February 2002

Three pictures taken by Oriental Daily:
(left) Jackie Chan showing his face to the reporters.
(right) Jackie bended over and dropped his pants on the set... Ehh ... and put on another pair.
(below) Jackie Chan's resting room

Meanwhile, in one version of the RESIDENT EVIL TV commercial, the opening background music is from CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON composed by Tan Dun. I do not have the actual commercial for you but you can watch the trailer of RESIDENT EVIL and The Official Site of CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON, which contains the same opening music. This should not be much of a surprise since RESIDENT EVIL will be distributed by SONY and SONY owns a big piece of CROUCHING TIGER.

RESIDENT EVIL, based on the same name video game, will be released on March 15.

The Web Alliance for Respectful Treatment of Hong Kong's Best

CityonFire.com

Originally titled MAN IN FORTY in Chinese, this is a sister film of 1995's WOMAN IN FORTY, both were directed by woman director Heui On-wa. Forty year old Lam Yiu-gwok was played by Hong Kong singer Cheung Hok-yau who is also forty year old. This film has been shown on this year's Hong Kong International Film Festival, Berlin Film Festival's Panorama, American Film Market, and is the recommended film by Hong Kong Film Critics Society Awards.

Photos: KPWorld.com

The story starts in present day when a satellite crashed to the earth in thousands of pieces (Guess that's what Titanium all about). The debris somehow opened some portals among different times. Then a warrior from the Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644) played by Jackie Chan starts his journey through time ...

Because Jackie Chan will co-finance this one, he will lower his price to leave more money for the production. Now they are currently looking for the best art house to do the CG works.

Media Asia's CEO Jong Ching said, at this year's American Film Market, no less than five Hollywood studios had shown their interest of distributing it, but he had yet decided which one should get it because the finance was not fully secured.

Want to know what people from Ming Dynasty look like? Go see Jet Li's Tai Chi Master (original or US version)
Photo: Hong Kong Daily News.Net

1-27-02: Today Jackie wrapped in the forest location and there are just 2 days to go for the rest of B unit in the forest, B unit will be mostly shooting Julian Sands with some interact wire work. For the past few days Jackie has been busy Leaping and Flying through the trees.

Check out the below Pics from location shooting.
 

Hong Kong vampire is a sort of combination of vampire, mummy and Chinese superstition of ghost invented by Hong Kong filmmakers. Such movies once flourished from the 1980's to early 1990's, and dozens were make during that period, including

When asked whether she kicked Jet Li's butt, she said, "I can't keep up with Jet Li. My dance training enables me to make the martial-art look real, but there's no power behind it. I mean, I can't break a table in two." She said her favorite scene in CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAON was the restaurant fight, her most embarrassing on set moment was after she did a "fake kiss" with

It looks like Disney is attempting to monopolize the distribution of every Asian film. Producer Thomas Chung said it was a very pleasant experience of working with Miramax and the distribution right of the sequel may also be given to Miramax. Detail will be discussed on the upcoming American Film Market. According to Chung, Composer Basil Poledouris will do the music for the THE TOUCH.

Jackie Chan, a bio-documentary of Jackie Chan is completed except adding the music scores. It took producer Cheung Bau-ting and Lo Kai-yeui three years to make. It has Jackie Chan's parents and friends telling this screen legend's stories. However, his wife and son will not show up. This one and a half hour long documentary will have a theatrical release around the coming Easter. A sequel is already in planning, in which Jackie Chan will tell us his own story of love.

Even though THE TOUCH is still not done yet, Michelle Yeoh is planning a sequel of it, according to Hong Kong's The Sun. Michelle, Ben Chaplin and director Peter Pau will return and the budget has been set at 30 million US, breaks the record set the the first one.

Guess what going to show up during the ending credit of the movie.

Photo courtesy: Ming Pao, Oriental Daily, Hong Kong Daily News.Net, Tthe Sun, CultureComNews.Com &  StarEastNet.Com

About the experience of working in HERO, Donnie Yen said, "(it) was just about the best experience I has ever had on a set and the film is going to blow everyone away." and his fight scenes with Jet Li are "even better than the scenes they did in 'Once Upon a Time in China II.'"

Click here to read the article from Kung Fu Cinema.

Photo courtesy: DonnieYen.COM

MonkeyPeachese.com just officially joined The Web Alliance for Respectful Treatment of Hong Kong's Best, initiated by HKFilm.net. The petition, Appeal to Disney for Respectful Treatment of Asian films, created by people behind the site, has collected more than two thousand signatures so far. If you have not sign the petition, sign it; and if had signed it, tell your friends and family to do the same.

A young Chinese boy Bao Fan from Ireland were cast to play the little boy, rescued by

The set is the interior of an Irish castle built inside Thunderdome Stadium in Bangkok, designed by real architect. The exterior scenes were shot in Dublin Castle in Ireland. However, they were only allow to use the Dublin Castle for sixty days, which was not enough for both exterior and interior scenes.

According to Ming Pao and StarEastNet.Com, shooting of Jackie Chan's long overdue BELLBOY will start in April. Does this mean he will travel between the sets of SHANGHAI KNIGHTS and BELLBOY, just like what he did for HIGHBINDERS and THE TUXEDO? Later Jackie will star in another movie called TITANIC RAIN, in which he will travel back and forth through time. Shooting locations include the US, Russia and the mainland China.

According to Hong Kong's Oriental Daily, Zhang Ziyi will join THE CHAMBERMAID, a modern day retelling of the classic Cinderella story produced by Revolution Studios. Jennifer Lopez and director Wayne Wang have already signed on. During the Chinese New Year, Revolution Studios have traveled to Asia, looking for actors.

For more information on THE CHAMBERMAID: UpComingmovies.Com

Today's Hong Kong paper Oriental Daily just posted an article on MonkeyPeaches' list of Top Ten Ways Miramax Can Do To Destroy HERO as well as the petition (Appeal to Disney for Respectful Treatment of Asian films). Four out of ten from the list were mentioned in this article. They are: 10. Promote it as "from the people made Crouching Tiger", 9. Push the release date back until DVDs from Asia are everywhere, 8. Dub it with some Cantonese accent sound-like and 7. Change the title (to "Kung-fu Heroes from China"). It said the petition, asking Disney for "respectful treatment of Asian films", was initiated by a "fan of Hong Kong movies" and 444 signatures have been gathered (current number is over 800). It said the petition has listed many bad practices of Disney, like changing story and dialogue, removing footage, renaming films and replacing music scores. It also reported fans' disapproval of Miramax's decision of renaming SHAOLIN SOCCER to KUNGFU SOCCER. In fact the English title chose by the original filmmaker is already very Americanized, because only in two countries, the United States and Canada, soccer is called soccer. In the rest of the world, it is football. In addition, SHAOLIN SOCCER and Jackie Chan's THE ACCIDENTAL SPY will be released in North America on the same day, April 8th,  by Miramax and its subsidiary Dimension.

Here is the link of the original article by Oriental Daily (in Chinese): SHAOLIN SOCCER and THE ACCIDENTAL SPY Fighting Each Other, Releasing on the Same Day, April 8th, in the US

If you want to read more top ten lists, they are available from the forums of Jetli.com and ZiyiForever.PrimeNova.com.

Born in Beijing and spent his childhood in Hong Kong, James later moved to America with his family. He chose James Pak as his name when started his acting career in the 1980's. James played many actions roles, sometimes very minor roles, more than a dozen movies, including BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA. The only non-action role he played is Mr. Tung, a Chinese army officer, in 1989's Canadian TV movie BETHUNE: THE MAKING OF A HERO. In the early 1990's, James moved back to Hong Kong and continued his acting career. Known as James Pak, he was in six movies, including THE HEROIC TRIO, LOVE AMONG THE TRIAD, and DRAGON CHRONICLES. Then he moved to Japan and appeared in a TV series and a movie. After that, he was on the move again and stared in Chinese TV series TOU DU KE (people crossing the boarder illegally) last year. After finishing another TV series SHI JIE MEI YOU MO RI (translation: World Will Not End), he has planed another Chinese TV production AI DE XUAN LÜ (MELODY OF LOVE), in which he will play the lead along with Japanese actor Takashi Sorimachi (FULLTIME KILLER).

Photo courtesy: SINA.COM

Good of Cookery

Appeal to Disney for Respectful Treatment of Asian films

Thanks to Phil Tong

Animal House site

Official sites:
Castlevania (game boy version)
Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust (anima)

Thanks to Phil Tong

On the other side of the hall, a pile of book rolls fell down, dragged by several crewmembers using thin wires. Same kind of book rolls can be seen on pictures from the TIME ASIA's report (1, 2, 3, 4).

Original report by Lang Yingxiu, photo by Huo Weige
Photo courtesy: Hengdian Film & TV Travel

Left: Jackie Chan celebrating the New Year with his dad in Thailand
Photo courtesy: The Sun (Hong Kong)

In the trailer produced by Miramax (b.t.w. Miramax has decided to called it ZU WARRIORS), the plot described is very misleading. The "mysterious woman" they were referring to was played by Zhang Ziyi. Her senses are  very very very limited and if remove her role completely the plot can still remain intact. Even more confusing is that some achievements of both Tsui Hark and Yuen Wo-ping were mentioned and their names were no where can be found.

If you live in the US or Canada who do not want to see the Miramax's reedited version of the movie. Order your DVD/VCD here:
AV89.COM
HK Flix (sold out)
CoolaShop.COM
DiscKing.com (search the item)
DVDShelf.COM
DDDHouse.COM

Berlin film fest honors helmer Altman
Mon Feb 11,12:32 AM ET

By Adam Dawtrey and Andrea Vaucher

...

Meanwhile, news also filtered through that Miramax Films has picked up Zhang Yimou's historical adventure "Hero," starring Jet Li and Maggie Cheung, for North and South America, the U.K. and Australia. The tale concerns three famous assassins who undertake the monumental task of confronting the King of Qin.

On the set, Jackie has shown the reporters some of his franchise stuff, including T-

shirts, sports jackets, trench coats, scarves and watches. All products contain a Chinese character "dragon" with English word "Jackie" hidden inside. It turns out that one single character cannot be used as registered trademark logo.

Photo courtesy: Ming Pao, Oriental Daily & The Sun (Hong Kong)

In a small southern town, a young boy named Xiao Chun (Tan Yun) has learned playing violin from his mother. His father Liu Chen (Liu Peiqi), an ordinary cook, brings him to Beijing for a violin contest. Liu Chen starts looking for the best violin teacher for his son while Xiao Chun, received little love from his own mother, has developed an unusual relationship with Li Li (Chen Hong), a nightclub girl lives next door. Time passes by, Xiao Chun begins to understand his father's love and Li Li, once only made use of the young boy, starts helping Xiao Chun's quest of becoming a great violinist ...

Inspired by a true story, it was written and directed by Chen Kaige. This is the first time ever he was working with his wife Chen Hong, who not only produced it but also played the female leading role, Li Li. Once again, Chen Kaige put himself in front of the camera. This time he played violin professor Yu.

Sword used by Jet Li, Leung Chi-wai and Maggie Cheung are shorter, wider and probably lighter. They were practical for personal use and were also not designed for heavy fighting.

Click here for the the picture of Zhang Ziyi fighting Jet Li with her twin sabers, photographed by Peter Steinhauer from TIME ASIA.
(Due to copyright issue, this picture cannot be displaced here)

The twin sabers carried by Zhang Ziyi are in much later design, probably centuries or even millennium after that time period.

His agent is looking for 25 million US dollars to finance GAI SHI JING WU MEN, about the same story has been told in Bruce Lee's FIST OF FURY and Jet Li's FIST OF LEGEND. Jay Chiu is a big fan of Bruce Lee. He even wrote a song called "nunchakus" and personally performed nunchakus in the song's music video. Stanley Tong (SUPERCOP I & II, RUMBLE IN THE BRONX, FIRST STRIKE) is the first choice for the director's seat and the female lead could be Annie Wu or Margaret Wang, both are from Taiwan. Even the shooting has yet started, they plan to finish it within four months and try to release it in May of June.

Photo courtesy: SINA.COM and AMG

Since the success of CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON. The western audiences and Hollywood studios started to feel interested in Chinese martial art movies. Then Gong got a copy of the first draft of Zhang Yimou's HERO. At that time, the plot and characters' fates were still "too Chinese". But the story and its artistic nature still deeply moved him. He thought a story of assassinating The First Emperor was very cliché to Chinese audiences, but can still attract people in the West. He said it was not just a martial art film, but also, in certain degree, like telling the westerners an oriental heroic fairytale, assassinations inside the royal palace, deep feeling of the history, and a tragic but beautiful story of love. All these are more exciting than those from CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON. Once Jet Li signed on, HERO has started to knock the door of the world. When they were still working on the script, a Hollywood studio bid US$25 million for the International release right but was turned down.

After they decided to aim HERO at the international market, Zhang Yimou did several big operations on the script based on "Hollywood standard" and the final edition of the script has been "internationalized". After watching some sample scenes, Gong felt they were better than expected. He said he felt several times better than watching CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON and believed it would repeat CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON's fame.

Ziyi said her role in HERO was a girl who was very loyal to his master and was willing to sacrifice herself for love and loyalty. Sometime during the shooting, she was stoke down by cold weather. Once got up, she just kept vomiting. But Ziyi fully enjoyed playing this supporting role.

She said, "since CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON, every project offered to me got some

Suddenly caught her fame, she has expressed her feeling of loss and sadness, "I can no longer see the world through a naive view. After being cheated and hurt so many times, I have built a transparent screen around me. It makes me feel safe." Ziyi has started to feel unsecured even she is raising star. Today the question she asks herself the most is "how to continue building my acting career?" "I'm very lucky. Few persons are so well-known at the age of 22. The Heaven is favoring me." "I often think how to prevent all these from fading away like a shooting star." "I don't want to be a shooting star. I keep examining myself (and try to find out) what future belongs to Zhang Ziyi." "Nothing is unbearable. Pain, exhausting, the body is giving up, (I) just endure it."

Clike her for the VOGUE report

Official site

1 Julia Roberts, Tom Cruise, Tome Hanks (100)
4 Mel Gibson (98.68)
5 Jim Carrey (98.46)
6 George Clooney (95.18)
7 Russell Crowe, Harrison Ford (also at 94.74)
9 Bruce Willis (94.30)
10 Brad Pitt (92.98)

Photo courtesy: Oriental Daily and SINA.COM

Photo courtesy: Ming Pao and Oriental Daily

Official site: MTV ASIA AWARDS MTV ASIA

Photo courtesy: SOHU.COM

Here is the good news, under the treated from Doctor Li Yongqing, the production's therapist, their wounds have healed.

Photo courtesy: SINA.COM

Photo courtesy: Ming Pao and Oriental Daily