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AsianConnections Team member Suzanne Kai chatted with
superstar Chow Yun-Fat in Beverly Hills about his latest film, "Anna
and the King." Chow talked about his film roles, and about the person
who has inspired him most in his life.
Chow was
charming and engaging, revealing more of the human being behind
his "superstar status." He talked of the hardships of
his childhood and moral values in today's fast changing society.
The conversation is filled with laughter as you can read and hear
from the following interview highlights and audio clips:
Chow Yun-Fat comments on his name: You can call me Puppy Chow.
[laughter] Chow is my surname. Yun-Fat is my given name.
Some people call me Mr. Fat. Interesting. Or maybe you can call me
"Fatty" [laughter]
AsianConnections:
You just flew in from China to California?
Chow Yun-Fat: I just finished a new movie
in Beijing. It is another Ching Dynasty epic movie, involving
a lot of martial arts, sword fighting, and romance. It is
called "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," directed by Ang Lee.
AsianConnections:
First off, I want to mention that your role is historical, in that
you are probably one of the first, if not the first Asian male to
play a starring romantic role in a major American movie.
Chow
Yun-Fat: No, no, no. John Lone, "The
Last Emperor." Oh, another guy is [the late] Haing Ngor.
He did "The Killing Fields." It's a very heavy drama role.
I like it.
AsianConnections:
But we believe you may be the first Asian male actor to carry an
entire major American motion picture as a romantic leading man.
How do you feel about doing dramatic versus action roles?
Chow
Yun-Fat: Of course, holding a girl [is] better
than holding a gun! [laughs]
Plus
this movie, I got tons and tons of concubines, wives, and kids.
But you can see a lot of action movies that I've done before, even
though I still have two bags of uzis and colt 45's, [it's] very
heavy, and every time you have to push your finger to open fire,
so tiring! But if you have tons of girls, you just sit there,
somebody do[es] a massage for you, serving you food and water.
It's totally a different story.
AsianConnections:
Your choice of role in "Anna and the King" is a fantastic role for
an Asian male actor. Most of the Asian male roles have been
somewhat stereotypical. But this is the first "whole
person"�what are your thoughts on that?
Chow
Yun-Fat:Yes, yes, very interesting. And very exciting
and very challenging. I think it's good that more American
people [can] see the different faces of Yun-Fat. Not just
like�only he can do action. Actually, if you go back to the
early 80's I did a lot of TV series which is very popular in Hong
Kong. They are romance. Like now, in this movie give[s] Yun-Fat
one more try, to go back to the old days, to do the drama
again, to do the romance again. For the first time in 1986,
I made with John Woo, "A Better Tomorrow," and [then] sudden[ly],
I become an action hero, because before that I am still a romantic,
comedy actor. 
AsianConnections: Can you
tell us about working with Jodie Foster?
Chow
Yun-Fat: She's very talented, she's very professional.
She's got tons and tons of patience. The lady's no sweat. Even under
the heat [35 C/90 F], very hot sun, very humid weather, she never
sweat. She's just cool and calm. I'm lucky that I have such
kind of opportunity to work with her. She's adorable. Sometimes
can be playful and funny.
AsianConnections:
Jodie says very complimentary things about you as well. She
mentions your "inner stillness."
Chow
Yun-Fat: Because I paid her. [laughter]
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