Maggie Cheung comes 'clean' on filmmaking

Maggie Cheung comes 'clean' on filmmaking

Kenny Santana, Contributor, Cannes

For her role as a drug addict in Clean (to be shown at this
year's French Film Festival in Indonesia), Maggie Cheung took the
Cannes Film Festival Best Actress nod last year.

In a frank interview in the afternoon before she won the
award, Cheung, looking as beautiful as on the silver screen, was
cheerful, talkative and very friendly. She was at ease talking
about being in Clean, directed by her ex-husband, and using
Courtney Love as a role model.

Question: What sort of research did you do on heroin for
Clean?

Cheung: I didn't. But Olivier (Assayas, the director) and I
have a lot of close friends in this situation. They've been
though it all. In fact, they're everywhere. With these friends,
you could observe them in different stages (of addiction). You
see differences in these people.

Did you smell it on yourself when you were playing the role?

No, I didn't smell so bad (laughs). Maybe I should have done.
I had these images about how they carry themselves when they're
high or when they need it. I saw their behavior more clearly.

What attracted you to this film?

Olivier and I always thought about making another film
together. During the marriage, it didn't feel normal. Then one
day he said, "I have a subject for us to make a film together".
From that point I was committed. I didn't know what I was getting
myself into but I knew that I wanted to make a film with Olivier.

Because it's him and because he wrote it for me, I didn't have
any doubts about playing in it. I knew I wanted to be there, to
be the real me for him.

Were you nervous working with Olivier since you had been
married before?

Slightly. I did have worries -- like whether we'd scream at
each other (laughs). What would happen? Actually, nothing
happened. I just had to get over few things, like he was nicer to
other actors than to me. He was more polite. He said "please" and
"excuse me" to other actors, but not to me (laughs). But it
didn't affect anything.

You mentioned Courtney Love as a model for the role in Clean.

She's the obvious choice. Because she's been through this kind
of situation, I wouldn't say the same, although it's similar to
Emily (her role in Clean). I don't know enough of Courtney. As
far as I remember, the idea for this film came from a newspaper
article. It's about everyday occurrences

What about singing in the film?

It was in the script. It wasn't my decision. I was very
scared, shy, intimidated, because I didn't want to do something
that I was very bad at. I didn't know whether I could do it or
not?

Was it recorded live?

No, I did it the night before, and the next day we shot that
scene.

Were you involved in choosing the other actors in the film?

Not at all. From day one, when Olivier told me he found the
subject to the time I got the script was a year. Between those
two dates, just once he talked about the project because I begged
him to tell me what it was all about. Olivier said it was about a
woman and her boyfriend who died of an overdose and how she
managed after that. I said, "That's enough. OK, keep writing."

Was it difficult to speak three languages in the film?

English and Chinese are normal for me, but French is not,
because it's my third language. I don't speak French that well.
French actors speak very fast. Many times I didn't know that
they'd finished their lines. They also changed lines. In my
language, I do it too: You don't want to say exactly the same
thing in every take. It's hard, though, for a foreigner who's not
used to the same language.

Olivier said that you're a woman torn between two cultures

"Torn" would be a strong word. There are days when I feel
torn. But it's not like that every day. There are days, also,
when I'm lucky to be in these two worlds. I get the best of both.
It's true that I'm between the two; I think I'm very Chinese but
with very Westernized thinking that doesn't work in Asia. My
friends often don't understand me.

Like what?

Making a film with one's ex-husband. (laughs)

Do you have a French or English perspective?

Not a French perspective. I'm beginning to understand what
French people are like. But no, I don't have that. But English
yes. I think what did more to give me a Westernized approach was
my childhood in England, the nine years that I spent there.

(This article was first published in Vietnamese in Nguoi-Viet
Daily News.)

Clean will be screened at the French Film Festival, which starts
on May 27. Log on to www.sinemaperancis.com