After Gong Li and Hong Kong’s Deanie Ip Tak-han, Xin Zhilei has become the third Chinese actor to win the Volpi Cup for best actress at the Venice Film Festival, claiming the prize for her performance in “The Sun Rises on Us All.”
The melodrama, directed by Cai Shangjun (who won the Silver Lion for Best Direction in 2011 for “People Mountain People Sea”), has its Asia premiere at the Busan International Film Festival.
In the film, Xin plays Meiyun, a woman haunted by her unspeakable past and her ex-lover, who keeps her dark secret. For Xin, who has dreamed of international stardom throughout her nearly two-decade career in Chinese cinema, the Venice recognition marks a significant step toward that goal.
It’s been a few days since you won the Volpi Cup. How have your feelings shifted since then? How do you feel now?
My emotions have been quite up and down – one moment I feel like I’m soaring, the next I’m on the ground. It all feels like a dream. Even now, I can hardly believe it’s real. Over the past few days, I’ve gradually calmed down. There’s been a lot of coverage in China, mostly about me personally, but what I really feel most strongly now is a sense of restlessness – I hope people will shift their attention to our film. Winning Volpi Cup is of course a wonderful thing, and I’m truly grateful for all the congratulations. But I really hope the focus can return to the film itself and that the film receives the attention it deserves.
When you first read the script, how did it impress you? When did the preparations for the film begin, and what about your character, Meiyun, captured you?
We started last year. Our director reached out to me through a mutual friend and sent me the script. The moment I read it, I knew I must play her. Even though the story doesn’t have a grand narrative with dramatic ups and downs, it portrays humanity with such delicacy and depth – it felt very different. At its core, it’s really about human nature, the moral dilemmas of two ordinary people, and their struggles between good and evil.
This character was exactly the kind of role I had been waiting for – a well-rounded female character with a complex inner world. Both the script and the role drew me in completely. At the time, I knew the director had already won best director in Venice many years ago, but I didn’t take on the role with the hope of winning anything. It was truly the story and the character that I had always longed for.
What was the biggest challenge in playing this role? Can you share one or a few scenes that impressed you the most?
At first, the biggest challenge in this role was understanding Meiyun, because the script is quite unconventional. Our screenwriters are really talented and created a female character that I had hardly seen in Chinese cinema before – understanding her was the first step. The role required me to fully immerse myself, which was also very difficult. We shot the film at a quite fast pace, and our time was limited – the entire shoot lasted less than fifty days. I had to quickly dive in within a very short period, understand the story, and bring to life the deeper layers written in the script, so that the audience can engage with it. I had to give it all.
During filming, many scenes were unforgettable, but the most memorable was the final scene. The long sequence at the bus station was actually shot all in one day. I remember that day was extremely rushed, and I had to get into the right emotional state very quickly – it had to happen in an instant, which made it especially challenging. I was devastated for almost the entire day. But it wasn’t just about feeling almost broken, there was also a sense of helplessness, which was quite difficult to balance.
Each scene was shot intermittently that day, but you couldn’t just take a lunch break or step away for a moment and then slip back into the character. That day, we were racing against the sunlight. Our film is called “The Sun Rises on Us All,” and the director was very keen on filming the final scene when the sun was at its peak, so we had to finish everything before 3 p.m. The pace was quite intense. Our cinematographer was amazing – despite the tight schedule, he captured the actors’ performances precisely. Everything about that day was truly unforgettable.
You’ve mentioned that getting into the character was really challenging – do you have any methods or skills that help you immerse yourself in the role?
There’s really only one way for me to get into a character: understanding her and empathizing with her. I’ve always believed that if, while playing a role, you’re constantly asking “why,” then maybe that character is not for you. Before filming, I had thorough discussions with the director and had a complete understanding of the character’s inner world.
You’re known for having a cheerful and candid temperament, whereas Meiyun is rather sorrowful as she has some painful experiences. Do you feel there are any similarities between her and you, either in personality or in life experiences?
I find the director quite funny – he said that after watching “Divas Hit the Road” (a popular Chinese reality show that Xin joined in its 5th season in 2023), he felt I had some similarities with Meiyun. I thought about this for a long time, and actually, in terms of life experiences and personal growth, there isn’t much overlap at all.
But if we talk about human nature and the deeper parts of her inner world – the thoughts she has – Meiyun isn’t just like me; she’s like everyone in real life. I mean, when a person finds themselves trapped in a moral dilemma of their own making, they experience a kind of guilt. I drew from some of my own childhood experiences, such as things related to my father, moments that made me feel guilty. In this respect, I feel Meiyun is quite similar to me.
I also discussed this with the director: people may seem happy and live normally, but deep inside, they all carry some degree of guilt toward certain people or events. I can really relate to that feeling. Meiyun has a very distinctive trait, and the part of her that resembles me most is that, just as we wrote in the script, her eyes are always looking forward. Whatever life throws at her, she keeps going and strives to live. That’s probably the aspect I relate to most.
Besides discussing the character with Cai Shangjun before filming, how does he work on set?
The atmosphere on set was quite relaxed, because it was built on a foundation of mutual trust, which made the work go very smoothly. Since we had already communicated extensively beforehand, we had no need to talk too much on set.
He gave actors a lot of space. For example, if actors wanted to add their own spin to the character and improvise beyond the script, he would fully support it. Even if he might not think it would work perfectly at the moment, he encouraged us and allowed us to explore our own ideas. This is something I really appreciated – he did not limit my imagination, giving me enough space to add my own spin and interpretations, while maintaining mutual trust.
So what spin did you add?
Quite a few, actually. For example, the scene in the shopping center, the one where I’m doing my makeup while talking to Baoshu (played by Zhang Songwen), right before going on live-stream shopping broadcast. That detail wasn’t in the script.
On set, I thought that if they were just talking face-to-face, the scene might not feel very rich. When Meiyun is recalling her pain and telling her past, her body language always goes first. So I asked the director if I could deliver that line while preparing for the live-stream and doing my makeup. He said, “Sure, let’s try it.” He gave me a lot of space, and the creative atmosphere was great. Even the lines I said during the live-stream weren’t in the script; he gave me the freedom to perform it as I envisioned what a real live-stream would be. I had watched some live-stream shopping before, and these impressions came from my own watching experiences.
You are the third Chinese actor to win the Volpi Cup. You mentioned before that Gong Li congratulated you through a mutual friend. As your career has progressed, have there been any actors you’ve aspired to?
There are too many. Chinese actors like Gong Li and Maggie Cheung, as well as international stars like Michelle Yeoh, they are all actors I greatly admire. When I entered the industry, they were already role models and iconic figures I aspired to.
The biggest star I’ve ever met abroad was Meryl Streep, when I was at Berlinale (for “Crosscurrent” in 2011). Her impact on me wasn’t just about acting. There was a moment when she came on stage as the president of jury, people gave her a 10-minute standing ovation. I was moved to tears. At that moment, I thought, “I want to become an actor like her someday,” because she commanded such respect and exuded such accomplishment. She was smiling so joyfully and effortlessly on stage – I realized that’s the kind of actor I want to be. That moment left a very deep impression on me.
You posted a photo with her on Chinese social media site Weibo, where you were hugging her. How did it feel to meet and interact with her at that moment?
At the time, we couldn’t really communicate well – my English wasn’t very good – so I spoke in short phrases. But she kept encouraging me, telling me I was doing well and to keep going. She felt very much like an elderly family member, warm and generous, never withholding a hug, and always the same with everyone she met.
When I was a kid, I watched “The Bridges of Madison County” with my mother. At the time, I didn’t really understand what love or relationships were, not to mention that the story was about a love affair. Yet, the film still moved me, and I cried for a long time. I couldn’t really tell why I was crying – the emotions, though I didn’t fully understand them, still touched me. As I grew older, I came to better understand the complexity of the emotions in the film, and now I realize what I was crying about as a child.
You delivered a performance completely different from your previous work in “The Sun Rises on Us All.” In the future, what kind of roles or genres of films would you like to challenge yourself with?
Actually, it’s hard to answer this question in terms of a specific genre. If you’d asked me before I played in “The Sun Rises on Us All” to choose a type of film I wanted to do, I couldn’t have said. Meiyun is an ordinary woman selling clothes in Guangzhou, and I already found that challenging enough. It really depends on the depth and complexity of the character – whether the role attracts me enough to want to step into her world.
I haven’t been thinking much about specific characters I want to play in the future, but there’s one type I really want to try: action roles like what Michelle Yeoh did. I’ve always had a dream of playing a warrior heroine, and I want to pursue it when I still have the physical strength. But I hope the character is rich and well-rounded. I watched a Netflix animated series, “Blue Eye Samurai,” and I loved it. If they ever made a live-action version, I think it would be incredibly fun for me to play the heroine.
After winning the Volpi Cup, many people found your Weibo post from 2018, where you jokingly introduced yourself as an “international superstar.” Now that you truly are an international star, have you set any new goals for yourself? Some other awards or collaborating with even bigger filmmakers?
That “international superstar” remark in my acceptance speech was really just a response to my younger self. Honestly, I’m still far from being an international superstar – I’ve only won an international award, so please don’t call me that. True international stars, like Gong Li, Maggie Cheung, Michelle Yeoh, Zhang Ziyi, and Zhou Xun – I still have a long way from them. They have made many films that international audiences know well.
If I think about the future, I want to see the Volpi Cup as a start. I hope to play iconic roles and eventually become a real international star. Not just with one classic work – I hope to perform in many classic films. I feel that winning the Volpi Cup is not just a personal achievement – it’s also a very exhilarating moment for Chinese cinema. After so many years, having a Chinese actor receive this award again shows the world that Chinese films are still going strong.
In October, people will see you on many fashion magazine covers, and your new film “A Writer’s Odyssey II” is set to be released in China on October 1st. How do you feel about this film?
My first collaboration with director Lu Yang was “Brotherhood of Blades II: The Infernal Battlefield.” At that time, I was experiencing the lowest time in my life, and he chose me to play one of the major supporting roles under enormous pressure. He had strong faith in me, gave me lots of space to perform, and supported me tremendously.
As a filmmaker, Lu has always been deeply fascinated by both the world of animation and the wuxia genre. “A Writer’s Odyssey” series is his way of creating a universe, a kind of alternate dimension where everyone has different superpowers. You could even call it China’s version of the Marvel universe. I found that really exciting. When he first told me about this project, I said that no matter what, I would support him and take part in the film.
