The new movie "Kungfu Women's Football Team" (English name: Kungfu Soccer) written and directed by Stephen Chow has just scheduled to be released in theaters in China on July 11. The film stars Zhang Xiaofei, Dilireba and Zhang Yixing in the main roles.
To portray the role of the female player wearing number 8 of the Nga Mi - Ngoc Lung team - Dich Le Nhiet Ba actively stepped out of the "white, thin, young" aesthetic standard that is common in the Chinese entertainment industry.
She underwent a process of completely changing her figure through weight gain and muscle gain, aiming to realistically recreate the strength and explosive ability of a professional football athlete.
In the newly released images, the character Ngoc Lung impresses with her broad shoulders, firm back and toned muscles. Her characteristic white skin combined with a healthy figure creates a striking contrast. In sportswear, she exudes youthfulness like a senior in the schoolyard, both sweet and full of personality.
However, behind that "both sweet and strong" appearance is Nhiet Ba's "image sacrifice". The actress cut her hair short, put her bare face in front of the camera, even gained 8kg, reduced body fat ratio by 14% and trained to have a toned body with clear and balanced muscles.
Not only that, Dilireba also underwent 3 months of closed-door training with high intensity.
To recreate the image of a professional female football striker with abundant physical strength, Dilraba does not use stunt doubles, but starts learning basic skills such as juggling the ball, dribbling, tackling...
According to the film crew's revelation, just one high-difficulty curling scene, she had to hang herself on cable for 3 hours, filming up to 17 times. At the end of the filming session, the actress's waist area was covered with bruises.
Not to mention, action scenes combining football and martial arts also make collisions and bruises on the training ground become commonplace.
During the time of participating in the special training course, unedited photos taken by passersby once caused Dilraba Dilmurat to face many criticisms such as: "Why does she look bigger?", "Is her form going down?".
When the movie announced its schedule and released the official trailer, the truth was revealed: Nhiet Ba's figure, which is said to be "fuller", is actually the result of a body-changing process to serve the role.
Meanwhile, the production budget of the "Kungfu Women's Football Team" is said to be up to 380 million CNY (about 1,470 billion VND).
According to revelations, the film has more than 1,200 scenes using CGI special effects, 3-4 times more than a regular Chinese film. The "quantum line" scene alone took 9 months to make with a cost of about 20 million CNY.
The film also uses a lot of motion capture technology and AI to create martial arts techniques combined with football, causing costs to increase.
The total cost for CGI and special effects is estimated at about 190 million CNY, accounting for half of the total budget. In addition, the total salary of the cast is said to be around 57 million CNY.
