It's been 33 years since Joan Chen was turned into a doorknob.
In 1991, having asked David Lynch to write her out of his surrealist soap opera Twin Peaks, the actor found her character, factory owner Josie Packard, doomed to a life in timber: her soul trapped within the handle of an oak wood nightstand. "I don't think anyone else has ever become a doorknob,” Chen laughs – not from inside a doorknob, mind you, but over Zoom.
That the scene rings so strange even for Lynch, a director famed for strangeness, is a testament to its singularity. Who else but Chen, now 63, can lay claim to the same bizarre fate? That same singularity has come to define the actor-director’s near 50-year career. It began in Shanghai, when she was plucked aged 14 from her school rifle range by Mao Zedong’s wife for her excellent marksmanship. Only five years later, at 19, she won China’s equivalent of the Best Actress Oscar before she moved stateside.
Of course, singularity is often a byproduct when you’re the first to do something – which, being a Chinese woman entering Hollywood in the 1980s, Chen often was. But in the US, she has flown mostly under the radar, popping her head above the parapet every so often to direct an MGM-backed romantic drama with Richard Gere and Winona Ryder (2000’s Autumn in New York) or star in a nine-time Oscar-winning film herself (Bernardo Bertolucci’s historical epic The Last Emperor) – all the while, working consistently back home in China and navigating the meagre, and often unsavoury, selection of parts available to her as an Asian actor in America.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة August 01, 2024 من The Independent.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة August 01, 2024 من The Independent.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
NFL faces compelling decision as London Games return with Jets vs Vikings
The London Games are back with perhaps the finest NFL quarterback of the last decade and the highest-paid wide receiver in the league set to feature.
Jota seals Liverpool win but talisman Alisson limps off
Alisson Becker remains the king of Selhurst Park, but if he and Virgil van Dijk showed what Liverpool’s title bid will be built on this season, a win at Crystal Palace was perhaps also another indication of why the Reds spent part of this summer looking at the future.
Kovacic's new eye for goal hides Man City's fragility
No prizes for guessing who Manchester City’s top scorer is. Yet the identity of the man second in their standings comes as more of a surprise.
Dominant Saka shows he can lead Arsenal to the title
A classic case of a goal being the worst thing a lesser team could do. Southampton’s joy in Cameron Archer giving them a shock lead only served to awaken Arsenal, who went from a very flat display to one where they came at the visiting side from all angles.
Taliban profits as flights return to Afghan airspace after Iran missile attack
The number of international flights passing through Talibancontrolled Afghan airspace reached a record high this week in the aftermath of Iran's missile attack against Israel.
Villagers torch police camp after claim girl, 9, was raped then murdered in India
A local police camp in India was set on fire by a mob yesterday, just hours after the alleged rape and murder of a nine-year-old girl came to light.
Israel expands airstrikes to bombard northern Lebanon
More than one million people flee homes as fate of man thought to be replacement for Hezbollah leader unclear
Palace 'checking in daily' on teenage cancer patient who shared a hug with princess
A teenage cancer patient given weeks to live is being checked on daily by Kensington Palace after she met the Prince and Princess of Wales last week, her mother has revealed.
Parkrun celebrates 20 years
Event has grown from 13 runners to cover 2,500 locations
Hurricane Kirk aftermath to batter England and Wales
Britain is bracing for the aftermath of a hurricane currently intensifying in the Atlantic Ocean after the Met Office warned its influence will create a period of unsettled weather.