[2025.11.06] SHU QI SAYS THAT SHE WOULD HAVE TO WAIT 10 YEARS TO DIRECT AGAIN

Shu Qi and Stephen Fung attend the premiere in matching couple outfits

Kenny Bee brings his wife and daughter to support Shu Qi
courtesy of mingpao.com

Shu Qi's first written and directed movie GIRL held its Hong Kong premiere in Tsim Sha Tsui the night before (4th). Her husband Stephen Fung Tak Lun wore the same promotional sweatshirt as his wife to support the film in a fully sweet gesture. The editor of the film William Chang Suk Ping, Kenny Bee (Chung Chun To), Ray Lui Leung Wai, Candy Yu On On and other friends in the business arrived to show their support, but did not accept an interview. Shu Qi laughed and said that the box office pressure of a first timje director was high, and she would have to wait 10 years to direct again. She revealed that Fung Tak Lun has once questioned her.

In addition to being selected for the Venice Film Festival, GIRL also won the "Best Director Award" at the 30th Busan International Film Festival. Away from the public eye for a long time, Shu Qi revealed that she was inspired when having coffee with director Hou Hsiao-hsien. "Director Hou suggested that I might as well try to direct and incorporate some childhood experiences." She admitted that the biggest pressure to be a director came from the box office, and the most difficult part of the directing process was to recreate the feeling of the late 80s of the last century. Even the train station in the film had to be rebuilt.

Was she confident about the box office? Shu Qi smiled and said that she was not confident. "The film has gone through a round of publicity, now I am calmer. Because the Hokkien dialect is spoken in the film, I hope that Hong Kong audiences will be engaged while watching it. Ultimately it would be a literary film, with the speed the audience watches movies with they might not be used to watching it. However this film is very sincere, and a lot of thought has been put into restoring the atmosphere of the 80s of the last century. The audience might see what they saw in their childhood in the movie, so they should be able to relate."

She said that when writing the script, because she did not want to be chauvinistic, her younger brother in real life became a younger sister in the film. She said: "When I turn my younger brother into a younger sister, I have to change all the other characters. This time I talk about domestic violence when I was a child, my father drank, and my mother slapped me at school. Everything else was made up." Shu Qi admitted that under time and pressure, she was able to shoot what she wanted this time thanks to the staff in front of and behind the scenes who were so professional. In addition (William) Chang Suk Ping's post- production editing was good, so the movie should be pretty entertaining.

Was she reminded the unhappy memories from her childhood when directing? Shu Qi said no, instead felt that the script was well written. "Everyday after writing I would go home and have a drink, then read the script from beginning to end. I would say to myself: Why did I write so well?" Was she drunk? She denied being drunk, but found that she had empathy for the role of the mother in the film. She would be very considerate, because sometimes knowing about it and experiencing it would be two different things. She also praised that the era was not easy for the women of that era.

Since her directing debut received good results, would she direct again? Shu Qi sighed and said that if she wanted to write and direct again, she might have to wait ten years. Has her husband Stephen Fung Tak Lun given any comments on the film? She admitted that he has questioned her before. "When my husband read the script, it was not an official draft and had no dialogue. It was just a few thin pieces of paper. Then he asked me how would I shoot it? I said it's my style, you won't get it. (Have you asked your husband for advice?) We have different paths; his is a commercial film, and mine is a literary film. Then my husband said, 'Hahaha! You deserve what you get!'"

Shu Qi admitted that being a director was very different from being an actor, of course being a director is very hard. She also laughed that her husband Fung Tak Lun is also an actor now. When asked why she did not invite good sisters in the business to perform? Shu Qi bluntly said that she has never thought about it, because she wanted to find younger actor to play the role of mother in the play and the good sisters in the business were about the same age as herself. If she had to she might as well perform herself, but she stressed that it was not because her sisters in the business were not young. In reality would you want to be a mother? Shu Qi bluntly said that she would go with the flow, but she was almost at that age. She was still young. Shu Qi smiled and said, "50 years old is not very old, OK! (You can still have children at 58!) That's right." Speaking of her husband Fung Tak Lun claiming to be Stephen Yoshi, Shu Qi smiled and said she did not know and instead asked reporter who Tyson Yoshi was. As for Fung Tak Lun jokingly pointed out that she has won too many awards and they had no place to put them, would she needed to renovate her home to display awards? She laughed and said that she had more dolls at home than awards.