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courtesy of singtao.com
Director Hu Mei
Ren Quan, Chen Rui, Chow Yun Fat, Zhou Xun
Zhou Xun
Peter Pau (Bau Tak Fun)
Chow Yun Fat
courtesy of mingpao.com
Director Hu Mei
Zhou Xun
courtesy of takungpao.com
Chow Yun Fat, Zhou Xun, Ren Quan, Chen Rui, director Hu Mei, cinematographer Peter Pau (Bau Tak Fun) and others yesterday attended CONFUCIUS' Hong Kong press conference. Fat Gor and Zhou Xun accepted an interview on the stage. A reporter asked Zhou Xun if her recent breakup rumors were real or film promotion. Fat Gor laughed and immediately jumped away from Zhou Xun, who awkwardly laughed and said, "I feel......I don't need to respond to this, thank you."
As for working with Fat Gor, Zhou Xun had plenty to say. When asked whether playing the role of Nanzi had difficulties? She at first said in Cantonese, "Right, with Fat Gor here then it's not hard to play." Then she switched to Putonghua to answer the question but broke out in laughter. Fat Gor encouraged her to use Cantonese and said that her Cantonese was better than his Putonghua, but she still said in Putonghua. "Nanzi has no accurate verdict in history, it only says she is beautiful, and smart. I only perform toward these directions."
Fat Gor once praised Zhou Xun as a very fragrant woman. He explained to the Hong Kong media. "Fragrant is a Mainland slang, like when a movie is great and a girl's performance is very accurate, they would say fragrant. It's not the sense of smell, but the sense of vision and talent. I was praising her acting and lines as fragrant." Zhou Xun was asked to describe Fat Gor with one word in the same manner. She said, "Very handsome, I would use high to describe. Fat Gor's idelogical realm is just as high as Confucius', he treated us very well. (Isn't he very mischievous?) He and I only had one scene, it ended before he began to misbehave."
This time the film company got a voice actor for Fat Gor. He said, "I made four Chinese film. THE POST MODERN LIFE OF MY AUNT, THE CURSE OF THE GOLDEN FLOWER, and CROUCHING TIGER HIDDEN DRAGON all used my real voice. This film had many ancient terms, on the set I performed with Putonghua. The director told me if I had any difficulty I could use Cantonese, which I felt wasn't too fragrant. Yet I never learned pinyin. Finally we decided to get someone with a voice that is very close to mine, otherwise Confucius who is not pitch perfect isn't too good. If you want to make a living in the Mainland, you have to learn Putonghua. Making a living is hard."
Fat Gor also said that the biggest gain from this film was learning to kneel. Although the Chinese said there was gold below the knees, in the past he has seen the Japanese kneel for a hour during meals. His legs were already numb after five minutes. He never imagined that for this role he constantly had to kneel for three months, slowly he became accustomed to it. Even kneeling for 8 hours he had no problem as he has become more flexible. Zhou Xun learned Confucius' attitude, which was useful in life as well.
As for which line was the memorable, Fat Gor said, "All the lines that I had in the film I already did than enough, like 'the benevolent loves people' and 'don't do to others what you don't want done to you'." Playing Confucius' disciple, Ren Quan's most difficult scene was working in an icy river for eight days. He was very touched when he saw it. Fat Gor also said that he was also touched. Ren Quan said, "I am lucky to be able to affect Fat Gor." Chen Rui also said that Fat Gor and Fat Soh embraced her every time and treated everyone very well. Thus on and off screen she could call Fat Gor Papa.
The host was the Hong Kong Directors Guild's Cha Chuen Yi. He asked questions with not so fluent Putonghua. When he introduced Fat Gor, he said, "Fat Gor from Cheung Chau." Fat Gor immediately corrected him, "I am from the Lamma Island and not Cheung Chau."
Bau Tak Fun was the cinematographer of the film. Yesterday he clarified about reports that the film had official backing. "This film absolutely has not official backing. Director Hu Mei doesn't mess around. The film is 100% Dadi company investment."
Reportedly the film's Mainland box office was brutal and the authorities had to book entire cinemas to save it. Director Hu Mei said that the film after 3 days made 38 million yuan, which already exceeded her expectation as the rumors dispelled themselves. She said, "If the film had official backing, would I take three years to look for investors and come all the way to Hong Kong to look? Anyone who has seen the film would know that it has not politicial background."
Did the breakup rumors affect Zhou Xun's mood? Hu Mei said, "No, not at all. I feel that she is great."
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