Showbiz: Still f lying high - New Straits Times

2010/10/15
AREF OMAR
aref@nst.com.my

Datuk Michelle Yeoh gets her kicks by combining action and drama in her latest martial arts romp, writes AREF OMAR
SHE may be 48 this year, but her kicks are still as high and her punches continue to fly with furious speed.

In her latest wuxia (Chinese martial arts style) film, Reign of Assassins, Ipoh-born Datuk Michelle Yeoh proves that she still has what it takes.

“Two things in this world are guaranteed — you’ll age, and you’ll die,” says Yeoh during a recent press conference in Singapore with the film’s producer John Woo and Taiwanese director Su Chao Pin.
“But how you look after your body will determine how long you will be able to do things.”



Looking gorgeous in a black dress that showed off her well-toned physique, Yeoh says experience also played a large role, especially during the wirework for the movie’s elaborate action scenes.

Wirework is a method of attaching wires to an actor to create seemingly impossible acrobatic fight movements. Yeoh was exposed to the technique when she starred in the Ang Lee-directed wuxia classic Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon in 2000.

“It was very challenging this time because I was surrounded by stunt people in their 20s, and it didn’t help that the stunt coordinator kept saying that Michelle can do this and that, so everybody kept waiting for me to do it,” she says with a laugh.

As with her other action films, she was determined to do her stunts and she managed at least 95 per cent of them.

“I do it because it’s magical. They are things that I wouldn’t have the ability or power to do outside a film and it’s fulfilling to see it all come together on-screen,” says Yeoh, who has worked with action stars such as Jackie Chan, Jet Li and Chow Yun-fat.

In Reign of Assassins, Yeoh plays Zeng Jing, who, before a facial reconstruction procedure, used to be a deadly assassin called Drizzle (played by Kelly Lin) for the ominous Black Stone group.

In her search for a new life, she meets the humble messenger Jiang Ah Sheng (Korean heartthrob Jung Woo Sung) and they soon get married. But her past soon catches up with her, which results in some unexpected twists.

“I’m very selective in my roles and I thank producers John Woo and Terence Chang, who brought me to America, took good care of me and now have given me such an incredible role,” says Yeoh, adding that the Mandarin-language film, set in China’s Ming Dynasty, has a strong and moving plot that goes hand-in-hand with the action.

“My character starts off as a cold-hearted killer who undergoes a change and sees the world for the first time.

“She also falls in love, like a girl falling in love for the first time. It was challenging to portray these aspects, but we had a lot of fun discovering that,” says Yeoh, who also has starred in Soong Sisters, Memoirs of a Geisha and Children of Huang Shi.

She adds that the script reflects an underlying sense of Buddhist teachings with lots of subtext that show the characters, whether bad or good, trying to move forward from their past.

“I believe that if you’re able to forgive, then you can move on. My character has to forgive herself first, only then love overcomes all in the end.”

As to why she hasn’t done a wuxia film in 10 years since Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, she explains that since the massively popular film has been put on a pedestal, she took her time to avoid the inevitable comparisons.

“Even now it’s still being compared, but I’m happy to hear that the reviews have pointed out that Reign is the best martial arts film since Crouching Tiger. And I’m fortunate to be in both films.

“But I hope people won’t have to wait 10 years for the next. Maybe that’s why we have a happy ending so we can do part two,” she says with a laugh.

Yeoh is still enthusiastic about doing wuxia films. When asked if she’ll put down her sword and retire anytime soon, she replies: “When the time comes, it will come. But right now, I’m having a great time.”