Zhang Ziyi joins director Peter Ho-sun Chan at Cannes press conference for 'She's Got No Name'

(25 May 2024)
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Cannes, France - 25 May 2024
1. Wide of (left to right) Li Xian, Yang Mi, Lei Jiayin, director Peter Ho-sun Chan, Zhang Ziyi, Da Peng, Wang Chuan-jun and Ci Sha entering press conference
2. Pan left of cast and director
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Peter Ho-sun Chan, filmmaker:
"I got the novella, that is based on a real story, in 2015. It was supposed to be turned into, the novella was written to be turned into a screenplay, and I was recommended and offered to direct the film version of it. So the novella reads like a script. It has very good imagery, with a very good writer behind it. And I think what really struck me back then was the story, the times, the changing of different governments in a very tumultuous time in China, from the Japanese occupied Shanghai to the nationalist government, to eventually the New People's Republic. And how that alters a life of an individual, in this case Zhan Zhou, who has no name, and she's a death row prisoner who murdered her husband. And, it was a very different time. So it was not conceived as a movie with what's going on in the world today. It was in 2015. And like most of my films, I'm a very instinctive person. I do not do something because I find it very relevant in a certain sense, to society. But I find things that speak to me and in this particular sense is very unlike anything I've done before. So I think that really intrigued me, to go away from my comfort zone because I've never done a crime story. I've never done anything that's about a murderer or anything, that noir-ish. So to me, it was a chance to do something that I've never done before. And I was mesmerized by all the different characters, not just obviously starting with this woman with no name. But to all the characters that were involved in the story and then how they react to the changing times, which is a recurring motif in all my films, especially very strong and resilient women characters. Those, at the core of almost every single one of my films."
4. Mid of Peter Ho-sun Chan and Zhang Ziyi
5. SOUNDBITE (Mandarin) Zhang Ziyi, actor:
"So before the shooting, I think all of our actors did research in order to live the characters, to find the documents and records about this real event. For me personally, the most memorable thing is that I had a friend who brought me to this butchery place to see how a pig was butchered. Because I don't think I can exactly live that kind of experience. I can only experience it with the butchers. It was bloodshed, there was blood all over the floors. It really shocked me. I mean, in the film, we didn't show that directly, but as an actor, I think I needed that experience. I mean on the set, I'm not the kind of actor who tries to design how I should act in that scene, but all of our cast are very professional every day. We spent a lot of time rehearsing and during rehearsal we're just trying to find the correct ways. But once the cameras start rolling, we throw all that out of the window and we're back to the characters."
6. Wide of cast and director at end of press conference
STORYLINE:
Zhang Ziyi has returned to the Cannes Film Festival with director Peter Ho-Sun Chan's "She's Got No Name."
Zhang and Chan were joined at a press conference for the movie ahead of its Cannes premiere on Saturday by China's box office hitmaker Lei Jiayin and other co-stars Wang Chuan-jun,Yang Mi, Da Peng, Li Xian and Ci Sha.
Zhang relished the chance to play a real life character, throwing herself into research for the role.
"She's Got No Name" is screening out of competition at the festival.
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