Binoche plans film with Chinese director
2009-03-25

People Hou Hsiao-hsien Juliette Binoche Maggie Cheung Gong Li

SHANGHAI (AFP) - Oscar-winning French actress Juliette Binoche said Wednesday she is planning to work with feted Chinese film director Jiang Wen after her six-month world dancing tour ends next month.

"The English Patient" and "Chocolat" star said she planned to discuss plans with Jiang, whose film "Devils on the Doorstep" won the Grand Prix at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival.

"I am going to meet Jiang Wen when I am in Beijing, and we will talk about several projects that we will be working on," she told a news conference in Shanghai, without offering further details.

It would not the be the first time Binoche has collaborated with an Asian director. She took leading role in "Flight of the Red Balloon," the first Western film by celebrated Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao-Hsien.

"The way Hou Hsiao-Hsien did his movie just opened my mind completely... I have never seen a director be so open and generous with his actresses, I think it changed something in me," she said.

Binoche expressed her admiration for Chinese directors and actors, saying she "loved all Jia Zhangke's movies," referring to the director of the 2006 Venice Film Festival's Golden Lion award-winning film "Still Life."

She said she would also love to work with stars of Chinese cinema such as Gong Li and Maggie Cheung.

Binoche has been taking a break from acting to try dancing. She had never danced professionally before she took to the stage with top British choreographer Akram Khan in their show "In-I."

The actor, who underwent about two years of training for the show, will perform in Shanghai this weekend before moving on to Beijing where the tour concludes on April 5.