China’s Zhang Weili has made a habit of defying the odds. The current Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) mixed martial arts star fought her way out of a hardscrabble life in the northern Chinese mining center of Handan to win the women’s strawweight division world title, then she lost it, and then she fought her way back to the top by winning it once again.
Along the way, the 35-year-old has become an icon in her homeland and beyond, with millions of fans drawn to her all-action style in the MMA cage, lucrative commercial deals with the likes of Estée Lauder, and the wealth that comes with a world championship, and – in total, across two stints as champion – four title defences.
China’s streaming giant iQiYi has been quick to sense an opportunity, and Wednesday news from the sidelines of the Beijing International Film Festival (BJIFF) is that a drama series charting Zhang’s life and times has just been green-lit and is soon to go into production.
There’s a buzz, also, about a new career move for Zhang – acting – and about her role in the Yu Li-directed drama After Typhoon, in which she makes her acting debut. It started screening on Monday to kick off the program at the BJIFF 32nd Beijing College Student Film Festival, one of the many sidebars used by the Beijing International Film Festival to spread films into the wider reaches of the Chinese capital’s community. The fest’s 15th edition runs through April 26.
The film is backed by Bad Rabbit Pictures and also features in small roles its founder Yao Chen (Send Me to the Clouds) along with another acclaimed Chinese star in Angelica Lee Sinje (The Eye). Zhang plays Ah Xi, a woman with a tragic past whose life is turned upside down after she meets a young stranger on a storm-threatened island.
The surprise for many has been that After Typhoon is not an action flick, but more an emotive art-house drama.
THR caught up with Zhang during a break in her busy daily training schedule, finding out how she relished the opportunity to take on the fresh challenge of acting and becoming someone “who is not Zhang Weili.”
Can we talk a little first about how your acting career came about?
Two years ago, the director [Yu Li] came to us and said he wanted to work with me. I was surprised at first, and I read the script but that movie never came about. But I did get to know the director, so I guess that started him thinking about other possibilities.
What attracted you to this character?
It’s funny, you know, because my coach [Cai Xuejun] passed the script on to me and he told me I would be playing the other lead character. So when I first read the script, I didn’t really think this was someone I could play. I just didn’t feel a connection at all. But when the director pointed out I would actually be playing Ah Xi, I was immediately interested. The role is so more suitable for me. She is a very powerful woman, and she also has the power to help people, even to help heal them, and these aspects of the character were very appealing to me.
Had you ever seriously thought about acting before?
Not at all. Never. It happened all of a sudden, and because it happened all of a sudden, I was initially against it. Especially because this isn’t a fight film, it’s not action. It’s a very emotional film, and I wasn’t really sure to start with how that might affect me. I am comfortable fighting – that is my world. But digging into drama, into emotions, is so very different from what I usually do. But the more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea of taking on this challenge.
‘After Typhoon’Courtesy of Bad Rabbit Pictures
What was the most difficult thing about the experience?
In the beginning, the biggest
challenge was the psychological one of trying to forget that I am Zhang Weili. I had to forget
about her, which is actually a hard thing to do for the first time. But the more I thought
about it, the more I thought about how it should be natural, because everyone has different
versions of themselves in their heart. There’s the gentle version, there’s the fierce one,
there’s the dark one, there’s the strong one, the fragile one. There are many sides to
everyone. So once I thought a lot about that, I realized I just had to find that side of
me – the one that fit this character – and I had to become that person. Once I realized
th
