The trailer for The Green Hornet brings back fond memories of when I interviewed Jay Chou last year. Yep, I’m a fan. Can’t say too much about his acting and I have no idea how he’ll fare in this, his first Hollywood movie, but he’s a damn good singer-songwriter in my book.
I wish I could say I impressed him with my marvellous Mandarin, intelligent questions and insightful responses, but even though I stood out, I’m pretty sure it was because I was the only journalist person in the entire place with a baby bump. Here’s an excerpt from my interview, taken from hot Magazine, Issue 148:
You’re going to be in The Green Hornet. How was that experience different compared to filming Asian movies?
Actually, the reason I went overseas was so I could learn new things. The way they make films in Hollywood is very different from Asia – before they start filming, they rehearse for maybe half a month. It’s like acting in theatre. At first, I was a bit impatient. But then I saw how patient Cameron Diaz and the rest of the cast are, how diligent they are in rehearsals, so who am I to say anything? At least I got to see Cameron every day.
Was it difficult to adapt to the language?
It was a bit difficult in the beginning, but after a while, I began to teach them some Mandarin and they were really keen to learn. I spoke to them in my really broken English and my English improved. I wasn’t used to it at first but after I made friends it wasn’t so bad at all.
Do you find acting easier the more you do it?
Actually, acting is easy for me. I like it. It’s fun. I don’t see it as work. I told Cameron that I’m actually a singer and that acting is just something I do for fun, and she was shocked because she’s very serious about her acting whereas I’m just playing.
Many of your films have quite a lot of action in them. Do you want to be an action star?
I’m really happy that people seem to see me as an action star and about the fact that Hollywood wanted me to do The Green Hornet. My first thought was, ‘Why would they choose me? I’m not Jet Li. I’m a singer.’ Action is something I like doing, but it’s not something I’m very good at, I think. After [I signed on to do the movie], I told them, ‘I’m actually a singer. Here, you can listen to some of my music.’ During filming, I’d give out some of my albums and tell people, ‘I’m not really an actor, I’m a singer.’
