How the girl next door moved away and grew up

After finishing shooting Nanking! Nanking! earlier this year, lead actress Gao Yuanyuan found it hard to return to normal life. The 29-year-old, who is famous for her "girl-next-door" image, was transformed. She played a middle-aged teacher, who helped Nanjing people survive the horrors of the Japanese atrocities in 1937. Even after two months of taking a break from acting, the role still haunts her.

"It was a rite of passage for me, psychologically," she adds. "The acting process, every single gesture, and even each breath, have been haunting me."

Nanking! Nanking! director Lu Chuan wanted to dismantle the school-girl image that made Gao hugely popular over the past decade. He wanted her to reveal something deeper.