She may not have much to say in her role in the sci-fi action film “Looper,†but Chinese actress Summer Qing, 43, is excited to be working in Hollywood. In the film, her character is married to Old Joe (Bruce Willis), a hitman who is sent through time to be killed by a younger version of himself (Joseph Gordon-Levitt). During a phone interview with me from China, Qing, with the help of an interpreter, talked to me about working with Willis and where in the past she would like to go if time travel was possible.
You play Bruce Willis’s wife in “Looper.†Tell us what it was like working with him.
It was amazing. He was so nice and caring. The first time I arrived on the set, there was a scene I had to shoot with Bruce that was very intense and emotional. Bruce came up to me and pulled me into his arms and held me for a few minutes. During that time he didn’t say a word. That really got us into the intimacy of what it was like to be a couple.
That must’ve been very important since your character is the main reason Bruce’s character is fighting so hard to stay alive.
Yes, my character is key. I give him a reason to live. What brought us together was love. That love kept us together until the end.
If time travel actually existed in real life, would you like to try it? Where would you like to go?
Absolutely. I would love to time travel to both the past and the future. I would like to go back to the Tang Dynasty in China (618-907) because that is the only time in China’s history the country had a female empress. I would like to go there to do research. If I could go to the future, I would like to go see what films I have made in my life.
Would you like to continue making American movies?
I really love working in Hollywood, but that doesn’t necessarily mean I am going to focus only on American films. It really depends on the roles that come my way. It doesn’t matter if it’s in Taiwan or Hong Kong or Hollywood.
You’re credited for your movies in China as Qing Xu, but you also go by the name Summer Qing. Of all the American names you could’ve picked, what was it about Summer that you liked?
Qing in Chinese means “the sun†and “sunny.†I love the summer.