Petal power the way to win Gong Li's heart

What do you have to do to persuade Gong Li to do something? After all, she reputedly turned down a role in the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies as well as the opportunity to star opposite Brad Pitt in Seven Years in Tibet - two roles most actresses would have died for.

So when Jane Hsiang, international editor-at-large of Elle magazine, wanted her to pose for the cover of the 10th-anniversary issue, she knew she had an exceptionally difficult task on her hands.

However, all it took to convince Gong Li was lots of hard work, patience, good timing and - most importantly - six-dozen long-stemmed roses.

While Gong Li was in Beijing filming The Assassins with director Chen Kaige, Jane and her crew - a photographer, his assistant, a writer, hair stylist, make-up artist and two other assistants - flew up to try to persuade the actress to pose for the cover.

Her filming schedule was so hectic and at such irregular hours the actress could not make any promises.

The whole Elle team waited three days and nights but to no avail. Determined to get her cover photo, Jane knew what she had to do.