Updated: 2006-03-16 09:50
Mei Ting tried not to gloat when she was asked about what the cancellation of "Memoirs of a Geisha" had meant to her.
"We did not know there would be a slot vacated at the last minute. We had chosen Valentine's Day to open our film because we couldn't possibly compete with blockbusters of the New Year-Spring Festival season," said the veteran actress and first-time producer.
And the biggest surprise? No other big-budget film stepped in to replace 'Geisha'," which gave her 2-million-yuan love story some breathing space.
The movie she was talking about is "Aspirin," an urban romance starring -- you guessed it -- the gorgeous Mei and directed by her husband, Yan Po, a painter who dabbled in moving images for the first time.
If that was not risky enough, they threw a real wildcard into the mix by using the best-known real-estate mogul of the nation to play the male lead. Pan Shiyi is no Donald Trump, but for a while he was slated to host the Chinese version of "The Apprentice."
Although nobody is willing to reveal who paid whom for his service, both Mei Ting and her director hubby insisted Pan turned in a creditable performance. "He has a natural gift," said Mei, who gave him 8 points out of 10 for the result.
His accent may be distracting to regular audiences, but adds to the unique personality of the character, Mei quoted her actor colleagues as commenting.
In "Aspirin," Mei Ting portrays a tabloid reporter with four of her love stories. "When we first conceived it, each story was associated with a special brand of cigarette. But that hit the censorship bump because 2005 was the 'Quit Smoking' year. So, we changed some of the cigarettes, which conjure up an atmosphere of decadence, to shoes, which can invoke a sense of humour," Mei told BJW.
However, by the time the film opened, smoking on screen was no longer frowned upon as vigorously. Another paradox was the change of censorship rules: It used to be that a filmmaker had to pay 3,000 yuan (US$370) to submit the script for prior approval before shooting. But after "Aspirin" was handed in, script approval was no longer needed. Instead, they needed to pay another sum for approval of the final film.
Fortunately, the second submission fee was eventually waived for Mei's film. "And we got 4.6 points out of a total of 5 in approval evaluation," said Mei with glee.
But can a censor's nod translate into embrace by the audience? To make that happen, Mei is leaving no stone unturned in promoting her film, for which she reportedly shelled out several million of her own money.
For the Shanghai premiere, she donned an Audrey Hepburn hairdo that set off a wall of flashlights. And media reports compared her work to "Amelie," the hit French film.
"Well, personally I feel my film has more similarity with 'Bridget Jones's Diary,'" she revealed. "Unlike other young filmmakers who portray the backwardness of our country and the big issues, I wanted to show the urban side, the trendy side, the avant-garde side. It is also part of China."
On a lighter note, the origin of the film's title points to the need that people have for solving minor ailments.
"We originally came up with 'Goodbye to Seven Stars,' referring to a brand of cigarettes. Since we could not use cigarettes as the running image, aspirin was a good replacement," she said. "Love is like aspirin. It can ease pain temporarily. And a film is also like an aspirin because it can provide joy but cannot save the world."
In real life, Mei was not crazy about the tablets of salicylic acid until after she met her husband, who is fixated on a particular brand of French-made aspirin. On one trip to France, they needed to break a big banknote. So they bought two large bottles of aspirin. Since then, they have made it a habit of using up all small change to buy aspirin before leaving France.
Then, when they started making "Aspirin," they had no more time to visit France. "Now, our drug cabinet has run out of aspirin."
Mei Ting tried not to gloat when she was asked about what the cancellation of "Memoirs of a Geisha" had meant to her.
"We did not know there would be a slot vacated at the last minute. We had chosen Valentine's Day to open our film because we couldn't possibly compete with blockbusters of the New Year-Spring Festival season," said the veteran actress and first-time producer.
And the biggest surprise? No other big-budget film stepped in to replace 'Geisha'," which gave her 2-million-yuan love story some breathing space.
The movie she was talking about is "Aspirin," an urban romance starring -- you guessed it -- the gorgeous Mei and directed by her husband, Yan Po, a painter who dabbled in moving images for the first time.
If that was not risky enough, they threw a real wildcard into the mix by using the best-known real-estate mogul of the nation to play the male lead. Pan Shiyi is no Donald Trump, but for a while he was slated to host the Chinese version of "The Apprentice."
Although nobody is willing to reveal who paid whom for his service, both Mei Ting and her director hubby insisted Pan turned in a creditable performance. "He has a natural gift," said Mei, who gave him 8 points out of 10 for the result.
His accent may be distracting to regular audiences, but adds to the unique personality of the character, Mei quoted her actor colleagues as commenting.
In "Aspirin," Mei Ting portrays a tabloid reporter with four of her love stories. "When we first conceived it, each story was associated with a special brand of cigarette. But that hit the censorship bump because 2005 was the 'Quit Smoking' year. So, we changed some of the cigarettes, which conjure up an atmosphere of decadence, to shoes, which can invoke a sense of humour," Mei told BJW.
However, by the time the film opened, smoking on screen was no longer frowned upon as vigorously. Another paradox was the change of censorship rules: It used to be that a filmmaker had to pay 3,000 yuan (US$370) to submit the script for prior approval before shooting. But after "Aspirin" was handed in, script approval was no longer needed. Instead, they needed to pay another sum for approval of the final film.
Fortunately, the second submission fee was eventually waived for Mei's film. "And we got 4.6 points out of a total of 5 in approval evaluation," said Mei with glee.
But can a censor's nod translate into embrace by the audience? To make that happen, Mei is leaving no stone unturned in promoting her film, for which she reportedly shelled out several million of her own money.
For the Shanghai premiere, she donned an Audrey Hepburn hairdo that set off a wall of flashlights. And media reports compared her work to "Amelie," the hit French film.
"Well, personally I feel my film has more similarity with 'Bridget Jones's Diary,'" she revealed. "Unlike other young filmmakers who portray the backwardness of our country and the big issues, I wanted to show the urban side, the trendy side, the avant-garde side. It is also part of China."
On a lighter note, the origin of the film's title points to the need that people have for solving minor ailments.
"We originally came up with 'Goodbye to Seven Stars,' referring to a brand of cigarettes. Since we could not use cigarettes as the running image, aspirin was a good replacement," she said. "Love is like aspirin. It can ease pain temporarily. And a film is also like an aspirin because it can provide joy but cannot save the world."
In real life, Mei was not crazy about the tablets of salicylic acid until after she met her husband, who is fixated on a particular brand of French-made aspirin. On one trip to France, they needed to break a big banknote. So they bought two large bottles of aspirin. Since then, they have made it a habit of using up all small change to buy aspirin before leaving France.
Then, when they started making "Aspirin," they had no more time to visit France. "Now, our drug cabinet has run out of aspirin."
