China Film Journal

“Sixth Generation” director Jia Zhangke has long been adored by art-house audiences, but in the past year his indie cred has taken a series of hits. Last June, Jia agreed to act as artistic director for a highly commercial, Visa-sponsored, state-approved Olympic film project. More recently, it was announced that he had cast pop star Jay Chow in his upcoming kung fu-themed The Age of Tattoo. Both these career decisions have drawn inevitable comparisons with fellow Venice Golden Lion-winning director Zhang Yimou, who has long since embraced the mainstream. Coincidentally, Zhang’s also heavily involced with the Olympics, and also cast Jay Chow for his glitzy costume melodrama Curse of the Golden Flower. Has Jia finally outgrown independent cinema? We sat down with him to find out.

Q: Your current projects appear to be a considerable departure from your previous work.

Jia Zhangke (JZK): Up to now, my work has been on contemporary life. But [The Story of 24 City] is set in the 50s and the 70s.

Q: There’s a lot of talk about your other project, The Age of Tattoo, including the casting of Jay Chow. It’s also been said that there will be some kung fu scenes.

ZJK: Actually, the film is based on Su Tong’s novel, about a violent teenager who symbolizes the violence during the cultural revolution. As far as Jay Chow goes, he is very proper for this role. He has a cool image, something like a young hooligan from the 1970s. In terms of budget, since the movie is set in the 1970s, we had to restore locations to look like the period. This is very expensive, and the only way we were going to get the money, which came from China and abroad, was if we were going to have a big star.

Q: Can you understand that some people feel that adapting a big novel and using a big star is very unusual for you…

JZK: I don’t mind. If Jay Chow is proper for this film, I will use him. Besides, I have my own way of using Jay Chow.

Q: Does the shift in time periods mean that you’ve done everything that you wanted with modern life?

JZK: It’s not that I’ve accomplished everything that I wanted to do in this period, but that I was able to find historical causes for the changes that are taking place now. Workers’ lives change a lot in the shift to urbanization. In The Story of 24 City, I will tell a story about three women in the 50s, the 70s, and the present day, as society makes the transition from collectivism to individualism.

Q: Given the nature of these people and their situation, how did you find this story in the first place?

JZK: Their factory in Chengdu was once very big, with more than 20,000 workers. When a real estate company purchased the site, the factory was demolished and all the workers lost their jobs. It was a typical case of urbanization in today’s China. I went there, saw the conditions, and it occurred to me that in five or ten years this story would be forgotten. So my aim is to use the medium of film to keep their story from disappearing..

Q: For the film, you collaborated with the poet Zhai Yongming instead of producing the script alone as you have done in the past.

JZK: We have a very good method of collaborating. I did the interviews and then wrote the first draft. Zhai, who’s from that area rewrote the script from a female point of view. She has a sophisticated understanding of the feelings of women during the time. For example, in those days women had very few possessions, and I wanted to know how society defined sexiness. Of course, she knows more about that than I do.

Q: Do you every think about your place in history as a member of china’s Sixth Generation of filmmakers? Does that mean anything to you?

JZK: No. (Laughs.) I don’t care how I am known, Sixth Generation or whatever. The moment I accept such labels, I lose my freedom. I am just doing what I love.

Q: What do you think about the films of Fifth Generation directors?

JZK: The golden period for Fifth Generation directors occurred when I was in middle school and later in university. I especially like their early works, including Chen Kaige’s Yellow Earth. Before Yellow Earth, I was just a moviegoer. After that, I knew I wanted to become a director.

Q: Did the Fifth Generation sell out? Did they go Hollywood?

JZK: Going to Hollywood isn’t bad. Hollywood produces fine films. There are many respected European directors, for example, who work in the US. The real difficulty for foreign directors [working in the US] is finding a way to retain their outlook and beliefs.

Q: Will you go to Hollywood?

JZK: I don’t know yet. I don’t like to plan too far in advance.

In the World 世界, actress Zhao Tao 赵涛 plays a dancer at an “international” theme park, which means that one day she performs in India and the next in Africa. That role is an apt metaphor for her career, moving from role to role and touring the globe in a whirlwind of costume changes. There is one aspect of her life however that is constant, however: the presence of Jia Zhangke  贾樟柯.

Zhao first met the legendary director of Unknown Pleasures, Still Life, and The Age of Tattoo, to be released later this year, in 1999 during Jia’s six month search for a leading lady for Platform. At the time, Zhao, a graduate of Beijing Dance College, was teaching dance at Taiyuan Normal College. Though they have since formed a strong professional bond, it was not “love at first sight.” In fact, Zhao thought Jia was trying to pick her up–and required a lot of convincing before she agreed to take part in the project. “I knew little about film then,” says Zhao, “and I didn’t know anything about him. He had to show me some proof before I believed he was a real director.” Eventually, Zhao came to appreciate both the opportunities Jia provided and his role as a mentor, though she has often suffered from what some critics describe as the director’s extraordinary intensity when it comes to his craft. During the filming of Still Life, for example, Jia asked the film crew to purposely alienate Zhao, a ploy he believed would result in a stronger performance. “People say that if you can work with Jia Zhangke, you can work with anyone,” says Zhao. “I’m a happy, cheerful person but [during the filming of Still Life] he told others on the set not to talk to me and I didn’t know why. I felt terribly alone and isolated from other people.”

Zhao gave a memorable performance as the tough and tender wife in search of her husand. In return, she has repaid Jia with loyalty.

Though she’s received offers from other directors, Zhao acts exclusively for Jia, in part, because he doesn’t shy away from life’s harsh realities. “[Jia's films] are a reflection of people’s lifes,” says Zhao, “not what is shown on TV. A person has to face life’s truths.”