Shu wants to strip away her past

Golden Horse best actress nominee Shu Qi is a little unwilling to talk about her past. Now that she is earning more respect, she would much rather her past be buried. 'It's so long ago, can I not talk about it please?' she asks plaintively. It is hard to blame her. At only 20, she seems to have gained a notoriety that is difficult to cast off, especially in a still-conservative Chinese society: category III fame. She knows it will not be easy but the young woman is determined to prove that she is an able actress in spite of it. Shu is wearing a simple white T-shirt and black slacks as we sit in the hotel suite where she was based while making guest appearances at Leslie Cheung Kwok-wing's recent concerts. Fresh-faced, she looks more like a university student than the femme fatale one would imagine. Shu's unclad history started when she was persuaded to pose for a book of nude pictures when she was 18. The young girl had by then launched a reasonably successful modelling career in her hometown of Taipei. She had no idea that the book would lead to an acting career. 'At that time I didn't consider that many things, or what they would lead to. I wasn't planning to be an actress; I was just a model. When they asked me if I would pose, my thoughts were only about whether or not [the book] would sell,' adds Shu reluctantly. It was Hong Kong producer-director Manfred Wong who 'discovered' Shu for the territory when he saw a magazine cover featuring the teenager. Wong arranged to fly to Taiwan to meet her. 'She did not have a lot to say and she did not avoid my eyes. Nor did she try to flirt with me. Her behaviour wasn't in the least category III,' Wong recollected in a later essay he wrote. 'In fact, she struck me as honest, positive and a lot of fun. On that alone, I decided to sign her up and bring her over to Hong Kong to try our luck - even though her first movie was a category III [Sex And Zen 2].' For the young Shu, Wong provided a ticket to try to prove to her family and friends that she could still do some good. 'When I first posed for the book, a lot of relatives and friends were going, why? When Man [Wong's nickname] looked me up, I thought . . . not that I feel I am very talented or anything like that . . . but I just thought since they looked at me in that light, I had to prove I could achieve something good,' says Shu in her heavily accented Cantonese. 'That's why I took on Sex And Zen 2. Maybe at the start it was not very good, but it was still a start. I don't think every film I make will be a category III one. I just want to do some good shows for my friends and relatives to see.' A slight note of bitterness creeps into her voice when she talks of these 'relatives and friends', whom she claims she does not want to bother with. 'I feel that people are such realists, even though they are my own relatives and friends. When I did the first category III movie, they kicked up such a fuss. Then when I started getting more roles and made a lot of friends in the industry, they changed their tunes and said: 'Oh! Shu Qi is doing so well, look at her.' They've been changing their tune constantly from the start until now,' she says. 'Luckily I have many really good friends. All they did was asking me to be careful and to look after my health. My dad and mum also only said the same things. Never once did they go: 'Why did you do this?' or 'Why did you do that?' ' Life in Hong Kong has not just been a string of category III movies for Shu; in fact she has done only three. She slipped in an unreleased Taiwanese production as well as two comedies, Growing Up and Till Death Do Us Laugh, between these. She has just started work on another comedy, starring opposite Christine Ng Wing-mei and Andy Hui Chi-on. Ironically, however, it would be her role in director Derek Yee Tung-shing's category III debut, Viva Erotica! that would bring Shu the most attention. In it, Shu plays a young Taiwanese woman who comes over to make her fortune and ends up being a soft-porn actress - a tale not unlike her own. The role won her a nomination for best supporting actress at the recent Golden Horse Film Awards, Asia's equivalent of the Oscars. She did not win, but the mere mention of the nomination brings a dimple to her cheeks. 'Being nominated is more than enough. At least it is proof that people noticed my acting, because if not I would not have been nominated,' she says. In fact, the role has made everyone sit up and take notice of this guileless young woman who ends up stealing the show from experienced actors such as Leslie Cheung and Karen Mok. Already there are expectations that she will win another nomination for this April's Hong Kong Film Awards. Despite all the critical acclaim, Shu is pessimistic that she will ever be allowed to forget her soft-porn past even though she has decided she will not be accepting any more category III films. 'It is difficult for people to forget,' she says calmly. 'People will always think 'Oh, she took off her clothes' or something. Even if I turn out to be a very good actress and win many awards, or the audience accepts it and new audiences don't know about it, the book and the videos would still be available. 'But I hope that people will take more notice of my performances. If I am not good, they can always criticise me. But I would not like them to always look at me through tainted glass.' One of Shu's hopes is to take on a serious role with a Taiwanese director even though she spends two-thirds of her time in Hong Kong these days. 'In Taiwan there are many movies I like. I like to perform and act, and Taiwanese directors are always a little weird. And Taiwanese films reflect Taiwanese culture and tastes, so I hope that I can do something like that because I think I will be able to do better since I am Taiwanese.'