Leung Chiu-Wai	Takeshi Kaeshiro
(Media Asia)

Set inside a Chinese prison during early 20th Century, Phoenix (literal) tells a a three decade long love story of a Japanese man and a Chinese woman. Japanese actor Kiichi Nakai and Chinese actress Miao Pu put on bulky prison uniforms to play the two leading characters on the set inside Beijing's August First Film Studio.  Produced by four companies from Beijing, Hong Kong and Japan, Phoenix is helmed by young Chinese director Jin Chen. The producers have planned to premi鑢e the drama in Cannes next May.

More snapshots from the set.

Shots from a press conference in September

Leung Chiu-Wai	Takeshi Kaeshiro	Xu Jinglei	Shu Qi
(Media Asia)

Confession of Pain will be released on December 7 in Hong Kong and the mainland China, just one week ahead of the release of Zhang Yimou's super bunkerbuster Curse of the Golden Flower.

Official website

Diary, a new psychological thriller by Oxide, one of the Pang Brothers, is expected to open this coming Thursday in the mainland China and a week after in Hong Kong. Inspired by Oxide’s unhappy memory about the time he spent with his ex-girl friend, the story of Diary begins with a young woman (Charlene Choi) meeting a guy (Shawn Yue) looks likes exactly like her ex-boyfriend, who has been missing from her life for two years. Is he really her ex-boyfriend or a total stranger? Encouraged by her best friend (Isabella Leung), she starts dating the guy. So after, their relationship goes cold. Does this guy just changed his heart or is she hallucinating again? All the answers seem hidden inside the diaries she has been written for many years. Diary has been allowed to be shown in mainland Chinese theaters, because those people who are in charge of censoring movies believe horror movie are suitable for all ages, as long as the fear does comes from anything graphically scary. The same group of people rejected Pirates of the Caribbean sequel for the same reason.

These twin brothers usually work together but this time each of them made a horror flick independently. The brothers have just announced that they would not make any ghost-subjected movie for two years. The other brother, Danny's work is titled Forest of Death. Inspired by an infamous Japanese forest favorite by suiciders, Forest of Death tells two young lovers (Shu Qi and Ekin Cheng) entered a forest to investigate a murder and are psychologically swallowed by the forest. Danny said he was invited to shoot a movie based on the forest while visiting Japan. He said there was no ghost, only darkness and fear inside your mind. Danny used many short and shaking shots to create the fear. Forest of Death has also been planned for a simultaneous release in Hong Kong and the mainland.

Diary: stills, more stills

Forest of Death: a still a poster

wireimage.com

Someone known as "martacruise" wrote the following on IMDB board (Thanks to "Bookie" for pointing it.):

 

yesterday, at the press conference of rome, nicole said that she has abandoned the film, THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI, because she doesn't want to be so far from her husband.

 

Currently, I don't have anything to support or dismiss it. Anyone got any info, please feel free to write in.

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(TungStar)

To create the lavish imperial family, over 3000 costumes were made, costing over US$1.3 million. Seven set of costumes were handmade for Chow Yun-Fat, who plays the emperor. It took over 80 members of the costume department over a month to make just one golden robe. It is sewed with gold lines and decorated with gold plates (18k). It is worth about US$156,000 and weights about 80 pounds. His golden armor is made of some metal plated with gold. His helmet even weighted about 100 pounds. Everyday Chow Yun-Fat had to spend two or three hours to put on the golden armor, with help from over held dozen crew members.

 

Click here for more photos of Chow Yun-Fat in costume.

 

Update:

According to indieWIRE, Curse of the Golden Flower has been scheduled for a world premi鑢e as the closing film of the AFI Festival on November 12, if any of the low profile screenings in Beijing during the last week of the past September does not count as a premi鑢e. (Thanks to "Nick".)

More about Curse of the Golden Flower

Zhao Yun

(Soft-World.com)

Andy Lau has officially announced this project, which will be based on classic Chinese novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, at a press conference held in South Korean city of Pusan today. Romance of the Three Kingdoms was written by Luo Guanzhong in 15th Century. It is a dramatic chronicle of the Chinese history from AD 184 to AD 280, during which China spitted into three kingdoms Wei Shu and Wu, after the Han Dynasty fells, and eventually reunited again under the Jin Dynasty. It is the most influential historical novel ever written in China and has become one of the popular sources for folk operas, TV series, movies, comic series and games. Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon, backed by Hong Kong-based Visualizer Film and South Korea-based Taewon Entertainment, is expected to tell a story loosely based on a small part of the epically long book. The focus will be on Zhao Yun (also known as Zhao Zilong, which was also the working title for the project when it was originally revealed to the public last fall), a relatively minor character in the original novel, in which he is a handsome warrior and  military commander, who is very loyal to Liu Bei, who later became the first ruler of the Kingdom of Shu. About the cast, Leon Lai will play Zhou Yu, the chief military commander loyal to Sun Quan, the founder of the Kingdom of Wu, Sammo Hung will play Zhang Fei, another warrior loyal to Liu Bei (Hung will also serve as the choreographer). Variety Asian Online reports that Maggie Q is playing Cao Ying, the granddaughter of warlord Cao Cao, who's oldest son becomes the first emperor of the kingdom of Wei (Q's character is specifically created for her.) Taewon Entertainment is also interested in offering Zhang Ziyi a role, according to the Chinese press. Daniel Lee is committed to direct. I am not feeling any confidence about him. His Dragon Squad is really sucks.  The budget for the movie is about US$25 million, about half of what John Woo would spent on his upcoming The Battle of Red Cliff, which would also be based on Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Shoot of both projects will start next year in China.

http://ent.sina.com.cn/m/c/2006-10-15/17261285154.html

Chang Chen as Wu Qingyuan.

(Century Hero Film)

Chinese director Tian Zhuangzhuang's latest film Wu Qingyuan (retiled to The Go Master by Fortissimo Films, the international distributor) has premi鑢ed at the New York Film Festival and has been scheduled for Rome and London. However, in the country which made the film, China, no one is interested in showing it on the big screen. Starring Chang Chen (2046, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), this is a biopic of Wu Qingyua, a master player of Weiqi or qi (pronounced as "go" in Japanese). Born in China, Wu traveled to Japan to study this millenniums old board. While achieving the impossible on the game board, Wu is struggling to deal with Japan's escalating aggression against his home country. Went into production about two years ago, this project has been in severe financial trouble ever since. Beijing-based Century Hero Films, one of the financiers of the film, claims the problem is cause by over-budgeting. Shooting in Japan, where Wu spent much of his life, was much more costly than expected. The original budget was about US1.5 million and eventually the film cost about US$3.75 million. Financiers are arguing with each other on who should pay for the extra cost. Wu Qingyuan is basically an "art film", which would make little appear to the movie goers. The average price for movie tickets is equal to or even higher than those in western countries, even though the average income for urban Chinese citizens is less than US$2000. In addition, the tight and sometimes ridiculously ambiguous censorship practice on subjects and contents of movies to be allowed for showing in China also helped to keep the country's movie market in recession. As the result, ordinary Chinese seek entertainment from TV and cheap pirated DVD. Director Tian Zhuangzhuang is one of the key figures in China's Six Generation Director Movement. Since early 1980, he has made 11 films. His The Horse Thief, which was made in 1986, was named by Martin Scorsese as his favorite film of the 1990s. In 1993, his The Blue Kite, about a Beijing family struggling through storming political movements in the 1950s and 1960s, premi鑢ed at the Tokyo Film Festival and subsequently banned in China. Tian was forced to stop directing and spent the next decade on producing. Now he is extremely upset about the fact that Wu Qingyua cannot be released in China and decides to focus his effort on teaching at Beijing Film Academy.

(Media Asia)

A Chinese newspaper reports that Hong Kong director Johnnie To's Exiled, which has gained some very positive reviews from Venice and Toronto, has been banned from being shown at mainland Chinese movie theaters but a DVD release of the crime thriller has been OKed. The report says the Film Bureau, which is in charge of censorship for theatrical release, has concludes the film was too bloody, too violent and the subject (gangs, killers and no cops) was also no good. However, the Office for Video and Audio Products has greenlighted Exiled to be released on DVD and VCD. Both the Bureau and the Office are affiliated to the Ministry of Culture. The tight and often ridiculously tight censorship on movies is one of the major factors causing the widespread piracy in China. Sometimes, studios have to cut or alter their films to be allowed for theatrical release. Johnnie To's Election was allowed to enter Chinese theaters after a good ending (cops showing up from nowhere and arresting everyone) was attached and Election sequel has never been allowed show up on the big screen. Just this year, Mission Impossible III was reedited before getting a Chinese release certificate and Pirates of the Caribbean sequel was blocked entering theaters in China. Martin Scorsese's Departed, a remake of Hong Kong's Infernal Affairs, also run into a wall in China. Its subject and some violent scenes basically mean there is very little hope for being seen on the silver screen.

Pubajia as the prince.	Duobujie as his uncle.
(Shanghai Film Group)

In the year 2006, The Banquet is not the only Chinese film inspired by  Hamlet. Xi Ma La Ya Wang Zi (literal meaning: Prince of Himalaya) is another Chinese production based on the famous tragedy by William Shakespeare. Set in the ancient Tibet, Prince of Himalaya is actually closer to the original story than The Banquet does. Co-written and directed by US-based Chinese filmmaker Sherwood Hu (Lanling Wang), it is shot in Tibet with a full Tibetan cast, speaking Tibetan throughout the film. The prince is played by first-time young actor Pubajia, who was discovered by the director at a bar in Jiuzhaigou, located in the southwestern Chinese province of Sichuan. Director Hu later sent Pubajia to Shanghai Theater Academy and paid his tuition. Last month Pubajia became the winner of "My Hero", a boy only American Idol-like TV Show in China. The prince's uncle is played by Duobujie, who portrayed the petrol leader in Kekexili: The Mountain Patrol. The cinematography was done by Hou Yong (Jasmine Women (as the director), Hero, The Road Home, The Blue Kite,  The Horse Thief)

Trailer   Stills

(MVP)

Undercovering is one of top regular subjects in Hong Kong movies, especially since the overwhelmingly successful Infernal Affairs. Wo Hu (literally means Couching Tigers, and is not related to that martial art film by Ang Lee), tells another story about the police infiltrating a criminal organization. Only this time, it is not about one or a few undercover cops, but about over a thousand of them. The story seams pretty simply - to take down a powerful gang, the police sent over a thousand officers to infiltrate the gang. The unusually large number of police moles starts pushing every member of the gang in to paranoia and eventually leads to the downfall of the gang. This flick is produced by Wong Jing and helmed by mainland Chinese comedy director Wang Guangli (Karmic Mahjong, Go for Broke) and Hong Kong director Marco Mak (Set to Kill, Colour of the Truth) The cast includes Eric Tsang, Francis Ng, Jordan Chan, Shawn Yue, Sonija Kwok, Qin Hailu, Michael Miu, Chilam Cheung, Nie Yuan and Na Wei. Since the story of the movie ends with the police's victory over the criminals, unlike other Hong Kong movies, like Johnnie To's Election 1 and 2, in which the police does not play a big part, Wo Hu got approved by the Chinese censor very quickly. Producer Wong Jing said Wo Hu was not another Infernal Affairs and was more realistic than Infernal Affairs. The audiences would be kept in the dark, not knowing who are the real crooks and who are the imposed until the last moment. An ex-gang member, who was called "a friend" by Wong, suggested shooting the film with documentary style. After the production team was harassed by several real gangsters in Hong Kong, this "friend" of Wong volunteered to stay with the production to keep the them out of trouble. Release in Hong Kong and the mainland China is coming this month.

Stills   Trailer (Thanks to "Mary")

Related story:

1000 Undercover Cops to Be Recruited for Operation CROUCHING TIGER (MonkeyPeaches Exclusive) May 23, 2006

(ESML)

Curiosity Kills the Cat, a Chinese-made movie suddenly caught some international attention after the production studio made a last minuet application of representing China to compete for the Best Foreign Language Film award of next year's Oscar. Though the nomination went to Zhang Yimou's Curse of the Flying Daggers, the publicity stunt for promoting the movie still succeeded, sort of. Written by Huo Xin (Kung Fu Hustle, Sunflower, Shower) and helmed by TV and music video director Zhang Yibai, Curiosity Kills the Cat is a psychological thriller set in today's China. A young woman, who works at a photo shop, routinely delivers photos to the residents of a high-end condominium. Out of curiosity, she starts digging into the life of her customers, with the photos she is asked to deliver. Mr. Zheng, who got his luxury lifestyle by marrying his wealthy wife, is having an affair with a nail salon owner and Zheng's wife apparently knows nothing about it. Looks like something very interesting and potentially dangerous is going on.