News Archives
May 2005
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News Archives |
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May 2005 |
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Jet Li's HUO YUANJIA Will Go to the Mountains (MonkeyPeaches Exclusive) |
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May 31, 2005 |
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According to Sina.com, the production of Jet Li's Huo Yuanjia biopic will soon move to the mountains in Xiaju County of Zhejiang Province, south of Shanghai. An unknown number of houses, waterwheel and paths have been built and the production team will soon arrive at Xiaju, which literally means "residence of the immortal". ( Click here for some pictures.) The movie is currently in production at Shanghai Studios.
Related Stories: Plot Description of Jet Li's HUO YUANJIA (MonkeyPeaches Exclusive) May 1, 2005
Jet Li's HUO YUANJIA Got a Major
Script Overhaul by HERO Writer
(MonkeyPeaches Exclusive)
April
30, 2005
Another Round of Spy Photos
from the Set of Jet Li's HUO YUANJIA
(The Beijing News) April
26, 2005
Even More Spy
Photos from the Set of Jet Li's HUO YUANJIA
(JetLiang.com) April
24, 2005
Two More Spy
Photos from the Set of Jet Li's HUO YUANJIA
(Sina.com / BigStar)
April
23, 2005
Spy Photos from the Set of
Jet Li's HUO YUANJIA
(The Beijing Morning Post) April 21,
2005
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May 30, 2005 |
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According to Variety, Chris Tucker just rejected the script penned by Jeff Nathanson, who also wrote the second Rush Hour. Jackie Chan has already said he did not like the series but he would do it again for his fans. If both leads are not happy about the project, just let it end now.
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1421: The Year China Discovered the World Is Adopted to a Film (MonkeyPeaches Exclusive) |
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May 30, 2005 |
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Gavin Menzies, former submarine commander in the British Royal Navy, said he would adopted his controversial book 1421: The Year China Discovered the World into a feature film during a book signing event in China last week. According to Beijing Morning Post, the project is budgeted at US$50 million and will go into production in March next year. In his book, Gavin Menzies claims it was Zheng He, a Ming Dynasty Chinese admiral, discovered America and circumnavigated the world first, and many European explorers, including Columbus, actually made their discoveries with maps charted by Zheng He and his crew. However, most historians believe Zheng He's fleet sailed seven times to the west and only reached the east coast of Africa. |
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May 29, 2005 |
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Photos taken during the the production in Shanghai - a tribute to producer Ismail Merchant (1936-2005). As the last film he produced, The White Countess tells a blind former American diplomat's relationship with an exiled Russian countess in the pre-WWII Shanghai.
More Photos: Related Stories:
James Ivory's THE
WHITE COUNTESS Wrapped Up Shanghai Production
(MonkeyPeaches
Exclusive) December 11, 2004
Sony Pictures Classics
Acquired THE WHITE COUNTESS
(Sony Pictures Classics)
November 13, 2004
First Look At James Ivory
THE WHITE COUNTESS Filming In Shanghai
(Sina.com)
October 17, 2004
THE WHITE COUNTESS
Holds Press Conference In Shanghai
(Various)
October 8, 2004
Camera Starts Rolling For James Ivory's
THE WHITE COUNTESS In Shanghai
(MonkeyPeaches Exclusive)
October 2, 2004
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Michelle Yeoh Wanted for Both M:I3 and LAMB Prequel (MonkeyPeaches Exclusive) |
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May 28, 2005 |
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According to Hong Kong's Oriental Daily and its sister newspaper The Sun, Michelle Yeoh said she had been contacted for playing roles in both Mission: Impossible 3 and The Lecter Variation, the planned The Silence of the Lamb prequel. Yeoh said she was getting somewhat close to seal the deal with M:I3 and was unexpectedly contacted by the production of The Lecter Variation when she was in Cannes last week. She said it was really hard to choose between these to projects and would leave it to the producers. According to an earlier report, Gong Li was offered a role in The Lecter Variation but Yeoh said the producers would decide whom to cast after they did their test shots. Gong has already joined the film adaptation of Miami Vice.
Update: According to an article by Taiwanese paper UDN, which was very likely the source for Hong Kong's Oriental Daily and The Sun's stories, Michelle Yoeh and Gong Li are offered with two different roles in The Lecter Variation and there has never been any competition between them. Yoeh is asked to take the female lead and Gong is attached to a supporting role, a Japanese woman who "teaches cultural sophistication to a young Hannibal Lecter." (Thanks to "Jane" of Michelle Yeoh Web Theatre.)
Related Story:Gong Li Offered a Role In THE LECTOR VARIATION, A LAMBS Prequel (?) February 24, 2005
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May 27, 2005 |
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Three stories centered around a pair of vases, a horror flick at a villa and a documentary about the fishermen of Nao-Fang-Ao of the northeastern of Taiwan Island.
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May 26, 2005 |
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Windows: High LowReal: High Low QuickTime: High Low
2046 will be released in New York and Los Angeles on August 5, 2005.
Official site by Sony Pictures Classics (coming soon)
(Thanks to Alexis Moore of Sony Pictures Classics.)
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Woman Director Xu Jinglei Tells Tale of China's Only Female Emperor with DAYS WITHIN THE PALACE (MonkeyPeaches Exclusive) |
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May 26, 2005 |
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Beijing born actress/director Xu Jinglei has picked the subject of Tang Dynasty empress Wu Zetian for her next project, according to Beijing Youth Daily. Gong Li De Ri Zi (literal title: Days within the Palace) is produced by writer Liu Zhenyun and penned by novelist Wang Shuo. Xu said she would not simply chronicle how an innocent girl becoming a ruthless empress. She would tell a story of a woman, her passion and her relationship with people around her. Produced by Beijing based Huayi Brothers & Taihe Film Investment Co., Ltd., the film will begin production in October. Xu said should the film do well in the box-office, a sequel would follow.
Born in 624, Wu Zetian was brought into the imperial palace to serve Emperor Tai Zong when she was only 14. Later she became the favorite concubine of Emperor Gao Zong and gradually climbed to the seat of Empress. In 690, seven years after the death of her husband, 66 year old Wu Zetian removed her third son from the throne and proclaimed herself as the new emperor. in 705 she was forced to pass the power to her second son and die in the same year.
Born in 1974, Xu Jinglei has starred in 11 titles since 1998. She has written and directed two of her movies, My Father and I and Letters from an Unknown Woman.
Related Story: Woman Director Xu Jinglei Received Silver Shell For Her LETTERS FROM AN UNKNOWN WOMAN At San Sebastian International Film Festival (Official Festival Site) September 26, 2004
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INITIAL D Official Site, Redesigned with a New Trailer (Media Asia) |
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May 25, 2005 |
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Related stories:
INITIAL D Behind-the-Scene
Photos (Sina.com)
May 5,
2005
INITIAL D Official Site, with a Trailer
(Media Asia Films) April 15,
2005
INITIAL D Promotional Stills
(Sina.com)
March 10, 2005
INITIAL D Making-Of Video
(Moviehole.net)
March 4, 2005
Stills: INITIAL D
(Mov.3)
November 21, 2004
The Making Of INITIAL D Clip
(?)
October 23, 2004
INITIAL D Promotional
Stills
(The New Express) October 4, 2004
INITIAL D Initialized,
Finally
(MonkeyPeaches Exclusive)
July 2, 2004
INITIAL D's Film Version Set
To Begin
(MonkeyPeaches Exclusive)
April 16, 2004
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May 24, 2005 |
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On May 16, director Tsui Hark attended a signing ceremony granting Sina.com the exclusive sponsorship of Seven Swords. The event was broadcasted live through the Internet and a short behind-the-scene clip about filming at the icy Mount Heaven was shown.
Video record of the signing ceremony: A B C ("A" contains he behind-the-scene clip: 05:43 - 08:45)(Thanks to "Matthew" for the tip.)
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Tribeca Winner STOLEN LIFE Not Banned in China (MonkeyPeaches Exclusive) |
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May 24, 2005 |
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According to The Beijing News, director Li Shaohong has dismissed the report claiming her TV film Stolen Life (literal title: Life and Death Plunder) is banned in China. She told the American media that the film had not got a a permit for domestic release from the Chinese authority because she was short on time and she did get a permit for overseas release. Then her words were miss-interpreted as that her film was banned in China. Telling a true story of a teenage girl's deceived life, the film was named the Best Narrative Feature at the 4th Annual Tribeca Film Festival on April 30 in New York. Stolen Life is a part of a 10 episode TV project Absolute Privacy, based on woman writer An Dun's Absolute Privacy - an Oral Account of Contemporary Chinese Love Life, a best selling book series documented dozens of shocking and unspoken stories in today's China. The TV series has been scheduled to première on June 10 at Shanghai based Dragon TV and a theatrical release of Stolen Life has also been planned.
Related Story: Chinese TV Movie STOLEN LIFE Wins at Tribeca Film Festival (MonkeyPeaches Exclusive) May 2, 2005
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May 23, 2005 |
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Mission: Impossible 3 might be filmed in China in July, according to a report by Chinese paper The Beijing News. Li Xiaowan told the paper that her company, Beijing Rosat Film & TV Production Co, Ltd., helped a pre-production team to scout locations in Beijing and Shanghai recently. Li said an assistant director in charge of scouting locations arrived in China first on April 2, followed by two members of the art department and a producer five days later, and then over a dozen crew members, including director J.J. Abrams (?), several second unit director and several members of the cinematography unit and lighting unit, arrived on April 28. Part of the film's story will be set in Asia and the production team went to Japan first. Then someone from Paramount told John Woo and Terence Chang who jointly made M:I2. Woo and Chang immediately recommended China as an alternative to Japan and let the Paramount get contacted with Beijing Rosat, which co-produced John Woo's short film Sang Sang and a Kitten (literal), part of UNICEF project Take 7. Li said members of the scouting team were shocked by the degree of modernization of the two cities and Paramount had decided to choose China as a new location. It would be much cheaper to shoot in China than doing it in Japan but to get a shooting permit, the story of M:I3 must get the Chinese authority's approval.
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Video: Jackie Chan's THE MYTH Press Conference in Cannes Plus the Second Trailer (Sina.com) |
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May 22, 2005 |
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Chinese Film QING HONG / SHANGHAI DREAMS Awarded with Prix du Jury at Cannes (Cannes Film Festival) |
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May 21, 2005 |
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Qing Hong (English title: Shanghai Dreams), written and directed by mainland Chinese director Wang Xiaoshuai, has been awarded with Prix du Jury. Partially based on his own experience in the 1980's, Wang tells a story of a 19 year old girl's taste of forbidden love and her father's desperate attempt to bring his family back to Shanghai after being relocated to a remote land two decades ago. Among eight films Wang made in the past 12 years, Qing Hong is the first one officially approved by the Chinese authority and it had to go through the censorship twice to get the final approval. Once titled I Am 19, Qing Hong is considered as a follow-up to Wang Xiaoshuai's The 17 Year Old Bicycle (English title: Beijing Bicycle). Gao Yuanyuan and Li Bin, two stars from Beijing Bicycle, returned and played two completely different characters in Qing Hong. This film will be released in the mainland China on August 18 and hopefully the prize from Cannes will boost the box-office revenue at home. Other Asian films failed to make impression to the festival jury.
Click here for the complete winners' list
Related Stories: Belgian film 'The Child' wins Cannes's coveted Palme d'Or, AFP via Yahoo! News 'The Child' takes top honors at Cannes, AP via MSNBC
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CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON Producer Abandons Prequel Option (MonkeyPeaches Exclusive) |
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May 21, 2005 |
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According to a report by Beijing Youth Daily, producer Bill Kong has already given up the idea of making a prequel to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Kong spent the past few months talking to several Hollywood studios, including Sony Pictures the co-financer of the original film, and failed to bring any one of them into the prequel project. The prequel would tell the story of the early years of Li Mu Bai and Yui Hsui Lien, played by Chow Yun-Fat and Michelle Yeoh in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Zhang Ziyi's character would not be in the prequel and this was probably the major factor kept Hollywood studios away from the project.
Related Stories: About That CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON Prequel Rumor (MonkeyPeaches Exclusive) March 21, 2005 Rumors: CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON Prequel to Be Made This Summer and Jackie Chan Might Play Genghis Khan in TEMUJIN: BATTLE OF THE SEVEN WINGS (MonkeyPeaches Exclusive) March 17, 2005
More about Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
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May 20, 2005 |
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Six teenage boys and girls spend their best days together, a paparazzo discovers the photos he took are linked to a murder and his long-lost ex-girlfriend, a young man starts a journey to find his father, a martial-art master, and a group of aging farmers enjoy their happiness in rice field...
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Cannes Contender: THREE TIMES by Hou Hsiao-Hsien (MonkeyPeaches Exclusive) |
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May 20, 2005 |
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Zui Hao De Shi Guang / Three Times / literal: Best of Time
What is the best of time ? It is a bliss of not
having it again. We remember it not because it was wonderful moment, on
contrary, because we lost it forever, we can only recall it with our
memory, that is why it is wonderful.
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