LUCY LIU UNITES WITH HER CHINESE HERITAGE

Lucy Liu portrays Jin Ping, a woman from a tiny farming village in northern Thailand for the film 3 Needles which explores the controversy of AIDS in China, Africa and Canada.

Lucy got in touch with her Chinese roots and even shared the experience with her mother on the set.

“It was really wonderful to be able to speak Chinese which is what I grew up with, the language that I grew up with and sort of touch on that again because it brings you to a very personal place for me as well as having my mother with me which was really great because she’s never been on a set with me before. It was nice for her to see what I do because she never really got it before. We’d get up really early in the morning and we’d come home really late at night and then do the thing over and over again and she just couldn’t figure out why we were doing this for no money. She just couldn’t get it. She didn’t understand that it was a passion project. So that was a really great bonding experience for us.”

Lucy also bonded with the people of the Chinese Hill tribes in Thailand.

“It was so beautiful there and the people were so wonderful. They spoke both Chinese and Thai because that area had a large group of people who were from China had immigrated over so that’s why we ended up shooting it there. It was incredible. I brought my mother with me and we had an incredible time there just talking to the people and learning about different things. And we walked around and visited different areas when we had time. I just felt like there was a really great sense of community among the people. The children would come and they’d greet you. They’d all greet you like this. It’s just such a peaceful way of interacting and welcoming you.”

3 Needles opens Friday in conjunction with World Aids day, the international day of action against HIV and AIDS.