‘Shanghai is changing so rapidly that it is difficult to go back to the same places in my memory’
Print Edition
ELEGANT as ever at 47 years old, actress Vivian Wu is back in her hometown to film a movie and attend the Shanghai Film Festival. “I miss the smell of Shanghai the most when I’m away,” said Wu with a laugh. “I miss the energy the most but Shanghai is changing so rapidly that it is difficult to go back to the same places in my memory.”
Wu began her overseas acting career in 1986, performing in Italian director Bernardo Bertolucci’s “The Last Emperor.” Now married to American director Oscar Costo, she lives in Los Angeles and shuttles between film locations, her home in America and China. While recalling her initial foray into Hollywood, Wu admits that it was “extremely difficult” but that she saw it as an opportunity.
The actress attributes her need to keep busy to her horoscope as an Aquarius. “(Aquarius) likes to travel and find the ‘new me’ all the time, and this part of my job really suits my personality very well,” said Wu.
Despite her critical acclaim even outside China, Wu has brought her career back full circle after spending 10 years abroad. “I started here in China, but I found a new fame and a new thing overseas. Now that I’m back it feels like a different place.”
Yet Wu has never forgotten her dream of bridging the Chinese and overseas film industries. This attempt started in 2006 with her film “Shanghai Red,” a partnership between American and Chinese film production companies and directed by her husband.
“It was very difficult 10 years ago,” she recalled, “There were only around 1,000 screens around China so it was not a big box office hit. But now, the market is getting so much better and so Oscar (Costo) and I will probably look back into continuing this dream.”
Although Wu has had forays as a producer, she has no intention in the near future of taking up directing. “It’s just too difficult,” she says, citing her friend Annie Yi as an example. “Watching (Annie) direct ‘The Queens’ has only confirmed this, being an actress is better!”
Yi is currently directing the movie Wu is starring in, “The Queens,” where she plays the character Tina alongside Korean actress Song Hye-kyo.
Despite her comment, Wu is by no means relaxing. She is filming two works — in Wuxi and Shanghai — before needing to go on location to Turkey next week. However the down-to-earth actress is most looking forward to spending summer with her niece and nephew when her vacation period begins.
“The most wonderful children on Earth,” she said with a grin. “It’s something I’ve been planning for a while and I’m so excited it’s going to happen.”
Wu expresses great happiness with her life. “I’m living my life in the present moment. I wake up everyday, and I take it as today. If I can just live every single day as it comes, be completely who I am in this industry, I’m happy.”
It’s what the movie “The Queens” ultimately portrays — the ability to love ourselves first in order to be able to love others.
“It’s been like fulfilling little dreams along the way with different roles I’m taking on over the years,” says Wu.
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