Although she will soon appear on the big screen in "Ashes of Time Redux," the director's cut of Wong Kar Wai's 1994 classic, Maggie Cheung has not made a movie in four years. During this hiatus, Cheung has stated in interviews her plans were to do no more than one film every two years, but she hasn't held to that schedule and appears increasingly reluctant to do so. She prefers living a quieter life out of cinema's public glare, allowing her to pursue other interests. (And away from the Hong Kong paparazzi, of whom she has been harshly critical in the past.) , and referred to somewhat bitterly in this interview.
In spite of her recent inactivity, Cheung can still be regarded as one of the reigning Chinese movie queens, and on the evening of June 30th she was the guest on Phoenix TV's popular talk show "A Date With Luyu." [The title refers to the show's hostess, Chen Luyu.] During the wide-ranging interview, Cheung talked of many subjects, past, present and future. Speaking of love, she described herself as being very romantic; of life, she said she has learned to be thrifty; about not working, she said that music has become her major interest; as for movies, the actress indicated she has no plans to make any in the next year or two. 
[right, Maggie Cheung with hostess Chen Luyu; click on picture for larger image]
She discussed the "life mentoring" program she is involved with, in which 10 young women from different universities, selected because of their outstanding achievements as students, are mentored by Cheung and 4 other older women who have major accomplishments in their own lives and careers. The idea for this campaign originated with Cheung herself, and it reflects her public image of someone who wants to give back to life in a more meaningful way.
Helping these 20-something young women is the fulfillment of a dream for Cheung and something that pleases her greatly. Her own aspirations at age 20? "Find someone, marry and have children," she said. "But I found out I was not too suited for that, so I married, then divorced."
In spite of that, she still considers herself a traditional woman, capable at such mundane household matters as sewing, cooking and housekeeping. At the same time, she admits to being a total romantic: "The romantic aura is just too important to me, and I approach everything I do from that angle." So at home she cooks for her sweetheart, preparing such homey dishes as steamed meat dumplings and scrambled eggs with tomatoes, and they often dine by candlelight.
Life in Beijing and Hong Kong
Who can doubt that Maggie Cheung is a romantic? She has
gone to various locations for love, the most recent being Beijing.
"While I never stay longer than two weeks at a time, I do come here
often." When here, she does her utmost to blend in, and in addition to
visiting such tourist sites as the Great Wall, also fulfilled a desire
to ride the subway.
When she takes the subway, Cheung
dresses very severely, with a hat, muffler and scarf, because "I don't
want everyone pointing me out." But when someone does recognize me, I
say 'Oh please, [don't tell anyone]!'"
The Beijing
shopping practice of price haggling has "infected" Maggie as well: "I
always wear a smile and try not to get too greedy [at lowering the
price], so I'm usually successful at it."
[below, Maggie discussing a more pleasant topic than the HK media; click on picture for larger image] 
But when the subject of life in Hong Kong came up, in
speaking of her encounters with the entertainment media there, Cheung
appeared somewhat angry and initially at a loss for words.
"No matter where I go, or what I do, or who I might be eating or
drinking tea with or shopping, there will definitely be photos of that
the next day. Sometimes I'll go out without telling anyone, but in a
little while there will certainly be reporters following me. Hong Kong
is a fairly small place, and people there pay a lot of attention to the
private lives [of celebrities], and telephone [reporters] about their
movements. And they'll be there in 5 minutes at most. I realize
that's their job, but I believe that freedom is most important, so
constantly being under their observation has always been most annoying
for me..."
A bit later in the interview, Cheung returned
to the subject of the Hong Kong media, recalling her absolute worst
experience with them.
"There was a time when I wasn't able
to go out for two weeks, because of reporters parked just outside the
building, waiting for me to dare go out." So later that same year,
2002, she bought what she thought was her dream home, paying RMB18
million yuan (a bit more than US$2 million at that time). On Nanwan
Road in the Jilin area of Hong Kong, it was situated about 2200 feet up
on a hillside, with lovely views of the hills from the rear and the
harbor from the front. She loved its scenic and romantic setting in
Hong Kong, and enjoyed puttering around the house, enjoying the views.
But just a few days later, Cheung discovered pictures of her
house and herself published in a newspaper. "I thought, 'How can this
be possible? You can't see anything from the rear window but a
hillside! Well, they had been taking pictures of me from that hillside
300 metres away, and there were pictures of everything I did. There
was nothing I could do but draw the curtain and block out the view
forever. But I also thought at the time, 'it doesn't matter,' because
I can still enjoy looking out the front window at the water."
But just a few days after drawing the rear curtains, something
strange and unexpected began taking place out on the water. "They had
gone so far as to rent a yacht where they could sit and watch and
photograph me all the time. There was nothing I could do now but draw
the front window curtains as well, and shut off the outside completely!"
No Movie Plans
While Maggie Cheung has many identities, naturally the
most dazzling is that of a movie actress. In discussing her past
acting experiences, when asked what actress she had most liked working
with, Cheung said it was [the late] Anita Mui. "She was a very straightforward woman, and very few actresses are as free of jealousy as she was."
The movie role that put the greatest pressure on Cheung, as
well as presenting the greatest challenge, was the title role in "Ruan Lingyu":
"because she was a real person, a legend, and I didn't want to do a
poor job of acting." For the role, Cheung not only learned to dance
the rumba, in her spare time during the filming she read every written
source about Ruan she could find.
Of the many screen characters she has portrayed, Cheung's favorite is Li Qiao in "Comrades, Almost a Love Story":
"Although our [life] backgrounds were different, there were so many
similarities in our personalities she was the character most like
myself."
So having spoken so much about the past, what
comes from here on? "Every time I have completed a part, I have the
feeling I don't want to do that same thing again." And returning to
the topic of creativity, "I'm finding fewer and fewer parts that I
haven't played before, so if it's just repeating something I've done in
the past, then I don't care whether I do it."
Maggie
Cheung says that other than movies, the art form she still finds most
interesting is art. She likes to dabble in colors, likes to draw, and
recently took up music. She says that she likes to take risks, and
taking time off is a form of risk-taking, but if that turns out to have
been a mistake, she will consider it a lesson learned. She also says
she has no plans to make a movie in the next year or two.
