Matt Adcock meets Ziyi Zhang

to quote Beyonce: "ooh boy you lookin like you like what you see..."

Matt Adcock meets Ziyi Zhang

Here - finally - is my quick interview with the gorgeous Ziyi Zhang... English is her second language so it wasn't the chattiest few minutes but man she is hot hot hot!!

So Ziyi, was Memoirs of A Geisha a book you knew?

Zhang: “I read it five years ago. I’d heard about it from many of my friends who just loved it. I loved this story, it was so special. I never thought that one day I could be in this story, playing this character. So for me, the first time I heard I had got the role I was happily surprised. At the same time I felt tremendous pressure, because I knew Rob was going to make this movie in English. For me that was my biggest obstacle, because English is my second language and I only started learning it two years ago. I just felt that then I had to live up to their expectations and had to give all my best efforts. You can’t let them have any regrets, you have to do your best.”

What was the hardest aspect of geisha training?

Zhang: “I found my dance the hardest thing to learn. Even though I had six years of dance background, that was the hardest thing to do. You have to get used to wearing those big platform shoes. The first time Michelle saw those shoes she asked if they were handbags. We thought it must be a prop, but John, our choreographer, told me I had to dance in them. I thought it’d be impossible, but after five hours a day over a few weeks, finally I could get it. I love the dance because it involved a high degree of acting as well. I know the process was really difficult but, for me, it was also a big challenge.”

Having been seen on screen engaged in some epic fights in recent years, which is harder for you Ziyi – fighting or being a geisha?

Zhang: “I think to be a geisha is harder.”

So, there you go... GEISHA review will be up this weekend (link to follow).

Earlier post about the Geisha including some lovely photos of Ziyi Zhang

Reviews of other films and stuff you might want to read indexed here

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