Jay Chou Wants to Be His Own Man on Screen
variety.comLily Ooi Acting and directing were not on Jay Chou’s mind when he first began his music career nearly two decades ago. But over the years, he has accumulated several memorable film and TV roles locally in Asia and in Hollywood.
And, between music ventures, he has sat in the film director’s chair.“I was born to believe in myself and complete my work on my own,” Chou said in a 2012 interview, discussing his work in acting and directing. “Once I understand how something works, I like to do it myself.”His screen career began in 2005, when Chou made his film debut with the release of car-racing action feature “Initial D,” an on-screen adaptation of the Japanese manga of the same name, directed by Hong Kong’s Andrew Lau and Alan Mak (“Infernal Affairs”).
The singer-songwriter from Taiwan was cast to play the film’s lead role, an emotionally reserved high school student who delivers tofu in his father’s Toyota Sprinter Trueno AE86, and turns out to be a gifted street racer.
His performance won Chou his first acting awards, the best new performer in both the Golden Horse Awards and the Hong Kong Film Awards.Then he went on to take part in Zhang Yimou’s (“House of Flying Daggers”) period epic “Curse of the Golden Flower” in 2006, starring opposite the renowned Chow Yun-fat (“Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”) and Gong Li (“Leap”).
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