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Hong Kong Actresses Make Their Presence Felt in Big-Budget Hollywood

Posted by Scott Weinberg on Monday, Sep. 26, 2005, 12:36 AM


"If you love Michelle Yeoh and Gong Li (and, c'mon, how could you not?) and you've already seen all of their native flicks, you'll definitely want to keep your eyes peeled for this December's "Memoirs of a Geisha," in which they both star. But according to an article at The Hollywood Reporter, you'll also be able to catch the Asian dolls in a bunch of big-budget projects, including Danny Boyle's "Sunshine," and the next "Silence of the Lambs" follow-up.

"...the women have been working their way more and more toward the West, with Gong Li having signed up for "Miami Vice" and the fourth sequel to "The Silence of the Lambs." Yeoh is in the thick of location shooting for Danny Boyle's sci-fi "Sunshine" in London. Both actresses star in DreamWorks' "Memoirs of a Geisha," scheduled for a December release.

Actors like Chow (Yun-Fat)-- probably the most established in Hollywood as a character actor -- say they are not bothered by where they film as long as they like the script. "We're very selective about the script and the role he is asked to perform. As long as the script is adequate and the role is suitable, it is immaterial whether the production takes place in China, Hong Kong or the U.S.," Chow's wife and manager, Jasmine Chow, says.

But with Hong Kong's ability to get projects off the ground sooner, being back home is a more attractive option than sticking around in Los Angeles for a couple of years waiting on a project. "You have to remember, in Hong Kong you can do three projects a year, but in Hollywood, it may take that long to just get one project off the ground. I don't think the actors have that much choice," says Yeoh, who spent the past seven years exercising creative control over such local projects as "The Touch" and "Silver Hawk" after "Tomorrow Never Dies."

Yeoh says finding roles for Asians in Hollywood is difficult but she says things seem to be changing and adds that she has been lucky to receive a "more balanced" selection of roles. In "Sunshine," she plays a botanist who gets very little chance to kick ***.

"I'm lucky that my own acting has grown and the audience has grown. In the past, they might just have looked at action roles for us, but that's no longer the case now," she says."