Sun Zhou is one of China's preeminent "Fifth Generation" directors who cast the phenomenally talented actress Gong Li in Zhou Yu's Train, the filmmaker's most-recent release. In addition to making emotional, deeply personal films, Sun is also recognized as one of the best advertising directors in the business.
It is not unusual these days for a hot-shot young Hollywood moviemaker to have risen from the ranks of music video directors. Spike Jonze, the director of the deconstructionist comedy Being John Malkovich, and more recently, Adaptation, may best be remembered for directing the Beastie Boys' video Sabotage.
Like the actors they film, directors don't want to be typecast -- "Oh, he's the horror movie guy," or "She makes those introspective chick flicks."
Chinese director Sun Zhou, whose latest feature stars the mega-talented and hugely successful crossover sensations Gong Li and Tony Leung, provides a prime example.
In addition to being a core member of the elite "Fifth Generation" of Chinese cinema auteur, Sun, born in 1950s and dressed casually in a navy pullover and jeans, also has a lucrative and creatively challenging sideline directing advertisements.
Still in high gear from a promotional tour for Zhou Yu's Train, Sun arrived at his Shanghai studio to commence work on an ad campaign late last month. Studio may be too polite a word to describe this small room cluttered with computer monitors, mixing boards film editing equipment.
On each studio monitor -- and the room is crammed with them -- the same image flashes over and over; it's a close-up of beer foam sliding seductively down the contours of a bottle. Sun stares intensely at the image, spins in his chair, stands up, and barks an order to one of the audio-visual technicians.
At this point, there is no mistaking Sun for anything but a director -- be it a director of major motion pictures or television commercials.
Other directors, most notably Woody Allen, have dabbled in the world of TV advertising, and it's easy to see why; selling a product in a 20- or 30-second spot is a creative challenge most directors would leap at.
"If I'm not shooting a movie, I must be making advertisements," says Sun, a self-confessed workaholic who, like others in his field, likes to be in complete control. "Of course, I prefer directing feature films. Making advertisements is fun, but it's a strictly commercial undertaking. Whereas in film, I put my heart and soul into my movies. It's a very personal, even intimate, experience. To put it succinctly, making ads is my job, but making movies is my life."
Zhou Yu's Train, which is currently being screened around the city, is about the tragic consequences of a love triangle involving a woman and two men. Superstar celebrities Gong and Leung have brought the movie more publicity than Sun and the film's backers could've wished for, with media scrambling to interview the director and his scene-stealing actors.
"I never expected the box office to be this good," says Sun, referring to the movie's 10 million yuan (US$1.2 million) take since its release on Valentines' Day. "Gong is my good friend. We've known each other for many years. As an internationally acclaimed actress, she is always looking for challenging roles. She trusted me, and I gave her what she needed creatively. I think her work in the film is phenomenal."
In 2000, Gong and Sun worked together on the critically acclaimed film Breaking the Silence (Piao Liang Ma Ma). For Gong, the roles in her two collaborations with Sun could not be more different. In Breaking, she plays the strong-willed mother of a hearing-impaired son. In the new film, Gong portrays a married woman who falls in love with a struggling poet.
"I conceived the film specifically for Gong. When we were shooting Breaking, something in her eyes inspired me to create this role for her," says Sun.
Sun's muse is much obliged. "He is a great director," says Gong. "He found something in me that I didn't know existed. The character's search for pure love was entirely new territory for me as an actress."
Having created such good vibes both on and off the set, Sun and Gong are talking about collaboration on a third project.
Back in 1981, Sun worked as the cameraman of a TV series Wu Song. Two years later, he was directing his first TV series Tonight There Is a Blizzard (Jin Ye You Bao Feng Xue), which became a hit. TV was fine as a learning experience, but the environment was "too restrictive" and it was film that captured his imagination. Sun then entered the Beijing Film Academy and majored in directing.
In 1987, Sun went to Guangzhou and became a film director, but could only find work as a production assistant and second unit director. Five years later, he directed movie Xin Xiang, a film that went on to win some worldwide recognition -- providing the much-needed career boost he has been waiting for. But it wasn't until his break came in Breaking in 2000 that things really started to roll.
In 1998, Chen Kaige, another renowned Chinese director, invited Sun to act as an ancient prince in his The Emperor and the Assassin, giving the director yet another creative outlet to explore.
After making advertisements for big companies like IBM, his name in ad circles rose quickly. As "one of the first-generation Chinese advertisement directors," he is very popular in the ad racket now.
Sun's outstanding performance helped keep his name in circulation.
"Sun is the best advertisement director I've known," says Cheng Gong, a producer with La Film, a local ad agency. "An advertisement is only 30-second long, and demands something totally different from films. But Sun does both extraordinarily well."
With such high praise from within the industry, one would think Sun would be glowing, but he's never content. "I still want to shoot films with a human focus, exploring individual emotions and multi-dimensional, complex characters. That is the key to being a great director."
(Eastday.com March 5, 2003)
