[2009.10.09] ZHOU XUN DRINKS TO PLAY DRUNK

Zhou Xun and Li Bingbing with THE MESSAGE were both nominated for the Golden Horse Best Actress award. Earlier Zhou Xun, Huang Xiaoming and director Chen Kuo-Fu during a press interview talked about the film production pains. Playing a spy in the film, Zhou Xun honestly said that the film production was very tough because it had many screaming scenes. She also claimed that her recent movies has exhausted her energy. Did she make a lot of money? She said no but admitted that she made commercials. In the film she also had some drinking scenes. In order to play very drunk, during the shoot she truly drank to have that feeling. Of course she could not be too drunk as she only had a little red wine. In one scene she had to bite "Japanese soldier" Huang Xiaoming's ear, she pointed out that actually Xiaoming made a small piece of prop ear for her to eat. She said that if she truly bit off Xiaoming's ear she was afraid that his family and fans would scold her to death. Zhou Xun also said that after completing this film she felt that she had to cherish now more. Because people of the 60s and 70s used their lives to trade for their current lifestyle, she could not be greedy or treat others poorly.

Huang Xiaoming in the film had to torture Zhou Xun. Zhou Xun honestly said that was very hard to play and hard to take. Because it was not real, she had to rely on her imagination. In a scene she was dragged around on a very thick rope, which she has seen in documentaries. She still broke down, but she had no idea what the real pain would be like. She asked the directors whether she would scream from the pain or be unable to scream from the pain, but the directors asked her to imagine it herself. Perhaps sometimes she bothered the directors too much. Huang Xiaoming in the film played a Japanese soldier. Four months before the shoot he already began to study Japanese. He battled five people at the same time in the film, which he felt was tough. He also pointed out that other actors were very strong actors and he had a lot of stress. He had more scenes with Zhou Xun and the Zhou Xun ear biting scene was very key. In another scene he demanded Li Bingbing to remove her clothes. He frankly said that he was more embarrassed than Bingbing. Although Bingbing took all precautionary measures he truly was reluctant. At first he was afraid that the character would affect his image, but he felt that actors should try more.