Always thanking director Hou Shiao-hsien whenever she speaks about her directorial debut, Shu Qi recently revealed that it was the Taiwanese filmmaker who inspired her to become a filmmaker herself more than a decade ago.
In an interview with Variety recently, the actress-turned-director, who debuted her first directorial effort, “Girl”, said that the idea of making the movie came around in 2011 when she was chatting with Hou about her doubts when it comes to acting.
“He suddenly said to me, ‘Do you want to be a director?’ I was shocked. I thought, how could this be possible? He said, ‘How would you know if you don’t try?’ So, this idea took root in my mind,” she said.
Shu Qi stated that Hou again asked her about it in 2013, when they were filming “The Assassin”, expressing his confidence in her.
“After that day, I began the script writing journey for more than 10 years; intermittently, overturned, restructured, overturned, pondering for an ending for a whole year and then overturned and reorganised over and over. Every time director Hou saw me, he would ask about how my writing was going. Many of his ideas have always influenced me. He would talk about Hemingway’s iceberg theory, that the story of a film is often the tip of the iceberg above water, so you have to explore the exposed part of the iceberg. When the bottom layer under the iceberg is accurate enough, the part above water can cause shock, with refraction of different scenery on different sides,” she said.
Shu Qi said that the script was finally completed while she was in Milan in 2023, following her jury duty at the Venice Film Festival that year.
As to what inspired her to write that particular subject, the actress expressed, “Like I mentioned earlier, without director Hou’s encouraging words, I would never have the slightest idea and drive to become a director myself. When I felt confused, he guided me, helping me write about what I was familiar with. Whether it was the places, the stories, or my life, I began with what I knew best: my experiences of growth.”
(Photo Source: Shu Qi IG, The Straits Times, UDN)