Actor Liu Ye is best known for playing a self-sacrificing,
loyal, introverted and nervous character.
For example, the son of an old postman in the mountains in
Postman in the Mountain (1999), the devoted and loyal gay
student Lan Yu in Lan Yu (2001) and the young man Ma who
keeps his love a secret because he knows his friend also loves the
same woman in Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress
(2002).
No wonder then that Myriad Pictures picked him to play the
brilliant but tragic student Liu Xing alongside well-known American
actress Meryl Streep in Dark Matter. The film is based on
the true story of a disgruntled physics student from China, who
shot and killed six people on the University of Iowa campus in
1991.
However, in real life, the 28-year-old Liu is straightforward,
optimistic, cheerful and wears a sunny smile.
After completing Zhang Yimou's Curse of the Golden
Flower, and before flying to Salt Lake City to continue
shooting for Dark Matter, Liu will perform in Meng
Jinghui's multi-media play Amber at the Poly Theatre from
July 20 to 30.
"I bet you will regret it if you miss the play. It is much more
interesting and meaningful than many blockbuster movies or dull TV
series," Liu told China Daily during a break in the rehearsal early
last week.
"I was deeply touched by the story when I first read it. It is
the kind of story that makes your blood boil, like Purple
Butterfly, 'Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress' and
Dark Matter," he said.
Serious during rehearsal, often discussing his role with
director Meng Jinghui and playwright Liao Yimei, Liu was all fun
and frolic at break time.
Amber, created by the avant-garde husband and wife
super-duo of Chinese theatre director Meng and playwright Liao is
Liu's first stage work since graduating from the Central Academy of
Drama in 2000.
Starkly different from the characters played by Liu on screen
over the years, Gao Yuan, in The Amber, is a playboy who
gets lucky and rich from the dot-com business.
"He is an impassive, manic and a cheeky man not my usual type of
role but he fascinates me and somehow is like my real self," Liu
said.
The drama premiered at the Hong Kong Arts Festival in March
2005, starring Liu Ye and Yuan Quan, who plays the female
protagonist Xiao You.
According to scriptwriter Liao, the two classmates from the
Central Academy of Drama, are the very best choices to play Gao and
Xiao You.
"They fit the roles perfectly," she said. "When I saw them on
stage, I knew they were the right Gao Yuan and Xiao You. That is
why I hope they can return to the play and that is also why I could
not rewrite the story for a movie as requested by many
producers."
In fact, the play, with six sold-out shows, has become the
second most successful drama in the Hong Kong Arts Festival's
33-year history, after the Beijing People's Art Theatre's signature
work Tea House, 19 years ago.
As both Liu and actress Yuan Quan are busy with movies and TV
series, they have had to squeeze some days out from their tight
schedule to re-stage the show in Beijing.
Director Meng believes the re-staged production will surpass the
premiere shows, saying both Liu and Yuan have made great progress
in movies and in theatre since last year.
Dark Matter
Right after finishing the 11 shows of Amber, Liu will fly
to the United States to finish Dark Matter. The shooting
of the film began in 2004 but was postponed untill early this year.
Directed by the Chinese-American director Chen Shizheng,
Dark Matter depicts the humour, frustration and heartbreak
that result when different cultures collide and communication
fails.
The film follows the story of Liu Xing (starring Liu), a
brilliant Chinese science student, who strives to impress his
mentor Jacob Reiser (Aidan Quinn) with his theories on the origins
of the universe. Helping Liu Xing adapt but unable to protect him
from academic politics are Joanna (Meryl Streep), a patron of the
university with a passion for all things Chinese, and Hildy (Blair
Brown), Reiser's secretary.
The film marks Liu's debut in Hollywood. He said it was a great
challenge to perform with Streep, but he worked hard on his part
and with confidence.
"I did not want to play in the movie at first," he said. "I was
not willing to work abroad. For me, it is hard to work in a
situation that is not familiar to me. What's more, Hollywood does
not value Chinese actors highly and most of them star only in the
kung fu movies.
"I also heard they chose me because they saw Lan Yu and
'Balzac and The Little Chinese Seamstress' and felt that I fit the
character of Liu Xing."
"I did not want to always play one type of role and wished to do
something new," he added.
But the cross-cultural story and the tragedy of the Chinese
student finally moved Liu. Although the character of Liu Xing is
somewhat controversial and some people see him as a negative
example of Chinese students abroad, Liu agreed to play the
role.
"As director Chen says, it is about what happens when people
from different cultures interact in a highly competitive
environment and the roller coaster ride of excitement, anxiety and
missed opportunities that those interactions bring about.
"Liu Xing is an ambitious and talented student," Liu said. "He
is ruined by the campus politics and has to solve the problem in
the way he thinks right."
As soon as he took on the role, Liu did much homework,
practising English and experiencing the life of Chinese students in
the United States. He read all the material he could get on what
happened in 1991.
"I hope to convince Hollywood that Chinese actors perform as
well as and as professionally as the Western ones," he said.
Some Westerners have little knowledge of China and Chinese
people, he said, but they like to surmise what Chinese people are
like.
"To those people, I would not give in (my principles)," he
said.
He said that he spoke English only during on-location shooting.
Talking about his experience in the United States, Liu looks like a
boy who has just won a game.
"Don't think I was not happy in the United States," he said. "I
made friends, chatted with them in English and we had a lot of fun,
climbed the snow mountains in Sundance and drank in bars after
work."
He is especially thankful for the chance to work with
Streep.
"Streep is my idol. She is nice and a very good actress," he
said.
"In the first few days, I faced some difficulties while
performing because she likes to improvise. Gradually, we got
familiar with each other and our performance became more and more
natural.
"In my opinion, it does not matter whom you perform with. The
point is you should play your own part well."
(China Daily July 19, 2006)
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