*note* I would like to shout out a big Thanx to "Vicki Zhao Wei International Net Family" for this news!) http://www.zhaoweinetfamily.com/index_e.html

Shaolin Soccer Handbook (excerpts of parts containing Zhao Wei)

Act 2: Stephen Chow in the eyes of Zhao Wei A true star must be witty, and must put his/her heart and soul into acting. Even though we are aware of the fact that "Little Swallow" Zhao Wei is not like what others claim as ¨someone who cannot act", nevertheless, when we hear her in person, we are still pleasantly surprised. After all, True success cannot be achieved through mere packaging. The important factors will still lie in the display of talents and the development of the right spirit. Hence, we seek to understand the reasons behind Stephen Chow's decision to choose Zhao Wei: was it for promotional gimmicks or was it recognition of her talents? Interview with Zhao Wei When we met Zhao Wei, her first sentence embarrassed us. She asked, "Where did you park your car?〃 Old Wang, who has been in this field for years, replied in a straight face. Oh, we took bus 302 to come. Sigh, to interview a mega star, most of the media would have sent a car, or at least hired a cab for the occasion. Little Swallow was very kind to our pockets and remarked, ¨4 of us can share a cab." I let Old Wang took the front seat so that I could sit next to...... oh no, Chen Rong (Zhao Wei's sister-in-law cum manager) sat in between the star and myself. Zhao Wei is not afraid to be seen in public. In comparison to Stephen Chow's appearance in Beijing University, she appeared more daring. It could also be due to the fact that Beijing is her territory, and she is more conscious of the safety limits in this place. We do not have interviewing experiences and were rather clumsy about it. For fear of forgetting the interview questions, we typed the questions out so that we can ask the questions in sequence. Zhao Wei laughed and said: "Why do you have to ask then? I can read and answer the questions myself.〃 Then, she took over the recording pen, placed it at her mouth, and began to read out the questions and answers. After a few minutes, the recording device was full. Old Wang, Zhao Wei and myself did all that we could to salvage it. Still, in the end, I had to resort to using a manual pen to take notes instead. She even ordered 2 pieces of cakes for us, but declined to eat it herself as she said she was on a diet. Old Wang said politely: "Why do you have to go on diet when you are so slim already?〃 Zhao Wei replied. Well, there is no end to dieting.〃 So, the common saying of ¨beauty over life〃 is true. However, we found that it was too early for us to be happy. In the end, she did have quite a bit of the cake. There is no woman who will not bother if she is fat or not, but in the end, it is the discipline to curb the mouth that differentiates between one who is cautious and one who is easygoing. As we chatted, we realized that Zhao Wei has many thoughts about movies, especially towards movie acting. We listened to her for 2 hours and the notes that we have taken would probably be a minute representation of all that she has said. Sigh! If we had known that Zhao Wei is such an approachable girl, and one who is not at all materialistic, we would not have bothered to borrow this high-tech recording pen, but, Iˇd have lugged my cassette recorder from home. However, she also revealed that the extent of how much she reveals is dependent on the quality of her interviewers. If she meets...., she would give one-word answers, but if she meets people like Old Wang and me, she would tend to reveal more. Her past impression of Stephen Chow I was probably in high school when I first watched a Stephen Chow's movie. At that time, all I felt was that I had never watched something more entertaining and hilarious. That, to me, was a form of true happiness; a different feeling from listening to cross talk or watching the conventional comedies. Such happiness sprung from my innermost emotions. I don't think there were such movies in Mainland China then, when I only liked movies by Feng Xiao Gang. In my university days, [Journey to the West] was definitely one of Stephen Chow's most popular movies. However, you can more or less guess that it was [King of Comedy] that gave me the deepest impression of Stephen Chow. This is probably due to its relation to my acting career. He displayed every little detail of the thoughts that goes behind every actor. Many people may not be receptive as they might feel that they just wanted to have more laughs when they watch a Stephen Chow movie, and will therefore not appreciate these sad connotations. I have never deliberately emulated Stephen Chow's style, but I feel that his movie style suits my acting, and therefore to some extent, I would be affected in a very subtle way. It is just like when you play chess, if you are conversant in playing a certain type of chess, you would have the tendency to pay more attention to players of the same type of chess, hoping that you will learn from them. The phrase "No Sense" in Cantonese means "Non Systematic". And for me, I like this rule of thumb for movies best, and that is ¨Within reason but out of expectation??. This means that you should not place your storyline and acting in a systematic manner. And that is why in my performance, I constantly seek to break the systematic routine, and I feel that this kind of performance would be entertaining. Maybe this is what I share in common with Stephen. In actual fact, there is another reason why I like Stephen; and that is because there were many people around me who did not like him. Actually, the movies they like were not necessarily any better, but they simply concluded that Stephen Chow's comedies were cheap because they were hilariously silly. For example, the conventional movie education system would never discuss about Stephen Chow. Till the day I graduated, the Film Academy had never conducted any lessons on Stephen Chow's movies. But I feel that I am able to perceive his depth; knowing that there is in-depth thinking and consideration behind every joke or even the meaning behind the joke. Since I am able to perceive his depth better than others, I would also tend to like him more than most people. My understanding of my achievements I owe my success in HZGG to my young age. Because of my age, I was natural. Once I have grown in years, there is no way I can perform in that manner. The acting would be constrained by life experiences, so how can it remain so "cartoon-like" My advantage was that I was able to pull myself out of my life to perform. This is not ?”self performance??, as it cannot be possible that I can be as lively and jumpy as Little Swallow. In the past, I did not like to move my eyeballs, "big eyes without spirit". It is after I acted in HZGG that it has become so. But I am familiar with her emotions and temperament and so it was natural to act it out. When Stephen Chow first looked me up, he asked me if I watched a lot of cartoons before I acted in HZGG. When I replied no, he remained silent for a long time without saying anything. Maybe he felt that my exaggerated acting can only come from cartoons. Actually, my character has a tinge of cartoon in it. To be able to pull one out and act independently is a very fortunate thing. Since young, I have never been suitable for conventional education. For example, when I was in high school, things will always go wrong if I were to take on any matters to be handled by class prefects. In school, those who appreciate me would usually be unorthodox people with a rebellious streak. The serious leaders and teachers will not pay attention to me. However, I got into the Film Academy with a first position; maybe I am indeed quite intelligent! At that time, I had started filming and it was not absolutely necessary for me to attend university. But I felt that the university course would still be useful for future experiences, whether it be towards society or myself. So, even though I was slightly older than most people in entering a university, I still put in the effort to sit for the exams. I have only revised the general subjects for 2 months, and I did not fare very well, but I still passed. I scored high marks for the specialized subjects. After adding all the marks, I still came in first. I have always felt that to miss the undergraduate course would mean missing an entire experience, and it is not worth it. I have already missed out on a lot of youthful experiences. When I was in college, I attended a teaching college, where there were very few schoolboys, and so I was rather retarded in love relationships. My brother and sister-in-law met when they were in college. When they attended university, they visited 2 cities. When you ask them what the most memorable moments were, they would say it was their college days. But my memories of my college days were almost blank, I can't think of anything memorable. It was really frustrating, especially because I didnˇt have any experience of falling in love. This made me really embarrassed when I talk about boy-girl relationships in my later years. You would see that I can chat on many topics, but when I talk about love relationships, I would feel embarrassed. Even when I was acting, when the scenes were too mushy and when I needed to portray that I am deeply in love, I would not be able to control my laughter. However, there are advantages to attending the teaching college. For example, it is advantageous to learn about singing, dancing, writing and painting. Of course, it is disadvantageous to be restrained when one is doing arts, but the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. However, at the end of the day, these advantages and disadvantages merely affect my career. My career is not the most important thing in my life; my youth is the most important. As an artiste, there are many moments in your life that you will feel lonely. I heard that when Stephen Chow visited Beijing University recently, the tickets were all snatched up and he was given a standing ovation; I was really envious. I really hope I will have a chance to have a nice talk with the students in Beijing University, but they may not welcome me as much as Stephen. Maybe, after [Shaolin Soccer], the undergraduates?? impression of me may improve. I really have so much to share; I may not become an established actress, but I do have many thoughts and opinion on acting. There are many things that the friends in the entertainment circle do not understand. For example, when Stephen Chow visited Beijing University, he has such a significant impact on society, but not many would discuss it in the entertainment world. They feel that it is not a big deal. Thoughts about her cooperation with Stephen Chow The first time I had a tele-conversation with Stephen Chow, all he said was "You are Zhao Wei, right?〃, followed by 2 lines of greetings and then he went straight into the discussion of filming. There was no deep impression. I did not try to second-guess what he was like. All stars would not be and should not be any different from ordinary people. Besides, I do not have the habit of guessing what others are like. It is a pity that Stephen Chow is not conversant with his Mandarin, and I only speak a little Cantonese. My communication with him is like 2 stuffed teapots; the words disappear before the meaning can be communicated and digested. I somehow feel very lowly of myself when I talk to people who do not speak my language. When I speak to a Mainland Chinese, all I have to do is to cite a Chinese Idiom or an analogy to convey my message, but when I cite an idiom to a Hongkonger, he would have to think through for some time, and then ask for the entire explanation before he can more or less grasp the meaning. And many times where they understand one another, I would not be able to grasp the meaning. Many people are of the opinion that Stephen Chow chose me because of commercial reasons. Of course this may be partly true, since I do have my fair share of followers. However, Stephen Chow does not need to go out of the way to win my followers as people who enjoy my TV series would enjoy his movies. Whilst it may be true that amongst the undergraduates, my audiences and his audiences belong to different groups of people, since [My Fair Princess] is different from Stephen Chow's movies; it does not have the dark humour and nothing uncomfortable in the series. However, from the perspective of the common population, whether they are watching TV series or movies, their main aim is to be entertained, and Stephen Chow and Little Swallow serve the same purpose. For Stephen Chow to rely on me to win the box-office would be too restricted. Furthermore, I do have my own capabilities. At least I can grasp Stephen Chowˇs ideas and acting techniques rather quickly. If we can communicate better, then our pairing would have stronger chemistry. Not long after I shot to fame, a reporter asked me who my favourite HK artiste was. My answer was not Chow Yuen Fatt, Leong Kar Fai or Maggie Cheung. I said without a doubt, ?”Stephen Chow??. I think Stephen Chow must have noticed me then. My performance in [Shaolin Soccer] As for [Shaolin Soccer], I am a mere accompaniment; the real subject is of course Stephen Chow. This is a guyˇs movie and it features on soccer, so the guys would have more room for performance. I am a sad girl in the movie, who falls for a hero who did not reciprocate her love. This is what is so wise about Stephen Chow. At the first glance, his love story appears simple, but in actual fact, Stephen Chow is an expert in using creative influence. He knows very well that simplicity is the most attractive. He has a simple principle, and he has mentioned it in Beijing University: In a love story, if I love you and you love me, then the story is boring. It has to be the case of you love me; I love her but she does not love meetc. It has to be entangling. This is a simple rule of thumb but it is very useful, and no movie producers would deviate from this principle. My character is not funny at all. Most of the audience would expect Stephen Chow to make me create humour, but this is not the case. He may have done this deliberately. He wants to plan out of the expectation of others: you anticipate that I will do this, and then I would intentionally not do it. He does this whenever he plots for his movie storyline, his cast and his characters. He uses such comedian spirit in his commercial movies. A true genius! I do not have a meaty role in the movie; only about 30 lines of. But I am satisfied with my performance. Due to the fine segregation of the filming, I am not very clear on the entire movie, but I am satisfied with my own performance. It is moving, it has depth and it is a strong selling point. The most torturous thing during filming is the making up for my character. I am a bald girl in the movie and bald girls are of course ugly. It is no big deal to be ugly, but the difficulty lies with the making up of the bald look. Glue has to be applied onto the head to keep the hair in place; then a head mask is put on and then some kind of paint is applied over it. The colour is mixed till you get the exact colour of the scalp. All these will take 12 hours to complete. Such tedious make-up exercise can only last for a day as the sun will melt the glue and once the hours are passed, it will become lumpy. Initially, I have requested that they do not remove the makeup, and I will gladly do away with my sleep and last till the following day to continue shooting. But they said no, and so I had to go through this the following day, a real torture. In spite of all these, it was still an enjoyable experience. There is not only a good script; there is also a good director and a good partner. Such opportunities do not come by easily. Translated by Teay Teay Edited by Xiao Mei Zi (Thanx to http://crash.to/vickizhao)

Huan Zhu Ge Ge III

As rumors flew in the air regarding Vicki's rejection to acting in Qiong Yao's HZGG III, Zhang Tie Ling (Emperor in HZGG I & II) has searched and found an actress who has starred in several movies across China. Ya Min will probably be taking Vicki's place in the ending of HZGG. Zhao Wei is happy because she wanted the new artists to have a chance and let spotlight shine on them. But according to fans, it is a HUGE dissapointment. (Thanx to http://crash.to/vickizhao)

At last Zhao Wei has graduated! She will be wearing graduation gown with mortar board, going on stage as an outstanding student to receive the certificates on behalf of the graduates. Four years ago she was just a student switching from teaching school to Beijing Theater College and later become a screen idol after acting Qiong Yao¡¦s HZGG. Today, she is an outstanding student in her college. Last week the crew was working all hours on Love and Rain, and Zhao Wei ¡¥s big bright eyes were covered with blood veins. She scares that on her convocation she might look ugly with eyebags. Because of the rushing in the shooting of L&R, Zhao Wei is only allowed a day off for her convocation. Zhao Wei¡¦s mother feels proud for her daughter being working so hard. She visited her at the set yesterday and hoping that the producer, He Xiu Qiong, would allow her daughter off. Zhao Wei feels grateful for her mother¡¦s love but she said that she has no time even ¡§to feel the happiness¡¨ for her graduation. To her, every day, besides sleeping is, work, work, work. When asked her whether during graduation ceremony, will she be receiving any certificate of merit, she says ¡§I feels honour that my thesis, ¡§The instinct and the quality of an artist¡¨(literally translate) scores the highest marks in class and also selected to represent the graduates answering thesis from the school superintendent. Next week she will be reporting herself to Beijing Movie Production to be one of their artistes. Posted by Lala(USA) and Translated by Lotus(SIN) news from: http://www.geocities.com/alecplayground/News/june2000.html

Vicki and Alec(Su You Peng) have been together for three years since "Huan Zhu Ge Ge I". Off stage, everyone sees them as a couple. Vicki hosted a birthday celebration for Alec. When he saw it, he was so excited he almost cried. No girls have ever done that for him. At the end of the celebration, Vicki went on stage and sang "Happy Birthday" to Alec. However Alec could not be found while Vicki is singing. He was sitting in a dark corner crying in excitement. He did not want anyone to see his tears of joy. Later on, under the arrangement of the director they are together again in a new series called Biao Mei Ji Xiang. There is a long kissing scene in it between Vicki and Alec. They did it twice because the director did not like the first one. Unexpectedly, Alec said he did not like the second one either, and he said that he wanted to do it for the third time. Everyone who is watching this looked at Alec suspiciously, wondering what his real intention is for doing the scene over. (April 18^th 1999) (News from http://www.geocities.com/alecplayground/News/ )

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