Maggie Cheung Gives Up Acting for Film Editing and Music
Those waiting for Maggie Cheung’s (張曼玉) return to the silver screen will have to settle for disappointment: the 49-year-old actress recently announced that she has no intentions of continuing her acting career and will instead be focusing on film editing and music.
“I no longer have that dream and don’t want to act in anything anymore,” Maggie shared at the Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival, where she was asked about her future acting plans.
“It is only nowadays, in my everyday life, that I feel I am beginning to be a good person,” she went on. “From ages 18 to 35, I didn’t have my own life and I didn’t know anyone outside of the entertainment industry. Everyone was flattering and protecting me. Only now do I know how difficult it is to be a good person, and I am learning how.”
Maggie shared that her two biggest hobbies right now are music and film editing, and she is also developing an interest in Buddhism. Though she is still learning how to edit films, she is eager to take on a behind-the-scenes position that will give her more control over the final product, since acting rarely allowed her the opportunity to do so.
“Actors are passive – we wait for calls to come in,” Maggie explained when talking about her 1991 film Center Stage <阮玲玉>, in which she was cast in the leading role because the original actress, Anita Mui (梅艷芳), was unwilling to travel to mainland China to film. Maggie later won a Hong Kong Film Award for Best Actress for the role, and currently holds the record for most wins and most nominations for that particular award.
Although Maggie enjoys reading celebrity biographies in her spare time, she has no plans to publish an autobiography. “I don’t think my story is worth talking about – there’s nothing special about it,” she said.
Maggie’s last film appearance was in 2010, when she appeared in Hot Summer Days <全城熱戀> and Ten Thousand Waves <萬層浪>. Although she has also cut down on the number of public events she has to attend, she decided to attend the Golden Horse Film Festival, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, after receiving an invitation from the executive committee.
Source: Sina.com
This article is written by Joanna for JayneStars.com.
Love her!
nice photo
Shut the door to her career by overly pricing herself.
Yep……she thinks too highly of herself…..at 49, just another over-the-hill old bag…..time to get off the screen!
troll.time u get off jaynestars!
VERY VERY SOUR GRAPES!!!!!
Bet you have no respect for your old mother either.
Young punks like you will also age.
No, it’s not young punks. It’s just yuaida and her verbal diarrhea again.
Yuaida is a girl? I always thought Yuaida is a guy? But yea, all trolls should be banned before they cause more trouble.
Great to hear about Maggie again. Sad to hear that she may not act again but as long as she is happy. She may act again since many usually come back after they claim to retire for good.
I was just rewatching Police Cadet the other day and it bought back soooo many great memories. Maggie,Carina,Tony and everyone has really gone a long way and have reached great heights in their career.
At 49, Maggie is now at that awkward age where she’s too old to play the leading lady in most films (it’s not the same for older leading actors in their 50s/ late 40s like Andy Lau and Aaron Kwok, who can still pretend to be in their mid 30s romancing sweet young things in movies). It’s a good move for Maggie to take a long break from acting – whether this is permanent retirement remains to be seen – to cultivate her other interests and to discover her true self. It gives audience time to miss her too. If Maggie gets bitten by the acting bug again a few years down the line, then she will be at the ripe age to play roles of powerful matriachs and crafty seniors – the type of plump characters that usually go to Deannie Yip, Josephine Siu or Joan Chen.
Yeah, Police Cadet was a classic series with an amazing cast. Watching it back then, no one would have guessed that many of the young stars in Police Cadet would go on to rule the HK movie world and become award-winning actors – not just Tony, Maggie and Carina, but Sean Lau too.
Maggie doesn’t look natural for her age. It looks like she had something done to her face. She looks much older than Briggitte Lin even with all those makeup on. What’s with her taste in men. She end up with dogs and haven’t learn anything from past mistakes. White boys like you when you’re young and when you’re old they wants your money and when money can’t offer to them they will **** on you.
Hey, did everyone get a chance to watch the Golden Horse Awards yet? If not, I definitely recommend it. The biggest highlight of course was when all of the previous Best Actor and Best Actress winners from the past 50 years took to the stage to present the Best Picture award ….I was nearly in tears seeing all those great actors and actresses gathered together on the same stage for the first time. The organizers did an excellent job with that segment, as they took the time to introduce each actor/actress as well as show which year(s) they won and for which film. It was great to see so many of the veterans whom we hadn’t seen in such a long time return for the ceremony, especially the earlier winners who had pretty much retired from the industry already. Here’s the link to just that segment for those who are interested: http://www.56.com/u30/v_MTAxMjY4NzQ3.html
Of course, there were quite a few past winners who didn’t attend (such as Chow Yun Fat, Alan Tam, Josephine Hsiao, etc.), but getting to see the ones who WERE able to make it was already a treat in and of itself.
Oh and I truly felt that everyone looked great at tonight’s ceremony. All the ladies looked quite good, though I must say that out of all the females there, I was most impressed by Brigitte Lin — she still looks as beautiful and elegant as she did back in the old days!
I know! How amazing does Briggitte Lin look for a 55+ year old?! This woman looks radiantly gorgeous whether in her teens, 20s, 30s, 40s or 50s. She’ll probably be hottest 60 something actress in her 60s too, lol. Reminds me of Helen Mireen, only that Helen wasn’t a great beauty in her youth.
I thought the Golden Horse award ceremony was way too long and tedious at 6(!) hours. Yikes! That must be some record. Even the Academy Awards don’t exceed 4 hours and everyone complains about the dragginess of Oscar ceremony every year. I know it’s the 50th aniversary of the Golden Horse Awards and they wanted to make it special, but still… Can’t imagine sitting there for 6 hours and not get a numb backside, lol.
I agree that it was a nice touch to get 50 of the previous years best actors and actresses all up on stage together to present the best film of the year. Also glad the Singaporean film eon, and Malaysian film director Tsai Ming Liang finally got his Golden Horse award – it was well deserved. I’m probably one of the few who was glad that Wong Kar Wai lost (jeez, he is so smug looking, all the time) and that the 3 HK actors lost to the lead actor from Stray Dogs. All in all, I agree with most of the winners. Ang Lee made a good head of jury.
Have to say though, that I’m appalled to see (from the reel of previous winners of best actors and actress that was played before their respective categories were presented) that even Alan Tam and Leon Lai had both won the Golden Horse award but Leslie Cheung – who was a far better actor than either of them and way more influential when we think of the golden age of HK films – was snubbed for Days of Being Wild, Farewell My Concubine and Happy Together. Even Jackie Chan has 2 best actor awards…really? Wtf. Definitely brings down the ‘prestige’ of winning a Golden Horse award if clowns like Jackie Chan can be considered best actor material.
I always thought Leslie Cheung had won the Golden Horse but to my surprise after I googled it, he didn’t. I have say he has better acting ans singing talent than Alan Tam or Leon Lai.
As far as I could remember, Golden Horse Awards were not considered prestigious in the past. I think they are more recognized now.
llwy12
Thanks for the link. I watched the video clip. Unfortunately, I could not understand Mandarin well, and could only recognize some of the Hong Kong artistes.
Aside from the topic, I find her to be very unprofessional when Andy was passing the award to her to be passed to the award winner and she kept refusing (so childish).. imo.
Film editing is more fun.
I’m guessing that film editors will resent her aspirations in that area because to them, she’s already hit the jackpot and there are a limited number of jobs available to the pool of film editors. It’s not for dilettantes. I doubt any one resents her ability to still command fees for celebrity endorsement of luxury goods but they won’t like this.
She looks great in this picture for being 49!