Zhang Yimou ranks right alongside Ang Lee as China’s most internationally acclaimed director. Lesser known to the public, is the fact that Zhang Yimou’s films are almost always exclusively produced by Zhang Weiping. Zhang Weiping founded the Beijing New Picture Film Co. in 1997, and has since financed production for many of Zhang Yimou's films, including Hero, Curse of the Golden Flower, and now his latest film The Love of the Hawthorn Tree. The Love of the Hawthorn Tree will premiere on September 16th in theaters around China.

A still portraying Jingqiu, the lead lady, from the movie The Love of the Hawthorn Tree
(Photo: Chutian Metropolis Daily楚天都市报 )

Both the director and executive producer of the The Love of the Hawthorn Tree have commented on just how difficult it is to find a lead lady for the role of an “untarnished” beautiful village girl in this day and age in China.

Executive Producer Zhang Weiping was quoted as saying, “Untarnished beauty is just so hard to find these days, we can't very well go look for our lead lady in the kindergarten now, can't we?”

Director Zhang Yimou echoed the same disappointment, “When you look at any picture of young Chinese women from the 60s and 70s period, you'll almost always have an eager face that radiates innocent beauty looking back at you. This is now a thing of the past, young folks rarely have that innocence about them any more.” 

Obviously, both the director and the film producer required a lead lady capable of portraying the “untarnished beauty” of a village girl, and they had had an unexpectedly difficult time auditioning people for the role. Finally, a senior high school girl by the name of Zhou Dongyu, from Shijiazhuang in Hebei Province, with “eyes that are clear like the mountain springs”, landed acceptance from both Zhangs. This was after several months of auditioning and casting before the beginning of the filming process.

Casting in Beijing turned up no one suitable (end of 2009 to beginning of 2010)
The assistant director filmed several auditions of likely casts for the role, and Zhang Yimou reviewed the tapes of the young women introducing basic information about themselves. The production crew had previously scoured all major acting and performance arts schools in Beijing putting together these audition tapes. But when Zhang had looked at the tapes, he had disappointment written all over his face, and was reported to have gotten more disheartened and crestfallen with each roll of the tape.

Casting expanded to all over China (February of 2010)
Then the production crew expanded their casting process to include women from all over China, collecting several thousand audition tapes of young women. After reviewing these tapes, Zhang still remained discouraged and feared that they’d never find a suitable girl for the lead role. Reportedly, Zhang commented, “These young folks are looking worse and worse with each generation. Pretty girls obviously aren't marrying handsome guys these days. They're hooking up with this sugar daddy and that old lonely bachelor with money. No wonder the kids are lacking in the looks department.” He even added, “The trend was apparent two decades ago, and now it's gotten to be more obvious. Pretty girls are just hard to come by these days. In another decade, it's only going to get worse.”

Finally, Jingqiu! (March of 2010)
Zhang was reportedly getting very edgy about not finding someone for the role of lead lady Jingqiu, and asked the assistant director to call the short listed candidates up for a face-to-face audition. Finally, Zhou Dongyu, a senior in high school, was awarded the role after interviews. 

So how difficult was it to fulfill Zhang's requirements for the lead role? An 18-year old college sophomore from Chengdu named Liang Xuemei had this to say about it, “Director Zhang said that he wants someone that wears no makeup, has no bangs, with good skin, and eyes that are clear and untarnished.” 

Source: ifeng.com

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Keywords: zhang yimou casting hawthorn tree Love of the hawthorn tree casting zhang yimou beauty love of the hawthorn tree beauty