News Archives

April 2002

An unidentified website reports the Korean version of SHAOLIN SOCCER is only 87 minutes. The original version shown in Hong Kong is 92 minute long and the extended version, including outtake footage, is about 112 minute long. SHAOLIN SOCCER will be shown in the US, Canada, Korea and Japan in May and the same site suspects what will be shown in North America and Japan will be same as the Korean version. According to Hong Kong's Oriental Daily, Stephen Chow was aware of this 87 minute version and was glad to see only 5 minutes of scenes got cut (from the original 92 minute version).

List of nominees of this years World Stunt Awards. RUSH HOUR II is the front runner with total 9 nominations for Best Fight, Best High Work (triple nominations), Best Special Stunt, Best Stunt by a Stuntman (double nominations), Best Stunt Coordinator and/or 2nd Unit Director: Feature Film, and Best Water Work. APOCALYPSE NOW REDUX and THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS are close behind, both with 7 nominations. THE ONE is nominated for Best Fire Stunt and the North American version of IRON MONKEY got running for Best Fight.

Complete list of nominees

Elhcay just sent me four on-location photos of the upcoming DRUNKEN MONKEY, taken by Ivy Li-Meng. All I can tell is it probably was  somewhere in eastern China. The only cast member can be identified is the leading man Wu Jing (in all four pictures) and in the second picture from the left, you can see director Lau Kar-leung was looking at the camera.

With Wu Jing, called the Little Jet Li by the media, and Lau Kar-leung, experienced Shaw Brothers director, DRUNKEN MONKEY has been promised to be a very enjoyable old-fashion wire-free F/X-free kung-fu piece.

Thanks to Elhcay

The official HULK logo just premièred on Aintiticool.com yesterday. Don't know why there is only one eye. Certainly this one is not as gentle as the other one-eye green monster from MONSTERS, INC.

And here is something about THE HULK and an onset spy report plus several pictures.

Photo: Aintitcool.COM

According to a report from Hong Kong, after seeing a two-hour rough cut of HIGHBINDERS,  people from Columbia Tristar have decided to release the newest Hong Kong made Jackie Chan movie in North America next February at over 3,000 theaters and to spend US$50 million to promote it. Apparently they were a bit surprise to see this movie, which should have a budget of US$ 80million based on Hollywood standard, only cost about US$35 million to make. In addition, they have planned to introduce action figures, develop a video game, and organize Jackie Chan fans from around the world to attend the American première.

The movie will also be release in East and Southeast Asia at about the same time (during the Chinese New Year). It is estimated that HIGHBINDERS will be shown at over 5,000 theaters around the world in February. The Japanese distributor even budgets US$3 million for the movie's promotion in Japan.

In May director Gordon Chan will go to Britain for the post-production. The CG works is handled by Moving Picture, which has worked on TOMB RAIDER and the first HARRY POTTER.

Photos: Ming Pao, Oriental Daily and StarEastNet.Com 

Jet Li on location of Jiuzhaigou National Park

Onset of CRADLE TO THE GRAVE, Jet Li briefly talked about his understanding of HERO:

So, how did "Hero" come together? "My last movie, which I just finished – 'Hero' – was my dream movie," Jet effused. "When I read the script, I cried twice. I think, in my career of making movies for twenty-two years, it's the first script where I was reading and crying. It's a very, very incredible story. It's a different kind. One kind has drama first, story first – the action helps the story. But some movies, the actions are very important. It's for the young audience and it's not as necessary with the story because they want to watch fight, fight, fight, fight, fight!"

Can you tell us anymore? "It's very emotional," Jet went on to say. "The character in the story, I have very strong feelings about his story. The name is 'Hero' and it's about what kind of person we can call a 'hero.' When I was young, you say, ah, the football player is a hero. Michael Jordan is my hero. But when you get to a different age, you will change your mind on, 'who is my hero?' So, we always talk about an action film – a lot of heroes, a lot of bad guys – but I don't think there is a hero, I just think it's a character like Superman who beats the bad guys and saves the world. It's a story, it's not true...(laughs). I never think I'm the hero. I think the character might have a strong character, I 'played' a hero or I 'played' a bad guy, but I'm just a normal guy."

By Smilin' Jack Ruby
Photos: SINA.COM

SHAOLIN SOCCER became the biggest winner of this year's Hong Kong Film Awards. With 13 nominations, it successfully grabbed 6 awards, including Best Picture, Best Director (Stephen Chow), Best Actor (Stephen Chow), Best Supporting Actor (Wong Yut-fei), Best Sound Effect and Best Visual Effect. In addition of winning Best Director and Best Actor, Stephen Chow was also honored as Outstanding Young Director (he barely qualified). Sylvia Chang won Best Actress for FOREVER AND EVER, defeating Anita Mui and triple-nominee Sammi Cheng. JULY RHAPSODY collected Best Supporting Actress (Lam Ga-yan), Best Newcomer (Lam Ga-yan) and Best Screenplay. PEONY PAVILION won Best Art Direction and Best Costume. THE ACCIDENTAL SPY collected Best Editing and Best Action Choreography. Best Cinematography went to VISIBLE SECRET. MY LIFE AS McDULL won Best Original Music and Sammi Cheng, lost her triple-bid for Best Actress, won Best Original Song for LOVE ON A DIET. Japanese animation SPIRIT AWAY won Best Asian Film. Longtime kung-fu movie director Chang Cheh was honored with Lifetime Achievement Award.

Stephen Chow scored high

   Photos: SINA.COM

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Snapshots on the set of HERO
Still from THE EMPEROR AND THE ASSASSIN	Real weapons from that period

From the pictures taken on the set (top-left), we can see the armors and weapons look almost exactly the same as what in THE EMPEROR AND THE ASSASSIN (bottom-left), directed by Chen Kaige. This should not be a surprise, because both movies share the same art director, Huo Tingxiao.

Without the extra blade close to the middle section, the weapon is called "Ji" (right). Four set of bronze ji was discovered inside the pit containing the terra-cotta figures of the First Emperor's mausoleum. Each ji is about 2.9 meters (9.5 feet) long and consists of a spear head, a double-blade prong, and a wooden shaft.

Photos: Hengdian Film & TV City and www.chiculture.net

Andy Lau

Andy Lau told Business Times that he had started to work on the script of an untitled old fashion kung-fu movie, which will be helmed by the legendary director Chang Cheh.

More than twenty years ago, Andy Lau had his movie début in THE SHANGHAI 13, written and directed by Chang Cheh. At the 21st Hong Kong Film Awards ceremony on Sunday, Chang Cheh, has directed no less than 105 kung-fu flicks, will received the Longtime Achievement Award.

Meanwhile, who will be the female lead of Andy Lau's KUNG FU MAN WOMAN (translation) is still unknown. The original candidate is Cecilia Cheung and Zhao Wei may be up to another lead and may even have the chance of replacing Cecilia Cheung. Directed by Lau Wai-keung, shooting of KUNG FU MAN WOMAN will start next month at Hengdian.

Ekin Cheng

According to Oriental Daily, Ekin Cheng is the front runner for leading Emperor Media Group (EMG)'s next big thing - SWORD KID (translation) with Gordon Chan as the director. Said to be a combination of Chinese kung-fu and HARRY POTTER or HIGHBINDERS type of special effects, it will tell a story of a guy and a sword kid.

In addition, EMG has planned three more movies for this year, KIGOKU HIGH SPEED (translation), a countryside car race flick staring Hong Kong and Japanese actors; TIN GEI BIN; and DREAM TEAM (translation), a remake of John Woo's ONCE A THIEF. EMG has planned to hire Donnie Yen as the action director for the later two.

EMG will return to Cannes this year to promote these projects. During last year's Cannes Film Festival, EMG successfully secured over 50 million US dollars for Jackie Chan's HIGHBINDERS.

Photos: SINA.COM

Lau Ching-wan (left)  and Johnny To (right)	Sammi Cheng

Hong Kong's Oriental Daily has reported director Johnny To was set to direct MY LEFT EYE SEES GHOST (translation), a comedic thriller, this summer. Lau Ching-wan, has starred in nine of Johnny To's previous movies including RUNNING OUT OF TIME and its sequel, will once again be his leading man; and Sammi Cheng, who has starred in three of Johnny To's previous movies, will be the female lead.

Winners of The 21st Hong Kong Film Awards will be announced the coming Sunday. Johnnie To and his co-director Wai Ka-fai have been nominated for their work in LOVE ON A DIET, and Sammi Cheng has triple Best Actress nomination for her performance in LOVE ON A DIET, FOREVER AND EVER and WU YEN. 

Photos: Oriental Daily, and SINA.COM

		(middle and right) Jackie Chan enjoyed the party with everyone.
	(Left) before cutting the cake, Jackie Chan wished for world peace.

On April 7, Jackie spent his first day as a 48 year old man on location of SHANGHAI KNIGHTS in Prague. Still mourning the death of his mother, Jackie Chan planned nothing for that day. But the non-Chinese crewmembers didn't get the mood. They ordered a giant birthday cake and threw a party on him.

Jackie Chan wore a costume during the part, exactly the same as the one he has wore in SHANGHAI NOON.

Photos: Oriental Daily, Tthe Sun and StarEastNet.Com.

	Donnie Yen on one of the set, the king's palace, built inside Hengdian Film & TV City.
	He played Long Sky or Silver Spear, one of the three assassins, who had a big fight with Wu Yan (Silencer) played by Jet Li.
	Don't think this is the real clapperboard used the shooting of HERO.
	Taking a break on the set. See what's on the left chest of his coat? Looks like some kind of official logo?
	After the shooting completed, director Zhang Yimou asked Donnie Yen signed the spearhead Donnie used.

I just gathered several pictures of Donnie Yen on the set of HERO from some two Donnie Yen fan sites.

Here are two more pictures:

a - Dinner with the crew (Zhang Zimou on his left)

b - Party probably with extras from a local school. 

Photos: DFAN'S CLUB

& Donnie Yen!

THE HULK teaser  poster	Ang Lee making something for a big Hollywood studios for the first time	The script is originally written by David Hayter (X-MEN)	Ang Lee's long-time partner James Schamus has rewritten the script	Eric Bana players Bruce Banner / The Hulk	Jennifer Connelly was cast to play Betty Boss before she won the Oscar

Ign.com just posted a script review of THE HULK -by STAX.

Click here to read the review.

Photos:  IMDB & ign.com

48 year-old Jackie Chan played some gymnastics on board of a ship.	Wong Chiu-sang play the No.2 man of the snakehead, boss of the human smuggling ring.	Claire Forlani and Jackie Chan	Christy Chung

Meanwhile, according to Countingdown.com, DreamWorks just pushed Jackie Chan's THE TUXEDO from June 7 back to October 4, due to a longer than expected post-production stage. But many people have suspected it was simply a move of avoiding heavy competition.

Photos:  Southern City

(Left) The Japanese poster.	(Right) Chen Kaige and Heather Graham at the Japanese première (January 22)

Once again, Chen Kaige's English-language début is pushed back. According to Variety, people running MGM are currently try to decide whether to have a full release, a limited release or push it direct to video.

Based on early interview with Chen Kaige, I suspect Chen Kaige has refused to alter some nude, sex or horror scenes. Motion Picture Association of America has given it an R rating for strong sexuality, some violence and language.

KILLING ME SOFTLY has been released in Japan and Italy earlier this year.

Variety article: Inside move- Lion gauges Kaige

Review: KILLING ME SOFTLY (by David Rooney)

Photos: 予告篇大画報, @nifty, cinemacafe.net.

According to Aintitcool.COM, Hiromi Kawanishi, the Vice President of Publicity from Mirimax said:

I thought you guys would like to know that we are keeping the title of Stephen Chow's film SHAOLIN SOCCER, and we will not use KUNG FU SOCCER.

After reading the AICN rant about the possible title change, we thought it was the smart thing to do. Can you please inform your readers of this?

Read the Aintitcool.COM article                                   Photo: MmediaCircus.net

Who can forget the costumes in CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON designed by Tim Yip? He didn't win the Oscar for being an costume designer but rather an art director. It has been a year since then and Tim Yip has kept working nonstop.

His newest work is the new look designed for Zhou Xun's character (left) in movie BABE IN LOVE (translation). Earlier, he designed the the characters for Zhou Xun in TV series JU ZI HONG LE (translation: ORANGES TURNING READ) (middle) and TALE OF THE EAGLE-SHOOTING HERO (right).

More designs from Tim Yip: BABE IN LOVE, ORANGES TURNING RED, TALE OF THE EAGLE-SHOOTING HERO.

Photos: SINA.COM

Shooting of 22-episode TV series FLATLAND just wrapped up last month in Shanghai. Story of this sci-fi kung-fu action series is set in the 2010's Shanghai when Smith, played by Dennis Hopper, recruits three young cadets to fight a 2600 year old evil force. Produced by Albert S. Ruddy (GODFATHER), this series cost over 43 million dollars US to make. Supervised by Hong Kong director Stanley Tong (RUMBLE IN THE BRONX, FIRST STRIKE), FLATLAND has six directors from several countries, including Richard Franklin. Steve Feke penned the script. More episodes are expected according to Albert S. Ruddy. (More information is available at IMDB)

Video 1: (Clips and the only Chinese actress Zhan Xiaonan)

Video 2: (Clips and the director Stanley Tong)

Video 3: (Press conference in March and clips)

Photo: NetandTV.com

Plunged on location of RUSH HOUR 2.

Met Jet Li and announced the production of THE TUXEDO.

Director Yuen Bin

Video: DUAN CHOU GU In Production (ASF)

This video was made last October, when shooting of DUAN CHOU GU (END ENMITY HOLLOW) just began. Now the shooting has wrapped up and the 30-episode TV series will première in China this month. Though with a different story, this is a TV version of THE PEACE HOTEL. Director Yuen Bin said it was the first time he didn't use any weapon and he wanted to tell the stories untold in THE PEACE HOTEL and NEW DRAGON INN.

Sammo Hung played the head of Duan Chou Gu, who was murdered by his son. In the video you can a few scenes of him including the one for his funeral.

Photo: NetandTV.com

Trailer: THE TUXEDO

Trailer of this Jackie Chan's spy-action flick, which part of it débuted on Monday's Entertainment Tonight, has gone online last night on Countingdown.com. If this does well, Jackie Chan may secure his third Hollywood franchise, after RUSH HOUR and SHANGHAI NOON.

Thanks to LC for the tip.

Photos: DreamWorks SKG Fansite

This short interview of Leung Tseng done last November contains over one minute of  scenes from the movie. Unfortunately, she didn't say anything about the movie.

Click here (1:57)

According to China's Daily New, someone from Beijing's New Image Films, one of the production companies of HERO, director Zhang Yimou just finished shooting of an unknown number of additional scenes in Beijing. He will go to the America for the CG effects by the end of this month and then will go to Australia to do the rest of postproduction which will be wrapped up in October.

From late year to early this year, there was a fierce battle between Miramax and SONY Pictures over the distribution right of HERO (budget: US$30M), HIGHBINDERS (budget: US$35M) and THE TOUCH (budget: US$20M). While Miramax grabbed HERO and THE TOUCH, SONY Pictures has secured HIGHBINDERS. Last year a Japanese studios offered $25 million US dollars for HERO's global distribution right but was turned down. Therefore the number Miramax came out to outbid SONY for the distribution right of North and South America, the U.K. and Australia (may also include New Zealand), should be no less than 15 million, according to New Image Films' estimate.

Leung Ka-fai (Tony; not Leung Chiu-wai) as the Taiwan cop		David Morse played the FBI specialist		Liu Ruo-ying (Rene) played wife of Leung Kai-fai's character

Trailer (QuickTime): Small (4MB)    Large (6MB)

Official Site

DOUBLE VISION, a thriller helmed by Taiwanese director Chen Kuo-fu, is one of the four Asian movies produced by SONY Pictures (Columbia). The other three are BIG SHOT'S FUNERAL by Feng Xiaogang, HEROES OF THE HEAVEN AND EARTH by He Ping, and SO CLOSE (formerly known as VIRTUAL TWILIGHT) by Corey Yuen.

After a Taiwan CEO freezes to death on one of the hottest days of the year and a politician's mistress burnt to death in a room with no trace of fire, a Taiwanese cop, played Leung Ka-fai, teamed up with a FBI specialist (David Morse) to solve the mystery.

The production crew include the Academy Award winner, art director Tim Yip, computer graphics expert from ROMEO AND JULIET, and special makeup team from THE MATRIX. No word has been given on when it will be released.
Photos: DavidMorse.org and Taipei Times

This trailer, discovered on a Korean website  (www.banzi.co.kr), was done by Miramax last year before they decided to call it KUNGFU SOCCER.

SHAOLIN SOCCER Trailer by Miramax (ASF)

The originally planned release of the edited version of the movie on this Friday will not happen. An earlier report suggests it has been pushed back to the first quarter of 2003, but according to an article featured on today's Daily New of China, someone from Miramax's Beijing office said it will be released on May 18 at less than one thousand theaters in North America.

Jackie Chan's THE ACCIDENTAL SPY, also planned to be released this weekend by Miramax's subsidiary Dimension Films, is pushed back to the last quarter of this year or even sometime next year. Jackie Chan's this movie was released in Asia more than a year ago. It has avoided head-on with his THE TUXEDO which is coming this June, but may have to compete with his two other movies, HIGHBINDERS and SHANGHAI KNIGHTS.

Surprisingly, Miramax has planned to have a wide release of THE LEGEND OF ZU (called ZU WARRIORS by Miramax) this August when the summer heat starts losing steam. However, it is still not "too late" for Miramax to push this one back as well.

Photo: MmediaCircus.net

The long anticipated reunion of John Woo and Chow Yun-fat will finally happen this fall. In this film, set in the 19th Century, Chow will play a Chinese doctor, wanted by the government, escaped to America and was forced to work on the transcontinental railroad. After some fights, he teamed up with his opponent, an Irishman working on the other sector of the railroad, who will be played by Nicolas Cage.

According to Taiwan's The Star, John Woo said, "I have been searching locations in Utah, Colorado and California. Hoping the shooting will star in August. Chow Yun-fat is working on a movie (BULLETPROOF MONK) in Canada and once (it's) wrapped up in mid June, he will concentrate on this project. (Nicolas) Cage likes this role (the Irishman) too. They are the best combination."

However, John Woo and his preproduction team do not like the title MEN OF DESTINY, but it was approved by Disney, which will pay for the production. Penned by Michael Colleary and Mike Werb, the screenwriters of FACE-OFF, it will be neither an action nor a western, but rather primarily a drama.

Photos: SINA.COM

Michelle Yeoh said the actress who would play the younger version of her character must look like her, an acrobat and speak a little bit English. She also said she might have a cameo appearance in DIE ANOTHER DAY.

Trailer: Quick Time    Windows Media

Official site

Video 1 (2:55)

The press conference plus part of a video shown at the conference, including dozens of still photos and part of the teaser trailer.

Photos: NetandTV.com

Video 2 (1:20)

Special report of the production plus set of a circus and a treasure cave built inside Beijing Film Studios.

Video 3 (4:07)

Michelle Yeoh interview plus part of a video shown at the conference, including dozens of still photos and part of the teaser trailer.

This is yet another Donnie Ye interview. Again he was asked about BLADE II, SHANGHAI KNIGHTS and HERO, and again he didn't say too much:

I got so much time to talk to Donnie Yen at the Blade II premiere that he gets his own interview. Yen, of course, starred in the legendary Iron Monkey among many Hong Kong action films. He added fight choreographer to his resume' in the late '80s and directing five years ago. Coming over to America, he choreographed and performed in Highlander: Endgame and now Blade II. He will next appear in Shanghai Knights with Jackie Chan and Hero with Jet Li.
...

Click here to read the whole interview
Thanks to Ardent Quach

Photo: About.com