Romance and Diamond Heists: Interview with My Lucky Star screenwriter Amy Snow
Amy Snow’s first experience co-writing a Chinese film — which allowed her to work with Zhang Ziyi and Wang Leehom in the #1 hit movie My Lucky Star — may just be the start of a new chapter for the American screenwriter.
by Ada Tseng
This past weekend, My Lucky Star, a romantic action/adventure film starring Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi and Taiwanese American pop star Wang Leehom, reached #1 at the Chinese box office. The film opened in China on September 17, Singapore and Australia on September 19, select cities in North America on Friday, September 20, and it will release in Taiwan and Malaysia in October.
Zhang Ziyi, who was also a producer on the film, brought the project to American director Dennie Gordon, who is the first female American director to helm a Chinese movie. According to Gordon, Zhang was looking for a Hollywood-style romantic comedy that would be similar to what an Anne Hathaway or a Jennifer Lawrence type might star in. The China-US collaboration hired a team of screenwriters that were both Chinese and American; the screenplay credits include Amy Snow, Meng Yao, Sean Huang, and Chris Chow, and it’s based on a story by Ming Beaver Kwei.
Screenwriter Amy Snow (a Disney Feature Fellowship winner whose credits includes the festival favorite Buck Naked Arson) first heard about this Mandarin-language script that was in need of a rewrite from her manager. Zhang Ziyi was attached to star, and Snow was not only a fan of Zhang Ziyi from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Hero and House of Flying Daggers, but she also thought the concept was really fun: a girl goes on vacation, runs into a mysterious stranger (who happens to be a secret agent), and she’s taken along for the ride as he tries to save the world.
Ada Tseng 