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Zhang Ziyi's Next Film Will Be Snow Flower and the Secret Fan

by Ethan Anderton
November 5, 2009

Though Zhang Ziyi (or Ziyi Zhang depending on who you talk to) is a huge star in the Chinese box office, her starpower in the United States is still growing. After finding a wide audience as a villainous vixen in Rush Hour 2, and critical and awards acclaim with Memoirs of a Geisha, THR reports she has found her next English language film Snow Flower and the Secret Fan. Wayne Wang will be directing from a script he co-wrote with Michael Ray, set in 19th century remote China, which revolves around the lifelong friendship of Lily and Snow Flower and their imprisonment by rigid cultural codes of conduct for women.

Zhang is also producing the film which is not only Wang's first film to be shot in China, but also the first in partnership with Wendi Murdoch, the China-born wife of News Corp. chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch. Though Wang has worked with Asian themes before with The Joy Luck Club, more recently he has worked on light romantic comedies such as Maid in Manhattan and The Last Holiday. Though I'm not the biggest fan of Asian cinema in general, I think it'll be a nice departure for Wang, who can take a break from making mindless studio junk. And at the risk of sounding chauvinistic, at least Zhang Ziyi is very easy on the eyes.

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jon

Interesting to note the push and pull aspects of roles she has played, the ones I have seen. Her family life maybe set her up to be stong that way.
http://manxome.tumblr.com/ manxome

on several occasions i have referred to zhang ziyi as zhang ziyi, only to have people correct me and say 'you mean ziyi zhang.' grr. no, i don't.
LINKFX

yes he has done some mindless studio junk, but his indie street cred is fairly strong with films like Princess of Nebraska and The Center of the World...which was NC-17 btw...he's more known for his arty smaller stuff than his paycheck stuff. Can't wait to see how he handles this material, in China no less...but will it be in English or Chinese? Maybe they'll shoot it for both languages? Not unheard of.
Fc

everone will be cringing when they show their feets being bound. >___<
C

I'm not a fan of Zhang Ziyi. There are heaps of better-looking and more talented actresses in Asia.
Sabes

I think she's really pretty, and I like the stuff she's done.
JNagarya

"There are heaps of better-looking . . . ." When will the jealous Zhang Ziyi bashers learn the very basic fact that beauty is not based upon an official standard of which they have control; it is in the eye of the beholder. There are many who insist that Li Gong is beautiful -- but I don't consider her at all attractive. And I'm not impressed with her acting. But go ahead: make the pointless comparisons between, on one hand, Li Gong, and on the other, Zhang Ziyi -- Li Gong is 17 years older than Ziyi. Tell use how "classy" Li Gong is -- the "classy" actress who had the "classy" years-long very public affair with the married Zhang Yimou. Ziyi is very pretty. And I note that she's had greater success in the West, including the US, than has Li Gong. But that's probably because the West, and US, don't operate according to an official standard of beauty which can only be false and self-serving. Of more immediate worthiness of comment is Zhang Ziyi's friendship with the Murdoch's -- he being the far-right super capitalist, and destroyer of legitimate media, while at the same time she's in the patriotic/nationalistic/jingoistic "Founding of a Republic" made by China's state-controlled film studio. Apparently all that matters is money, or she's politically naive -- or both.