Advertisement
Chinese actress Zhou Dongyu, co-star of beguiling Gen Z drama The Breaking Ice, on filming in frigid conditions and elevating Chinese cinema globally
- Chinese actress Zhou Dongyu, who found fame in Zhang Yimou’s 2010 film Under the Hawthorn Tree, is co-starring in Singaporean Anthony Chen’s The Breaking Ice
- She talks about filming in frozen northern China, eating spicy hotpot with her co-stars, being a producer and wanting to try a variety of roles
Reading Time:5 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
0
If there’s anything that crystallises Zhou Dongyu’s career ambitions, it’s her desire to learn multiple languages.
“I want to go around the world,” says the Chinese film star. “I’ve been trying to learn English on my own terms. But after knowing the director, my English has a Singaporean accent!”
The “director” in question is Anthony Chen, the Singaporean filmmaker behind 2013’s Ilo Ilo, his breakout film that won him the Cannes Film Festival’s Camera d’Or for best first feature. Now he’s back with The Breaking Ice, a charming three-hander inspired by the French New Wave classic Jules et Jim, and the first film he has made in mainland China.
Taking the joint lead is 31-year-old Zhou, who shot to fame in Zhang Yimou’s 2010 film Under The Hawthorn Tree and has since worked with such Hong Kong film industry luminaries as Andrew Lau Wai-keung (Kung Fu Monster) and Yuen Woo-ping (The Thousand Faces of Dunjia).
Zhou’s two collaborations with emerging director Derek Tsang Kwok-cheung have proved especially fruitful.
She was named joint best actress at the 2016 Golden Horse Awards in Taiwan with her co-star Ma Sichun for Soul Mate, while Better Days saw her win best actress at the 2020 Hong Kong Film Awards and Asian Film Awards; the bullying drama went on to score an Oscar nomination in the best international feature film category.
Advertisement