Dilraba Dilmurat Transforms into a Women's Soccer Forward From Nervousness to Chemistry While Working with Idol Stephen Chow

The film Kung Fu Women's Soccer has already been released in Singapore. Chinese mainland actress Dilraba Dilmurat plays Yu Long, a women's soccer forward who charges into battle and possesses martial arts skills. On screen, she is constantly charging at the goal, while off-screen, Dilraba also has an indomitable spirit and loves to challenge herself, always pushing forward.

However, when this 'forward' stood in front of her idol, Stephen Chow, she admitted that she couldn't help but feel nervous at first.

When Dilraba recently went to Hong Kong to promote Kung Fu Women's Soccer, she revealed in an interview with Lianhe Zaobao that she has always looked up to Stephen Chow as her idol, and now that her idol suddenly became the director, it made her feel somewhat apprehensive before working together.

“First, you’re meeting your idol, and second, he’s the director, so I was thinking, what should I do?”

She laughed and said that even before their official meeting, she had already started thinking about what her first words should be. As a result, when the two met for the first time, she simply said, “Hello, Director,” and Stephen Chow responded, “Dilraba, ah,” and the two immediately began to chat naturally.

When she actually got involved in filming, she found that Stephen Chow on set was not quite the director she had imagined.

She said that Stephen Chow is not merely a director issuing orders from behind the monitor; instead, he personally demonstrates and “plays” with the actors. In addition to giving acting directions, he does not demand that actors follow him to the letter, but rather encourages them to try out their own interpretations.

In the film, Dilraba’s character Yu Long is tanned and sharply styled, which is drastically different from the familiar image viewers have of her.

Compared to the breakthrough in appearance, she values the character’s inner qualities more. She revealed that Stephen Chow did not deliberately ask her to “ugly herself up”, but rather hoped she would present the natural look befitting a soccer player.

After the film was released, some viewers didn’t realize until the end credits that “Oh, Dilraba was in it,” which actually made her happy.

“That shows the character was portrayed to the point where people ask ‘Was that really her?’”

In her view, being able to make the audience temporarily forget “Dilraba Dilmurat” and see just the character itself is a high compliment for any actor.

She believes that what she and Yu Long have in common is that they both like to challenge themselves. With a background in professional dance, she shared that whenever she had trouble accomplishing a move, she would get upset with herself.

“If other people can do it, why can’t I? I’m very serious about these things, so in this respect, I’m quite like Yu Long.”

On screen, Yu Long keeps charging ahead on the field. Off screen, Dilraba also hopes that the film will give viewers strength to keep moving forward.

She shared that a reporter, almost 40 years old, told her he was deeply inspired seeing a group of women's soccer players sweating and fighting on the pitch in the film.

She hopes viewers will also draw strength from the film, believing that gender, age, or appearance should never be limitations.

“Whenever you want to start, you can start. Only you yourself can stop yourself from moving forward.”

If a celebrity soccer team were formed, she laughed and said Stephen Chow is best suited as the coach, though he could also play as a forward; as for herself, she would stick to playing as a forward.

A forward alone can’t make a complete team. Newcomer Hu Yu'an plays the main player “Sang Biao” in the film, whose character is highly emotionally volatile—on one hand, so humble as to “lower her head to the ground,” always saying “sorry,” yet she can explode in an instant, unleashing the powerful “Thunderous Leg.”

The name “Sang Biao” is familiar to fans of Stephen Chow’s films, but this time it’s played by a female soccer player, adding an extra layer of comic contrast.

Hu Yu'an was originally Stephen Chow’s wake surfing coach and was later invited by Chow to audition and ultimately became the first confirmed cast member.

As a first-time actor, she said the hardest part was capturing the character’s extremes—sometimes she herself didn’t know whether a scene should be more “sang” (depressed) or “biao” (explosive).

She was most impressed by a scene where she was continuously slapped by Zhang Xiaofei, who plays the captain.

The slap came so suddenly the first time that she momentarily forgot her lines. A shot that could have been done in one take ended up taking more than10 takes—and every slap was real, with Zhang Xiaofei repeatedly apologizing to her.

Compared to the extremely emotional “Sang Biao”, the 19-year-old “Sing Girl” Xue Ye plays the backup player who is much more calm, and the character often has to maintain a blank expression.

As a first-time actress, she initially had no idea how to portray a character who shows no expression, until the director told her, “Just be yourself.” That’s when she found similarities between the character and herself, putting aside any acting tricks and engaging in the scene as her real self.

In the film, Xue Ye’s special skill is “Sky Fairy,” a super light-footed maneuver—while she was light and agile on screen, she suffered during filming. As it was her first time using wire harnesses, not only did she have to be lifted high, but also had to coordinate complex sequence moves with teammates.

Shooting this move alone took two days, with over 100 NG (no good) takes. She also thanked the staff, director, and all her “women’s soccer” teammates for supporting her through every retake.

From playing “Sixth Little Brother” in Shaolin Soccer to becoming co-director of Kung Fu Women's Soccer, Lam Tsz Chung has walked from the pitch to the sidelines. He not only performs but also assists Stephen Chow in managing the set.

He said that when shooting Shaolin Soccer, actors were able to perform on a real soccer field; this time, the rookie actors often faced large green screens and had to rely solely on their imagination to perform, so he had to continuously remind them to imagine thousands of spectators watching beyond the green screen.

Regarding his division of labor with Stephen Chow, Lam Tsz Chung said the trivial duties on set are mainly his responsibility, allowing Stephen Chow more time and space to sit quietly at the monitor and ponder every shot.

He said: “What I need to do is give him as much time as possible to think.”

Now that Lam Tsz Chung is on the sidelines, he is not only Stephen Chow’s right-hand man on set but also a senior who takes care of newcomers. During interviews with Xue Ye and Hu Yu'an, he frequently added filming details to help the newcomers.

Kung Fu Women's Soccer is currently showing in Singapore.