BIFF 2011│Tang Wei: I'm waiting for the moment to appear in a Korean film

Tang Wei [Lee Jin-hyuk/10Asia]

Tang Wei is someone who knows how to make the people around her happy. She tried to make eye contact with each and every person in the room, even when interviewing with ten people at a time, and eased the mood by telling jokes first. She also said, "You must have a hard time interviewing people all day long," despite having to carry out a hectic schedule for the film festival herself as well and made everyone laugh by making funny poses. Hence even if it may be an attitude she has decided to put on as a star, there has not been an actress who has tried as hard as she has to make those around her feel comfortable. The 20 minutes we got to communicate with her was far from enough time. But the eye contact she made with each and every person this day contained 'guanxi' (Chinese term describing the relationship between people). Below are remarks made by Tang Wei on the fifth day of the 16th Busan International Film Festival (BIFF).

“Brother Donnie Yen appeared in ‘Wu Xia’ with me.”
I had called him by his name at first but everyone else on set was calling him ‘brother.’ So I started calling him that too. And brother Donnie Yen may seem brave and scary to you but he’s actually a great father. Even when we were on set, he kept showing me videos of his children in his cellphone. And he showed me videos of his son doing martial arts or breaking wood so much that I ended up telling him, ‘I’ve already watched that.’ (laugh) This is something he may get angry out if it goes out in articles but he was also the martial arts director for “Wu Xia” and he wouldn’t overlook the slightest error so a lot of people had an extremely hard time. (laugh)

“The character I played in ‘Wu Xia’ is the most difficult I’ve played so far.”
Because she was the most different from who I actually am, the first reason being that she was a woman living in a farming village and the second reason being that she a mother of not one but two children. And you meet these sort of ordinary characters in real life all the time but also may not notice them because of that so these characters are the hardest to play. That’s why it wasn’t easy for me to immerse myself into the character -- because I’d never been a mother before. The reason that I could become my character at least later on was because the child actors were so cute and loveable that I naturally came to feel the urge to protect them. I also sought advice from director Peter Chan or brother Donnie Yen who are already fathers.

Tang Wei [Lee Jin-hyuk/10Asia]

“I was told it’s time for me to get married.”
Tang Wei, who has somewhat gotten used to Korea after winning the award for best actress at the 47th Paeksang Arts Award with film “Late Autumn” which she worked on with a Korean staff and visiting BIFF for the second year in a row, said she felt awkward and surprised about Korea when talking about marriage. She said she felt the difference between Korean and Chinese culture when told “it’s probably time you get married” after she said the child actors she worked with were loveable.

“I'm definitely going to appear in a Korean movie. I'm just waiting for that moment to come.”
Because you get to know more about another culture by expanding your experience on it. It’s sort of like breaking through a barrier. And I've broken through so many barriers regarding Korean culture that even my stomach has gotten used to it. It's just like the process of how you make friends. So I think the relationship between me and Korean movies is just like how you start telling things about yourself to another person once you get to know more about that person as well.

“I'm an actress.”
In "Wu Xia," Tang Wei plays Ayu who is a thoughtful wife and kind mother yet a shabby-looking poor village woman. When asked whether she was not concerned playing such a role would conceal her goddess-like looks, as she is called in Korea, Tang Wei gave the firm response of "I'm an actress. You need to remember that." We already saw through "Lust, Caution" that she is someone who believes there is nothing that she cannot do as an actress. Hence she is only climbing higher up into her shrine by shedding herself of her goddess-like appearance.

※ Any copying, republication or redistribution of 10Asia's content is expressly prohibited without prior consent of 10Asia. Copyright infringement is subject to criminal and civil penalties.