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MAGGIE Q
was born in
Honolulu, went to work as a model and an actor in
Hong
Kong and Japan, and then returned to the US. She
recently wrapped shooting on Three Kingdoms:
Resurrection of the Dragon and last year appeared in
Mission: Impossible III. She’ll appear all over the world starting June 27 in Live Free or Die
Hard, the fourth edition in the Bruce Willis action
franchise.
You’re packing for a lengthy press tour in
Asia. So what are you bringing to read?
I just
finished a book by a wonderful author called Philippa
Gregory. Historical fiction books—about 14th-,
15th-century life at court, the Tudors. Everything is
very real as far as the facts go, but she fictionalized
what went on between the kings and queens. I’m sort of
addicted! I just finished one of those, and now I’m
finishing the His Dark Materials series. I know
the first movie’s coming out soon, so now I finished the
third one, even though that movie won’t be coming out
for 10 years.
Do you
have to think up interesting but safe stories to tell
all the press people?
Yeah!
You know, what’s funny, I worked with some pretty
entertaining people on this movie. So there’ll be
tidbits. But the one question I hate the most is: “Tell
me something we didn’t know about the huge star you just
worked with.” Uh, if they wanted to tell you, they’d
tell you! I’m not going to tell you something about
Bruce Willis!
And now
you spend much time in
Los Angeles? Is
LA weirder than
Tokyo?
I do,
this is my home now, though I’m back in
Asia a lot. I live here—wherever my dogs are. All my dogs. It’s
funny—you know when you are out on a date with someone
you don’t really like, so suddenly you’re really busy.
But if it’s someone you liked, you have the time. That’s
how I am with my dogs. I have seven.
Uh, are
they…small?
One of
them is a
Chihuahua. Two German shepherds, a pit and three mongrels. Crazy. I’m
the crazy dog lady. They’re all rescues. Each one of
them is a serendipitous, wonderful thing that happened
in my life.
And is
the world smaller for those who grow up in Hawaii? Or larger?
It was
larger for me because my world was so small. One of
those things where things are so small you have to think
big. That was me. I was a little girl in a big world.
Mililani, where you grew up, seems to be growing
extremely fast.
I just
drove through there. It was expanding when I was young —
it’s like tripled, quadrupled. I don’t recognize it
anymore. When that town started getting bigger, my
family went back to a smaller community. We moved back
to the beach. There’s a big battle going on in Hawaii.
People go on vacation there, and then they leave and go
home. They don’t know about the struggles of the local
people. The local people are against and upset about the
development on Oahu. They want to keep the country
country. I hope it doesn’t expand to where we can’t even
support how many people will be living on the island
anymore.
You’ve
worked with Tom Cruise, who’s sort of the Andy Lau of
the West. So what’s Andy like?
You know
what’s interesting about Asian stars—I guess maybe
because my experience is largely with Asian stars—I feel
like people who are as big as Andy is in Asia, they
don’t lend themselves to letting you know who they are.
It’s work. You don’t have intimate conversations like
you do on all American sets. There, they’re a mystery.
I’ve worked with him a few times, and I can’t say I know
him well. He’s very kind, I’ll say that. And he looks
friggin’ great for his age (45). Just like Tom (44)!
When
Googling you, the word “exotic” comes up a few times. Is
there a special place in hell for those who refer to you
thusly?
For
sure! It sounds like I belong in a lizard community on
the edge of a remote cliff. It’s funny when people want
to compartmentalize what they feel from you. When you
know yourself, you don’t find yourself exotic—or hugely
interesting. Sexy, exotic—it’s always really weird for
me.
These
days LA seems like a city cowering under three huge
giants named Lindsay, Britney and Paris. It sounds so
scary!
It’s so
not, though! These three or four people who are always
written about and have nothing to do with LA life. In
the morning I take the dogs hiking, and go and have my
breakfast. I don’t see that other side of LA. You have
to choose that LA lifestyle. I don’t have any problems
with those things because I don’t go out. How to avoid
drugs and alcohol? Hmm! Go to a club? The lucky thing
for me is I entered the entertainment industry in Asia,
and I was there for 10 years: Weirdness and ups and
downs and articles and partying—and I’m done. It’s
wonderful. I’m an adult. I wake up in the morning with
my animals and enjoy life. |
