Cannes: A chat with Midi Z and screenwriter/actress Ke-Xi Wu about Nina Wu Un certain regard

If only the films in Competition and those films in other sections such as Un Certain Regard, where Midi Z's ambitious and somewhat disorienting film Nina Wu premiered could also be up for the best actor  awards. If that were the case, then Ke-Xi Wu's dynamic turn as Nina Wu would have hands-down gotten the best actress award, especially since I watched the winning actress's performance and was only mildly impressed. Not only did Wu carry the film as lead actress, she also wrote the story and co-wrote the script with director Midi Z.

 

I had the pleasure of sitting down with Ke-Xi Wu and Midi Z on the rooftop of their glitzy hotel on the French Riviera when the sun was finally shining after many days of rain. Luckily their PR lady fit me in even though I got completely lost while finding the location, having to stop and ask several people along the way before someone finally gave me their map which led me to their somewhat hidden hotel. Due to my ability to easily get lost, I lucked out with a private short interview rather than getting bunched together with four other journalists in the planned group interview.

 

Mr. Quentin Tarantino was also in attendance at the premiere of Nina Wu, even sitting in my row although a bit far as he was seated smack dab in the middle of the cinema while I was off to the far left. That seems to have been a great honor for Midi Z, having such an acclaimed genre film director like Tarantino show up  for the world premiere of his first genre film. Before the screening, Midi Z even gave Tarantino a shout-out saying how they met just a few days prior and when he asked what film he had screening at Cannes Tarantino said that he'd come and check it out. It's a shame that the stars of QT's film, Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio and Margot Robbie could not also enjoy the premiere of Midi Z and Ke-Xi Wu's Nina Wu. The audience was clearly at attention and engrossed, perhaps a bit stunned, throughout the screening. It was interesting to hear Midi Z and Ke-Xi Wu discuss their collaboration on the film and what their next plans entail.

 

(Lindsay Bellinger and Midi Z, © Lindsay Bellinger 2019) 

 

I was at your film's premiere in Un Certain Regard and I was really taken in by the story and the way you filmed it. It's actually still haunting me a bit, questioning what happened and the order in which it happened and how much was Nina's imagination. Ke-Xi Wu, I was particularly impressed by the physicality of your acting which melded so well with the fast-paced camerawork and slower-paced editing. The fact that you were the lead actor and also wrote the script is a tremendous feat. Can you both talk a little bit about the collaboration on this film because you (Ke-Xi Wu) have acted in other films by Midi Z and now you also had the role of screenwriter. Was this collaboration more challenging than your previous work together?

 

Midi Z: I think that the film for me was a challenge because I haven't made any genre film before. My previous film is safe arthouse. Safe means the style, the cinematography language, the crew and everything is quite familiar with an arthouse way. But Nina Wu is very special because it's a very special story, very unique, private female point of view to tell a story. So when I received this script from Ke-Xi, I was surprised because...I insisted to request that I should be free to decide the lead actress, not like you finish the script and ask me to direct and you will be the lead. 

 

Oh, I thought that perhaps that was the deal going in. 

 

MZ: No, the deal was not like this. So we did audition, casting but finally why I could still see her (Ke-Xi) as the role is because, you know, I am a producer with this very clear vision. There is obvious emotionality of Nina Wu. It's really a bit of her. 

 

Of course, writers usually write from their lives.  

 

MZ: Yes, and someone who has not been educated, has not studied scriptwriting she just wrote the script, especially to build the character from quite instinct way. That's why you know just for me, if I cast an actor to work with me I prefer to train him or her to be more similar like the character.  

 

Right, that makes sense. 

 

MZ: For Ke-Xi we went back to the script and yeah, she might not (have) needed to be trained because she is already that (Nina). She has been trained for more than thirty years to be Nina Wu, so it's more easier for us. 

Ke-Xi, did you have many concerns about playing the role of Nina, having spent so long writing this personal story? Or were you ready from the get-go? 

 

Ke-Xi Wu: While I was writing I never thought that this could be made into a film. I even never thought that I could star in the film. If it was another actor that could star in it, then I would feel very happy because the thing is, is that the script is my baby.  

 

Yeah, so many writers say that.

 

KXW: I wanted to it to be perfect. So I was like, "No problem, you go cast anybody else in it." And we talked and had several meetings to talk about maybe me playing Nina or maybe Girl #3 or maybe even Kiki, about what role I was going to perform. And then the dream when he (Midi Z) and the producers and the financers are sure and ready to go (with me) I was really shocked. And I started to think if I'm going to play Nina what will I feel, maybe a little bit bored.

 

Is that because you felt as if you had already spent too much time with Nina as a character, on the written page?

 

KXW: Actually it's because in Nina they are all me...at different stages of me because I started my performances as a hip-hop dancer and then stage performances, performing little things and then I played a fox for kids for free.  

 

Ah, similar to the Little Prince part of the film. 

 

KXW: Yeah and so many times we were like pure and naive and loved theater. We took our own money to hire a teacher to play.. and to show it to elementary school kids. They were very adorable. 

 

That is amazing. Did you (Midi Z) get to see any of those performances or was that before you two started collaborating?

 

MZ: No, not yet. 

 

KXW: And some of them were pains in the asses. 

 

Yeah, I get it. I was a teacher.   

 

KXW: "You aren't a fox. Your beard is so fake." 

 

Kids are so direct and without a filter, telling it how it is. Honest. 

 

KXW: (Laughs) Yeah, some movements they would just laugh out loud. And that is what I loved about it and we didn't make money. And then I jumped to the film industry. I started doing extra work for years and I was being put down and I had some bullied experiences. When I was in the theater, I was Kiki and then when I was in the film industry I split into Girl #3 and then Nina Wu. Because in the industry you got to face lots of different, very complicated difficulties or obstacles. There it has nothing to do with pure art.

 

 

 

(Still from Nina Wu, © Luxbox Films)