"GONG LI STRIKES AGAIN"  

Simply Her Magazine (Singapore)

October 2006 Issue

After keeping a low profile for some time, Gong Li is back with a vengeance. The 40-year-old queen of Chinese cinema tells Yanni Tan why age is no barrier to ambition.

She stole the thunder from leading star Zhang Ziyi in Memoirs of a Geisha, and recently, in Miami Vice, Gong Li has done it again.

With Miami Vice a worldwide box-office hit, some US critics have declared that Gong Li - playing a sexy Chinese-Cuban gangster moll - upstaged Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx, and saved the action flick from becoming another piece of "hack work".

Hello Hollywood?

At an age (she's 40) that usually spells a relentless slide towards mummy parts of supporting bits for most actresses, Gong Li is still winning meaty Hollywood roles that Asian stars can only dream of.

In addition to playing the leading lady in Miami Vice, she has also landed the female lead in Young Hannibal, as the infamous Hannibal Lecter's aunt, who inadvertently influenced him on his path to cannibalism.

While she concedes her mastery of the English language still leaves much to be desired, she says she has never felt more at home in Western cinema. That she is recognized for her acting chops, rather than being a mere piece of on-screen decorative porcelain (her fate in English-language movie debut Chinese Box with Jeremy Irons in 1997), gives her a real sense of achievement.

"On the set of Miami Vice, everyone was very professional and made me feel comfortable. Director Michael Mann challenged his actors to go beyond themselves. After making this film, I feel that I can work with any director," says the actress, who made her acting debut at 21 in Red Sorghum, which snared the Berlin Film Festival's Golden Bear award.

So is Gong Li set to conquer America? "I never had a special plan to break into Hollywood," she says. "With a good director, a good script, and a good role, I'm willing to make movies anywhere in the world - Hollywood, China, or Europe, it doesn't matter."

Fabulous at 40

"Entering my 40s means I've become more assured of myself and clearer about what I like and what I want. The kind of roles I will consider are those that are different from all my previous work and that make me feel that only I, Gong Li, can play."

It is this confidence that has led to some of her best work to date, as Hatsumomo in Memoirs and Isabella in Miami Vice, snuffing out talk that her star power has waned. But with these baddie roles, isn't she afraid of being typecast?

"It's too simplistic to just call them bad. Like all women, they are complicated characters with many sides. They are both like diamonds, with many facets that give off light, but also with inner flaws deep inside. I like these characters because they allow me to dig deep and bring something fresh and new to the surface."

And she doesn't just apply her exacting standards to herself. On former paramour director Zhang Yimou's two most successful films in the West, Hero and House of Flying Daggers, she was quoted in UK Sunday Times as saying: "I called him and said 'How come you've gone back to being a cinematographer again? Where have the stories gone?'"

The result: A leading role for her (alongside Chow Yun Fat and Jay Chou) in Zhang's upcoming period epic Curse of the Golden Flower, which promises to be the biggest budget yet for a Chinese movie. And it has a real storyline.

She's no diva

Career aside, the star is also looking better than ever. Makeup giant L'Oreal has continued to use her as its brand ambassador, and she was recently voted the most beautiful woman by a newspaper in China. Jay Chou, her co-star in Curse, has also expressed the same sentiment.

"It's flattering but I don't pay much attention to such news. The most important thing to staying healthy is getting a good night's rest. If you worry too much, you can't sleep. Then if you can't sleep, you don't look good no matter what kind of makeup you wear.

Right now, she is taking a well-deserved break after working non-stop for the past few years. "I'm like everyone else. I still live in Beijing, where I can keep in close contact with my friends and family. When I'm not working, I sleep a lot, play billiards, hang out with friends, and discuss projects with my manager."

However, ask more about her personal life and she turns evasive. She refuses to comment on her 10-year marriage to Singaporean businessman Ooi Hoe Seong, which, according to tabloids, is on the rocks. All Gong Li is willing to divulge is that she has no plans to have children, although "anything is possible," she says.

With the way things are going for her, we're sure it is.