2008.09.25

Abstract: If people didn't like you, why would they waste their time, waiting outside your home? Why did I only think of my own feelings and not consider fans' disappointment at not being able to see their idol? If I didn't often stay at home, instead I often showed up in the streets, they probably wouldn't wait for me at the door of my home. Ha Ha! This way of looking at issues from another person's perspective is something I've gradually developed after working in the show business.

He never thought that 'Meteor Garden' would turn out to be a high-speed roller coaster climbing upward easily. But the decision to stop it was not him alone to make. From then on, he began to live a life he described as very incompatible.

From the initial 'Meteor Garden' to the present 'Linger', just as he himself said, he has completed the process of transforming from a caterpillar into a butterfly. Others join the show business with great passion, and then consolidate their careers and lives in the process. He is the opposite. In retrospect, he accompanied a friend to an audition and was spotted and chosen by the producer, Chai Zhi Ping. His participation in 'Meteor Garden' was entirely accidental,which was different from others. While he wasn't filming the drama, besides memorizing the script, he was counting the days to go back to his home town, Yi Lan.

Come to think of it, it wasn't easy for him, with a personality of "Zhai Nan", to have barged into a place full of conflicts and issues. Fortunately, he is a tolerant person and does things at a pace either a tad slower or faster than others. Either way, he always lucks out and hits the mark.

Recently he has been so busy like a man flying all over the place. However, in contrast with the previous days when he was displayed everywhere like a commodity, now he is doing promotions willingly. One day he is promoting his new single "I'm not F4", next day he pull in Li Bing Bing to talk up 'Linger'. Seeing him dressed in black sitting opposite me, I can't help remembering how he was six year ago when F4 first did promotions in Mainland China. Among the four member he spoke the least, his eyes large but empty. Now and then he would crack a joke that people slow in response would not be able to understand. Now he still cracks jokes. However, they are no longer cold jokes and he is the first to burst into laughter. He can even throw in a topic for you to continue the interview. It seems that time indeed is the best tool to train a person.

About his changes in the past eight years, he says with a subtle smile, "Previously, I often switched too fast in thinking and confused people, which also made me feel tired. But, I was too slow in making changes in action. It took eight years to complete the process of transforming into a butterfly; I have finally really adapted to the show business."

Adapt to show-business work

From 'Meteor Garden', 'Poor Prince', 'Silence', to 'sweet relationship', whether it be a good drama or a high-TV-rating drama, he just couldn't find any sense in them. Ever since he knew that there is no way to go back being a boy next door in Yi Lan, he has bee searching for his own acting talents to find a reason to stay in the show business.

One drama after another, but he still couldn't make a breakthrough. "I told myself that if I kept living this kind of life, I would go back to Yi Lan. I had to go back. Combining the two separated voices in my heart, I would never force myself to do things," said Zhou Yu Min in an emotional voice. But everything changed at the moment when he started to work on 'Mars'. "It was like a person who has learned English for over ten years and yet dares not speak English. For no particular reason, suddenly he starts to communicate with other people in English fluently and eloquently. For the first time ever, my acting cells were so highly charged. After that, it is a non-stoppable train. I'm getting more and more ambitious. It is like some desire lurked hidden inside me for years has come alive. I have become a person with a strong motivation in the acting career."

H: Was working with Johnnie To a proof of you are expanding your territory?

Zhou: Yes, in a Way! Before I never knew to seize an opportunity. As a matter of fact, I met Director To a few years back. He came over to get acquainted with me. When my manager introduced Director Johnny To to me, I said politely to him, "How do you do? Someday I'll invite you to tea." I remember he looked puzzled and the expression in his eyes was strange. I figured that he had been astonished by me. Maybe he had never met an artist as brainless as me before. At that time, I was like a puppet, a puppet who did his work as was told to. I did what was asked of me, very passive. I was completely clueless about seizing opportunities."

H: Do you know now?

Zhou: Yeah! Also my ambition is growing bigger. Consider it a case of a late starter who wants to be ahead! Because I've just realized the meaning of working, I'm like an elementary-school student who has fallen behind and hopes to catch it all up in one fell swoop. I'm too greedy to be patient.

H: Johnnie To has shot many action movies with gunfights, are you interested in this genre of movie?

Zhou: Of course! Not only that, I have a natural talent for it. I already earned my black belt in Tae Kwon Do when I was a fifth grader. And I was a member of the track team during my middle school years. Doing action scenes won't overwhelm me.

H: How do you look at the character you play in 'Linger"?

Zhou: Unexpectedly. When I knew I was to play a 'ghost'. I thought I would fly here, there, and everywhere, but the director told me that the ghost role I played was human-like and, like a normal person, he had emotions of happiness, anger, sadness, and joy. As it was my debut movie and was directed by a famous director, I had been quite nervous before the filming started. However, during the filming, I realized that there was another side of me, that I could be so talkative and man-like. This movie has changed me. My passion for acting reaching a higher level, I completed my process of transforming from a caterpillar into a butterfly.

H: How do you think of working with Johnnie To?

Zhou: tense and exciting. Director To has uncovered another side of me. I hope in the future I will have a chance to enrich my acting repertoire by playing a role of split or multiple personalities, or someone with mental disorder, which would be the best.

H: Doesn't it sound like you're trying to reestablish your personal goal? Your new single 'I'm not F4' gives the impression that you are impatient to get rid of something.

Zhou: No. I just want to tell people who care that I have grown more. I'm entering into a new space for growth. If there is anything to get rid of, it is my previous lifestyle which was more passive than active. Now I'm the master of my own acting career, no longer a puppet. And I'm increasingly appreciating the pleasure after dealing with matters by taking the initiative and facing them positively.

Adapt to show-business love

First love is always memorable for us. Zhou Yu Min is no exception. His first love happened when he was a high-school freshman. The girl attended the same high school. At that time, he enjoyed playing basketball. Though the girl was not tall, she was an excellent basketball player. They often met at the court. As time went on, they would set up time to play together. Later, the basketball court turned into their dating place. The romance lasted for two years. It gradually died for they were both busy with school work. He admitted it was romantic and affectionate. One time he even hoped to meet his first again, not to continue what was left off, but to be friends again.

H: In 'Linger', you and Li Bing Bing acted a touching love story. In real life, how do you see love?

Zhou: Let everything take its course. Won't pursue it forcibly, but won't avoid it, either. Furthermore, I will not change myself in the name of love.

H: I heard that you likes to write love letters.

Zhou: I wrote some. As a matter of fact, using letter letters to record the feelings of love gives me a warm feeling. I don't like sending text messages because you can't save them forever. But love letters are different. Years later, when you read them again, love may have gone, but they still make your heart feel warm.

H: There was so much publicity about your break-up with DaS. How do you view the romance between you two.

Zhou: In the realm of lovers, we have gone our separate ways, but in the realm of family members, our affection is deeper. I can only say that the affection between us has been elevated higher, from lovers to family members. As it's easier to maintain a family relationship than a love relationship, I can only say our decision was a matured one.

H: How do you think of DaS?

Zhou: She is a professional. She is the person I've trusted and thanked the most since I entered the show business.

H: What kind of woman do you like?

Zhou: I like the matured kind. Though I'm only 27 years, my psychological age is much older. I don't like little girls. I have more common topics to talk about with more matured women.

H: Has this relationship left you with some ill feelings?

Zhou: None. Xi Yuan and I decided to break up after we thought it over carefully. As I said previously, we felt relaxed after we both spoke what was on our minds. Now my most important thing is to expand my career. As for my future love, I'll let it take its course. As for what kind of woman I'll choose, I can't dictate it; it's my heart that will dictate. Love is not career that you can plan and work at. Love is between two people, it's not just what I say counts.

H: The private life of artists has always received a great deal of attention. How do you look at this?

Zhou: I have gradually learned to get used to it, but the learning process was very uncomfortable. It was like wearing a pair of ill-fitted shoes. It made you not want to go out. Later I finally got it. As a public figure, I have received more than an average guy; it's only fair that I should pay more. After I thought it through, my mindset and attitude changed. I'm no longer so antagonistic. After all, though people show great interests in the private life of artists, most have no ill intentions.

Adapt to show-business life

Since he started working in the show business, Zhou Yu Min says that the only thing unchanged is his life style. He is a typical Zhai-Nan who would rather spend his leisure time at home reading books, watching DVD, and cooking for himself than go outside. "Many things can be changed, but there are certain things that are absolutely unchangeable; otherwise, you would lose the very essence of being. It is not good to let it happen; it would be like being trapped in an out-of-control state which would drive you crazy."

H: Why do you say that you are a Zhai-Nan?

Zhou: But, it is a fact. I've been in show business for 8 years, but my lifestyle has never changed. I just want to stay at home when I have free time. However, this did not use to work. In spite of the fact that I stayed home, there were fans waiting faithfully outside at the door. I was at home but I had to pretend otherwise. I felt so miserable, like an ant on a hot pan. I couldn't concentrate on anything. I couldn't enter any room without curtains drawn close. I had to be stealthy even in my own house. I felt the urge to yell out loud.

Later on I said to my self that if people didn't like you, why would they waste their time waiting outside your home? Why did I only think of my own feelings and not consider fans' disappointment at not being able to see their idol? If I didn't often stay at home, instead I often showed up in the streets, they probably wouldn't wait for me at the door of my home. Ha Ha! This way of looking at issues from another person's perspective is something I've gradually developed after working in the show business.

H: How do you balance your career and life?

Zhou: to find the fun part in it. I have just learned this in the past two years, for I realized that I would be just a big boy from Yi Lan were not for the stage. I asked myself if I needed to be on the stage for the entire 24 hours in a day. My heart told me that was not the case. That was great. I could be myself. I could be a Zhou Yu Min who separated his private life from his public role. I started really enjoying whatever the show business has brought me in career, love, and life.

Credit: SilenceZ on ZZ's thread at AF and laiou vicpower.net