Previous work: “the joy Luck Club”
Character Trait: astrophysics
How would you describe this show in 15 words or less?
What happens when one young woman’s actions – her fateful decision – change the course of humanity.
How would you describe your character?
So I would say she’s a survivor of extreme trauma, and she’s lost everything. As a result, he has learned a kind of adaptability, and he also has a bit of survivor’s guilt. She is a mother. And at the same time, she believes that she has the power to make change, and I think she does it in the best way that she thinks is possible.
Inside him, he’s still partly young, because he was a prodigy, and that’s still present in him. And belief in herself, that her decisions are the right decisions, and that she can make a difference. Even if everything goes waste, she can make a difference.
Did you read the books before signing up?
I’m here (in America) and I have American tunnel vision. So, I’m a philosopher and had never heard of the ‘three-body problem’ until Benny Wong – we were both in London, working on different projects, and he told me he was working on it. Were. And I was like, “What’s that?” But then I read the book. I had a Chinese coach who insisted that I read the book before I started filming it, and he was very strict.
But once I read it, I got a lot of copies of it for other people, because I really think it’s accessible. And they’ve made it even more accessible. I was really attracted to them and I love the books, although I’m not like, you know – I’m a nerd, but I’m not a sci-fi fan at all.
And as far as what I took away from it is that time is elastic.
Do you believe that humanity will come into contact with intelligent extraterrestrial life?
I believe that anything is possible. You know, certainly before this, someone would say something about supernatural beings, and I would be rolling my eyes inside and saying, “Oh, yes, that could be.” But now I’m a little more open to “anything is possible.” We don’t know what’s there. What we see, feel, hear and touch is not necessarily real. There’s a lot more out there that we don’t know about.
How did you work with Zin Tseng to create the character?
Zane filmed his section first. Her last day was my first day, so I got all the footage of her before the start. I basically lived with Zayn before I even met him. So when I met him, it was like meeting a celebrity – or meeting the other side of me. To be honest, he set up the structure, he laid the foundation.
