[2010.09.05] MAGGIE CHEUNG APPEARS IN VENICE AS MAZU

Tsui Hark, Maggie Cheung Man Yuk

Shawn Yue Man Lok, Maggie Cheung, Andrew Lau Wai Keung

courtesy of on.cc

courtesy of singtao.com

courtesy of takungpao.com

After a long hiatus from the silver screen, Maggie Cheung Man Yuk went to the Venice Film Festival with two short films. One of which was about an illegal Chinese immigrant who died while picking up shells on an English beach. In it Cheung Man Yuk appeared without any dialogue as a Fujian regional goddess Mazu. When asked whether she will return to the silver screens with this role, she remained vague as she only said that anything was possible. With a good opportunity she would still continue to act. Otherwise she would not.

Speaking of how Cheung Man Yuk was chosen to play Mazu, English director Isaac Julien first explained his idea of bringing in Mazu into this tragic documentary. He felt that this tragedy that was full of regional characteristics needed a very strong and powerful symbol to represent the elevation of this matter to a certain spiritual level. For this he did a lot of homework and finally chose this goddess. Isaac Julien stated that Cheung Man Yuk was a "goddess of the silver screen". Her aura was very close Mazu he had in his mind.

For Cheung Man Yuk, working with Isaac Julien was purely due to a mutual friend. This friend very early on started to endlessly introduce Isaac Julien's situation to Cheung Man Yuk, so Cheung Man Yuk felt like she knew him for a long time. Finally they met in London. After a hiatus Cheung Man Yuk was waiting for a chance to review his career. After reading this script the story shocked her so they clicked immediately.

In the film Cheung Man Yuk did not have any line at all, but to her it was a good thing. "Actually I used to always have scenes without dialogue. On a certain level, no dialogue actually can do even more. Body language while reflecting the ideas of the mind actually is stronger than the expression of languages."