I almost got no sleep, shooting eight hours in one film, followed by eight hours in another and eight hours in a third film. But whenever we were don… - Brigitte Lin

I never complained about the hardships. I just thought this was what I was supposed to do. I did that for 22 years. By the time I was doing Asia the Invincible, I felt like I didn’t have the energy to keep acting even though my heart wanted to. That’s when I thought about retirement. Swordsman II was a huge hit, and I told Nansun Shi that maybe it’s about time I retire.

Writing is tiring and difficult, but I can sit at my desk for hours and hours, writing through the night to dawn. I never had any prior writing experience, but I learned that it’s not about using heavy vocabulary, and more about how I can express my sincerity.

While doing all this, I myself also developed my own personality and my way of acting, and the audience followed my growth. So when I played female characters who had strong personalities, I already had gone through some abundant, enriching real life experiences. By nature, I am a bit shy as a person, and so I was quite suited to making romantic films. I had many strong emotions in my heart, and I always wanted the audience to have a good impression of me, though I had many inner, suppressed feelings.