Gao Yuanyuan was born in Beijing, China and has appeared in several hit films including Beijing Bicycle and Shanghai Dreams. Her most recent role is in Jackie's Hong Kong film Rob-B-Hood. 

Gao Yuanyuan’s Interview

Even though I've been in Hong Kong many times before, this is the first time I was in Hong Kong to make a film, and the first time I was working with Big Brother Jackie Chan. A lot of people asked me how that felt. First of all, I can’t praise Hong Kong enough for being such a clean, exciting city.

To be honest, I feel similar to many people who have never worked with Jackie before, as I can see him on television or newspapers every day, and everyone grew up watching his movies. So to work with him does not feel alienating at all. Before I worked with Jackie I felt that he was very professional person who takes his work extremely seriously, and this is the impression I got from him. After working with him, apart from my original feelings I have an even stronger impression of him. He is very professional, more so than I expected. His passion and attitude towards his work is a lot stronger than one might think. I feel this is good for me, as working with him meant his influence rubbed off onto me, helping me push myself further forward.

As for filming in Hong Kong, I feel that the Hong Kong film crew is very efficient, very fast. Everyone is also very professional, and I think because everyone knows that Jackie is here, they are always excited and active, completely dedicated to the work. I also find that Big Brother Jackie is very friendly, taking care of everyone on the film crew. His diligent attitude affects everyone on set, and no one would feel comfortable slacking off. It is good to have such a good example there, and let every Chinese see such a wonderful role model. So I feel extremely fortunate to be able to work side by side with him.

Big Brother Jackie Chan made his name making action films, but the role he asked me to play has no action part, just dramatic scenes. To be honest I don’t like making action films because my body is terrible at learning, and would take a very long time to learn the actions that would not look good at all. I am definitely not a good action film actor, so I am not particularly good with making action films.

This experience of making a film in Hong Kong has been a very good one, when I return to the mainland I will tell what I experienced to my friends. But I don’t need to say too much about Hong Kong, many people in the mainland would be desperate to make their way to the clean and exciting Pearl of the Orient!

Photos © 2006 The JC Group

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