Action is a guy thing, especially when it comes to the arena of Asian martial arts films. Bruce Lee and Sonny Chiba introduced Americans to this particular form of bone-crunching excitement in the 1970’s with Enter the Dragon and Streetfighterr. Now martial arts films have evolved in a somewhat more innocent direction, with stars like Jackie Chan and Jet Li turning fights into airborne ballet. Such period Wuxia Pian movies as Drunken Master and Once Upon A Time In China weren’t about kicking the stuffing out of people. They were about technique and grace, and their stars were no less manly for moving like dancers instead of savage avengers.

Americans have caught on to this evolution with such imported Hong Kong hits as Supercop and Black Mask, and it didn’t take Hollywood long to make their own versions of these films. Jackie Chan did his amazing comic stunts for Rush Hour, Jet Li kicked ass in Romeo Must Die and Chow Yun Fat gunned down The Replacement Killers. But Hong Kong didn’t need the studios to produce what could be the most successful martial arts movie to hit these shores since Enter The Dragon. With its gravity-defying battles, emotionally affecting love story and epic scope, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon isn’t only the best martial arts film to be made. It will also be known as the one that smashed the rules of the genre. And maybe most importantly, Crouching Tiger promises to give Hollywood something it’s never really had before- the first female action superstar. Her name is Michelle Yeoh, and she could be the next big thing to hit this town if Asia ever got to small for her.

You can count a gun-toting Sigourney Weaver in Aliens or the Hong Kong-inspired fisticuffs of Charlies’ Angels when it comes to female action in Hollywood. But powerful women aren’t anything new to Hong Kong cinema. They’ve been there since the early days of "chopsocky." Indeed, Dragon’s Pei-pei Cheng (the villainess Jade Fox) was one of Wuxia Pan’s biggest stars in such 60’s films as Come Drink With Me and Golden Swallow . Female stars Maggie Cheung and Briggitte Lin have since shared equal footing in such women-oriented action films as Peking Opera Blues and The Heroic Trio. But the fact is that when it comes to international grosses, studio films are the ones that ends up counting. And in that respect, Michelle Yeoh has broken the gender barrier like no other Hong Kong starlet before her.

Michelle Yeoh has always delighted in the physical, from dancing to swimming, though she never thought of assuming the incredible stances that made her a star. As an aspiring dancer and choreographer, Yeoh won a beauty contest in her native Malaysia, then took home another trophy in Australia. Her radiant looks got her a commercial with Jackie Chan, followed by a contract for her first action film, 1984’s Owl Vs. Dumbo. Yeoh had to learn martial arts for the part, and its precise moves and frantic energy was an entirely new dance that appealed to her.

Whether Yeoh was wielding a sword or jumping a motorcycle onto a speeding train, her intensity and flair was more than equal to such co-stars as Jet Li in Tai-Chi Master and Jackie Chan in Police Story 3 (known here as Supercop). Yeoh’s Chinese policewoman in that film made such a strong impression that her character went solo for Police Story 4, with Jackie Chan giving a cameo appearance in drag. Yeoh played another strong-willed heroine in Wing Chun, showing that a tofu saleswoman in medieval China could be just as formidable as a modern-day cop. Yeoh’s other memorable action turns included Seven Maidens, Wonder Seven and Butterfly Sword. And when it came to grrrlll power, nothing could beat Yeoh’s appearances as Ching the invisible woman in The Heroic Trio and its sequel The Executioners, where she was part of a superheroine trio with other Hong Kong super-starlets Maggie Cheung and Anita Mui. Beyond the action area, Michelle Yeoh was able to show her dramatic kick in The Soong Sisters, The Stunt Woman and Moonlight Express.

When Hong Kong cinema became the rage among film buffs in the early 1990’s, Yeoh’s amazing train stunt in Police Story 3 was one image that stayed, especially in the minds of producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli. Their decision to cast her as a Bond girl in Tomorrow Never Dies truly catapulted Yeoh onto Hollywood’s radar screen. But then Wilson and Brocolli weren’t looking for just another exotic face for a Bond bedmate. They wanted a woman who could hold her own with 007, and Yeoh more than proved his equal, even getting her own fight scene sans 007- the first for any Bond girl.

Now Yeoh’s return to Asian cinema may yield her most universally acclaimed role. As Yu Shu Lien in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Yeoh jumps between her physical and dramatic talents with astonishing range. Her character is the guardian of a legendary sword, caught between duty and her sympathy for Ziyi Zhang (Jen Yu), a young warrior- thief who could easily be Lien’s dark side. Adding further conflict is Lien’s unspoken love for Li Mu Bai (Chow Yun-Fat), her comrade-in-arms who sees both salvation and revenge in turning Ziyi into his student.

Love comes to blows in quick course, as the character’s wounded emotions are expressed through any number of astonishing action scenes. One highlight is Yu’s "mano-a-mano" duel with Ziyi, where numerous deadly weapons are used to determine who’s spirit is stronger. But it’s also the quiet

conversations, longing glances and lyrical imagery set Crouching Tiger apart from any martial art film that’s come before. The lump in viewers’ throats, the fact that they’ve actually been touched by a movie like this might be the most incredible thing about it, in no doubt due to Yeoh’s tender scenes with Chow Yun-Fat.

Already a major hit the world over, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon re-defines what an action heroine is capable of, especially in the hands, feet and heart of Michelle Yeoh.

Venice: I was surprised by how much emotion was in Crouching Tiger, especially when you get to kiss Chow Yun-Fat. You never almost never get to see that in a period Hong Kong film. Characters in martial arts pictures are usually too repressed, too busy fighting, or too chaste to express their affection.
Michelle Yeoh: I think most Hong Kong action films never delve into the emotional side, which is what makes this film so different. This character of Yu Shu Lien was particularly challenging for me because of her emotional complexity. The director Ang Lee said to me right from the start "You are the anchor of this movie. You are the one that ties all of these characters together." If you viewed Yu Shu Lien like a contemporary women, you’d ask "Why wait twenty years to express your feelings? And the only way I could "be" this character was to really understand her kind of love for Li Mu Bai. At first I thought it was just about understanding that period of time in the Ching Dynasty, when love was taken for granted, and men and women were much more repressed and stoic, like my character and Chow’s. A part of their ethics is that they have a strong sense of honor and loyalty to someone who’s been dead for the last ten years. But after I looked into this character, I realized that her situation isn’t so different from what happens today. Even now you see unrequited love. I have friends who feel like that, and I say to myself "If I knew I truly loved someone like that, wouldn’t it honestly be wonderful? It wouldn’t be a sacrifice. It would be a hope that my life could change, and that would be absolutely glorious. So that really sustained me until the end of the film when we do get to kiss.

You have to bring a lot of back story to your character, since this film is based on part four of a five-part novel. It’s almost like jumping into Return of the Jedi without seeing Star Wars or The Empire Strikes Back!
Right. It wasn’t an easy task for the scriptwriter, the director or the actors! Since I never had the privilege of reading the other novels, I would spend hours listening tot he stories about Li Mu Bai and Yu Shu Lien from Ang. That’s where I would gather my information to understand their relationship. The minute my character and Chow Yun-Fat look at each other, we know there’s something "more" to their characters without them saying "Oh, yes, we haven’t seen each other for fifteen years, and so and so has died." But I think it was the stillness of Yu Shu Lien and Li Mu Bai that attracted me to the film, the fact that we didn’t have to actually tell their backstories.

Chow Yun-Fat has never done a movie like this, while you’ve had a strong background in martial arts films. Was it like working with someone from another "school" of Hong Kong action?
We both wanted to work with Ang Lee, because he’s a director with vision. This story was very close to our hearts, and we wanted the rest of the world to embrace it as well. And it must have been a challenge for Chow to do something different from the John Woo kind of films, where he’s shooting two guns at once. But as an actor, you need to be challenged constantly and creatively. It was very exciting, because no one had ever seen Chow with his head shaved, or carrying a sword. For us, the martial arts was a technical thing. It was purely about being dedicated and practicing and putting our minds to it.

Do you think you helped Chow Yun-Fat with his action scenes?
I think we all helped each other. What I try to do is share my experience of the martial arts. Practicing them for yourself and performing them on film are two very different things. But we had Woo-ping Yuen, and he’s got an amazing stunt team that taught us a lot.

How long did you practice for before you actually shot the film?
I train all the time. It’s part of my lifestyle. i don’t do it just for film, because the martial arts are very much about the spiritual and philosophical sides of life. For this particular movie, we also had to learn the Mandarin language and Imperial Court etiquette.

It must have been hard doing phonetic lines while swinging a broadsword!
That was just sheer, hard work. It was like learning a different language for me. I just took it in stride and said "Fine, I’ll put in four more hours of learning to do it right. I had a dialogue coach. He spoke the lines, wrote them down, and I memorized them. They became part of my character. So when I walked in front of the camera, I knew my dialogue without having to think about it. I also needed to know how to contain myself and still command peoples’ attention. My character is very much in a man’s world. I needed to walk into a room with all of these heroes and be a part of them without getting lost in their midst.

In that respect, Yu Shu Lien isn’t really a "police woman." She’s more like a member of a corps of palace guards.
Yes. Her family "business" was to escort valuables, whether it be a person or goods. And when you crossed terrains at that time, you’d run into pirates and bandits. So you needed a reliable escort, someone who could handle those problems and be entrusted with treasure. Yu Shu Lien had very unusual circumstances. There may have been no son in her family who could take over, so she had this responsibility of not just looking after herself, but after the few families that worked for her father. That’s why there are these people who live and work in her compound. They look to Yu Shu Lien as their provider. So she’s very wise and regal, which is something I worked hard to convey.

You could describe Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon as a "womans’ film." Chow Yun-Fat isn’t really the main character. He’s more of a supporting one.
Right. You see the two men support the emotions that Yu Shu Lien, Ziyi Zhang and Jade Fox are going through. I think at that particular period of time, and possibly even today, the social constraints may have seemed a lot more complex for women than the men. But on the flip side, Chow’s character has a lot of social constraints because he’s the guardian of the Green Destiny. He’s very much like a cowboy. When you’re the fastest draw, there’s always someone who’ll try to topple you. So your whole life is surrounded by achieving enlightenment, at being the best martial artist and swordsman that you can be. But at the same time, your love life and family life has to weave around that, and they aren’t the most important things in a man’s life.

How do you think the role of women in Hong Kong action cinema has changed since the days when Chen Pei-pei was a star?
I think when I first got into the industry, it was more male dominated. It’s the same problem world-wide in films. But now I think there’s been a great change, and it’s been a long time coming. You see a lot of Asian movies now where the women are stronger and more independent.

Besides Charlies’ Angels, you don’t really get a lot of strong female action leads in American films. But it’s no big deal to have them in Hong Kong action.
Right. Good! Crouching Tiger is like the flip side to Charlies’ Angels. It has this "hip" kind of action, but with a much more serious side as well. In Asia, I’ve had the privilege of working on a lot of movies where the woman is strong, and it seems to be accepted without the movie trying to make a feminist statement. For a while, I thought the same thing would be happening in American films after Thelma and Louise and the Alien series with Sigourney Weaver. I think we still need more pictures where women are strong. But men are now accepting us in these kinds of roles. They think it’s cool to see women doing action films, and they aren’t saying "Why are these women doing that?" That’s because of the quality of the films’ stories.

You’ve always been athletic. Did you ever see yourself doing action films?
I never thought I would be an actress. My first love was dance, and I had always wanted to be a dance teacher or choreographer. I had plans of going back to Malaysia and starting my own school. Then I was given the opportunity of going to Hong Kong and test out acting. When you’re young and out in the world on your own, you have to go for it! And I thought that if I didn’t like acting, I’d have something to go back to. But I found out that acting was an expression, where, like in dance, you reach out to the audience. You can touch them on a stage, but with movies, you touch so many people at the same time. That was very freeing for me.

One of the first Hong Kong movies I saw you in was Police Story 3. How do you think your association with Jackie Chan has helped your career?
Jackie and I are great friends. But more than just one person has helped me. There was a whole build-up to where I am now. The most important thing was that the audience out there wanted to see these kind of Hong Kong action films.

Now that you’ve worked with Jackie Chan, Jet Li and Chow Yun-Fat, how would you say their acting styles differ?
Every actor that I’ve worked with brings something to a film. And every movie is a learning experience, whether they have a big star or someone who’s just starting out. It’s been very important that I get something out of a film, whether it’s a new creative experience or making a new friend. I spent two years of my life on Crouching Tiger, and I’m still promoting it. This is very precious when you work so hard on a film, and it’s important to enjoy what comes out of the experience.

You hurt yourself doing that train stunt in Police Story 3. Did you get any injuries on Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon?
Yeah. I tore a ligament and I had knee surgery.

Jackie Chan is always trying to top himself. But is there any time when you do a double-take and say "Oh my God, can I do this stunt?"
I think you should always have that "double take" moment. You should always be afraid, aware and very respectful when you're doing stunts and action. I am very careful about what I do, but I could never prevent an accident. No one can. So I make sure I work with the best stunt team, because it's all about collaboration. It's not about one person being brave enough to do it. It's about everything coming together, then you just hope and pray that everything is safely done by the end of the day. The big stunts are always managed. It's always the little things that create chaos. But if you are gifted and you've done years and years of stunts, then they come to you more naturally.

One of Crouching Tiger's most incredible scenes is the big face-off between Yu Shu Lien and Ziyi Zhang. When you're doing a scene like that, do you really get "into" it?
You have to. You have to be that character. You're feeling what Yu Shu Lien is feeling. It's like "You have to give me back that sword!" Because it's not just about a sword. It's more about "That sword belongs to the man I've loved or so long. Now it's in the hands of this girl who doesn't care and doesn't appreciate it." Then everything else is the visual side of the fight, but the intensity of wanting the sword in every quiver, every motion, every step is what draws you in. The action in Crouching Tiger sticks in your mind not simply because it's visually exciting, but because they're so dramatic. The characters are doing more than just going through the motions. That's why I keep saying that Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is not just a martial arts film.

Most American audiences got to know you from Tomorrow Never Dies. How do you think you stood out as a Bond girl?
Well, that character was very different. I think everyone who saw that film realized that she was an equal to Bond in every way.

She could have almost been the same character from Supercop.
Well, yeah, she was very similar. Both were very independent, and lived by strict codes. But the woman in Tomorrow Never Dies had a lot more flare, because she's in a different environment. Being a part of that legacy was great fun.

Now you have your own film production company.
Yes. This is a very exciting time for me. I've been wanted to go behind the camera, so to speak. But I have no intentions of being a director. I just love producing, being able to see a project grow from nothing and to put it all together. But it's not easy to wear two hats as a producer and actress at the same time, and I was looking for partners that would be able to support me and make the same kinds of movies that I wanted to. But I also want to continue acting, because I love what I do. I love the struggles as well as the glamorous side of it. I think I'm probably the first actress in Asia who's producing and acting at the same time. Here you have Jodie Foster and Drew Barrymore. Fortunately for me, I found Media Asia, who wanted to collaborate with me. So we started Mythical Films in August of last year, and

we have two productions going on this year. One is a drama that I won't be starring in. The other is an action-adventure called The Touch which I'll be in.

I've read that you're going to be doing another Crouching Tiger film.
Someone asked Ang Lee if he'd do a sequel, and he said there was no sequel to this story. It had already been told. But, as you know, this plot comes from

the fourth of five novels.. So now you have one, two and three to work from. They're more about the stories of Yu Shu Lien and Li Mu Bai. We only sort of touched on their background in this film. There's also another love triangle, and we find out more about Jade Fox and Li Mu Bai's Master. Ang says that he's got someone in Taiwan working on the script for a prequel right now.

Would you want to be in it?
I would love to work with Ang Lee again. I think this was one of the most beautiful experiences that I've ever had. Crouching Tiger was rough on all of us, and I gave it everything I had as a person and an actress. But yes, I'd do another one at the drop of a hat!

A lot of people have described Crouching Tiger as the Star Wars of martial arts films. It could have the impact that really changes the face of action films the world over, along with everyone's career who was in it. Has there been any talk of doing a dubbed version for a major, nation-wide release?
I don't know. Right from the word go, there was always the question if we should shoot the film in English. It seemed like people in American didn't like to read subtitles. But I think times have changed, especially with this film. After five or ten minutes, you forget that you're reading subtitles. You forget that this is a foreign language film, and you just get into the whole story of it. Perhaps we should do a dubbed version. But I think the most important thing was to shoot it in our Chinese language.

Would you say there's a comraderie with you and other female action stars like Maggie Cheung and Anita Mui?
Oh yeah! Anita, Maggie and I are the best of friends. It's unfortunate we don't get to see each other too often, but when you're with real friends, you know that you don't have to be on the phone every day. Whenever Maggie comes back to town from France we will get together and pick up exactly where we left off. We catch up with each other very quickly. And I see Anita Mui most of the time. So I have a great rapport with my co-stars, whether they're guys or girls!