Ziyi Zhang on Reuniting with Michelle Yeoh in "Memoirs of a Geisha:" “When I heard the news that Gong Li and Michelle were going to be in the movie, I was really, really happy because Michelle and I have known each other a long time. Since ‘Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon’ she has been like a big sister to me. I was so nervous doing that movie because I had too much pressure on me. Ang Lee was very strict and I was totally intimidated by Ang Lee. And Michelle was a big international movie star. I was too shy to talk to them. But for this movie, with Michelle the relationship was much more relaxed and she’s very friendly. We had a great time.”
Ziyi Zhang Didn’t Set Out to be an Actress: “I had a dancing background. When I was 11 years old, I went to the Beijing Dance Academy and I had six years training for traditional Chinese dance. When I was 17, I had to decide to continue the dance or go to another college and, for me, I just felt I couldn’t see the future for myself because I have to say that, in my school, I wasn’t a good dancer. In my movie, I’m kinda good [laughing]. In my school I was in the middle, so I think I couldn’t become a very good dancer so maybe I’d try to learn something else. Some friends said, ‘Why don’t you try to do to the Central Drama Academy? It’s a very good acting school.’
I’ve never felt that one day I could become an actress. My only dream was to become a kindergarten teacher. That’s the only dream I had. When I was at the college, the second year, I was so lucky. Zhang Yimou discovered me and I did my first movie. The next year, I did ‘Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon’ and suddenly I just became an actress. A lot of people had an interest in me. After I finished my college I just started my career as an actress. I think I will be always grateful to those great directors who helped me before.”
