching the fast food outlet staff in [Chungking Express] that Faye Wong acts, she felt as though she has the urge to be a fast food employee.
She especially likes this type of performance that acts out the small character in life, but this type of role never appeared, until [The Longest Night in Shanghai] this time.
“Before this I feel that the role in [A Time to Love] is already very similar to real life, now that I see, it is still a movie for small crowd, audiences don’t go to the cinema to be educated.”
From Zhao Wei’s view, [The Longest Night in Shanghai] is a more purely commercial movie; it is interesting, it has entirely sensational parts, but is also very exquisite.”
Zhao Wei said her idol is Isabelle Huppert, the female lead in [The Piano Teacher]. “I am practically her spokesperson already, saying I like her performance everywhere.” Zhao Wei laughed very cheerfully but a moment later appeared a little dejected, “I know this role has a very good novel background, but I just haven’t been able to meet such roles.”
When reporter frankly suggested that her image doesn’t suit these roles too well, Zhao Wei stares with her big eyes saying: “Don’t I have a bit of rebellious look?” She said she can act the role with such an angelic outer appearance but evil on the inner side; but too bad, no one has ever shown her such a script before.”
Article/ Zhang Yan
Translated by Rain(Malaysia), edited by Wee
