Dragonball Trailer and Posters

Usually I do have interests on any Stephen Chow’s films (whether he produces or directs or stars in it) but this Dragonball film is kinda typical ? The trailer looks kinda exciting but don’t be fooled by Hollywood trailers – they sure know how to make a “normal/boring” film looks exciting in trailers.

The Dragonball that I came to know (watched, actually) was the tv anime that featured Goku as a ..ehm… “human” with a monkey tail. Of course, it will be “weird” to have the live-action Goku to have a tail

 

Tony Leung is back in Red Cliff … as Zhou Yu

Chinese news:

偉仔落實演周瑜 《赤壁》峰迴路轉

【明報專訊】真是戲劇性兼峰迴路轉。早前以《赤壁》是大製作，感覺沒充足時間準備、怕演不好而辭演戲中諸葛亮一角的梁朝 偉，竟然代替上周五透過律師 向《赤壁》劇組辭演周瑜一角的周潤發。偉仔唔嫁又嫁，還要執發哥二攤演周瑜，據知是因為偉仔得知發哥不演《赤壁》後，覺得吳宇森很慘，自己跟對方甚有交 情，有情有義下決定頂上演周瑜。

昨晚《赤壁》監製透過網上承認此消息，他說﹕「經與梁朝偉先生聯絡後，梁朝偉先生基於與吳宇森導演20多年的友誼，又見到周潤發離開了《赤壁》劇組，《赤壁》又是一部令人期待的作品，必須要拍下去，所以當吳宇森邀請他重返劇組時，他一口答應，替吳宇森解決燃眉之急。」

為吳宇森食回頭草

之前偉仔辭演諸葛亮一角，現在又食回頭草，還代替發哥演周瑜，令不少人大跌眼鏡。由於該片已開工，很多人都擔心偉仔能否即時投入扮演周瑜？張家 振表示，因 偉仔已經熟讀劇本（去年初第一稿出時，已經給了偉仔）不會有發哥最介意的劇本問題（究竟發哥最介意的劇本問題是什麼，張家振未有回答），只是身高173公 分的偉仔要配175公分的林志玲，如何讓畫面看起來協調，吳宇森可能在這方面要動動腦筋。

偉仔在台的澤東經理人陳寶旭表示，偉仔是個念舊、體貼的人，他一定知道，如果吳宇森不是被迫到埋身是不可能回頭跟他開口的。另外，劉嘉玲和林志玲與台灣富商郭台銘的名字經常連在一起，所以偉仔將在片中和林志玲演情侶，大家都關心這四角關係，又會產生什麼化學作用。

台片商邀發哥演孫中山

而不拍《赤壁》的發哥，可能會轉演另一位歷史人物孫中山。昨日據台灣電影基金會董事長邱復生表示，孫中山傳記的電影是以英語對白，在華人演員當 中，可以用 英語演出的大牌藝人非周潤發莫屬，最重要是周潤發的眼睛實在很像孫中山，所以目前鎖定由周潤發去演。問到邱復生，發哥是否因為要演孫中山而辭演周瑜？他就 不願證實，指該片目前還在籌備階段，他不希望因此而讓角色受到影響。

記者﹕柯美

What I understand:

Tony Leung Chiu-Wai is back! After his decision to quit Red Cliff due to insufficient preparation time (his worry of not acting well) as Zhuge Liang, he’s back to the film as Zhou Yu. Last Friday, Chow Yun-Fatt has announced that he had quit Red Cliff as Zhou Yu.

Terence Chang, the producer of Red Cliff, announced that John Woo, the director of Red Cliff, has personally asked Tony to come back to the film. John and Tony shared a 20 plus years of friendship, the news of Chow quitting and this film has been one of the most anticipated films, Tony has decided to come back to help John.

Quite a number of people has expressed concern whether Tony has sufficient time to prepare for this role. Terence said that actually Tony has already read and know the scripts. The other concern is how Tony, standing at 173 cm, will be able to match Lin Zhi-Ling, standing at 175 cm (Ms Lin will be starring as Zhou Yu’s wife). John Woo will have to use his grey cells to film scenes involving the 2 actors.

Another news is that Chow Yun-Fatt will likely to take another historical drama role after quitting Red Cliff. He may play Dr. Sun Yat Sen.
Source: HK Yahoo News
English Summary: reikanorakuen.wordpress.com
Full credit when posting elsewhere

LOL, this is like a film itself. I’m really surprised by Tony’s action but according to the news, Tony is someone who valued friendship so he knew that John is already desperate when he asked Tony about coming back.

I didn’t post the news report on Chow quitting (reasons giving by him and Terence Chang) but it seems that Chow has set a LOT of unreasonable demands to the producers for accepting this role which they have tried but couldn’t meet. So sad that he has became so “big” a star to set so high a demand. I always thought that you become an actor because you love acting. What have become of him? Is money truly that important? I read reports that John is actually not very happy when Chow quitted – it is speculated that their relationship has been strained because of this.The role Zhou Yu is actually tailor-made to fit Chow.

 

Some 26th HK Film Awards news

Since it is going to be held this week (15th April), here are a collection of HKFA-related news.

The 26th Hong Kong Film Awards Presentation Ceremony Booklet

^ click on the picture for larger version

Hong Kong Film Awards Association Limited is pleased to announce the official release of [The 26th Hong Kong Film Awards Presentation Ceremony Booklet] to be published on 05th April 2007.

Publication Date: 05th April 2007
Retail price: HK$68

Core Content Segments:

The fabulous photos of The 26th Hong Kong Film Awards Nominees
Chow Yun Fat、Tony Leung Chiu Wai、Jet Li、Lau Ching Wan、Teresa Mo Shun Kwan、 Lee Sin Je、Rene Liu、Isabella Leong 、Huo Si Yan、Sun Li、Pei Pei 、Gouw Ian Iskandar、Matthew Medvedev

Interview with new talents of the local film industry
Daniel Wu、Ronald Cheng、Jim Chim、Shawn Yue、Edison Chan、Isabella Leong、Fiona Sit、Kate Yeung

Executive Producer’s interviews:
Eric Tsang、John Chong、Dennis Law Sau Yiu

1981-2005 Hong Kong Box Office Top 30

The 1st -25th Hong Kong Film Awards Awardees list and Nominations list

Source: HKFAA website

The picture above is the book cover. The people in the picture are all this year’s nominees with the exception of Gong Li.

Who’s who (from left): Chow Yun-Fatt, Isabella Leung, Aaron Kwok, Angelica Lee Sin-Je, Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, Rene Liu, Lau Cheng-Wan, Jet Li, Teresa Mo.

Sir Run Run Shaw to be Honoured in his Centennial Year

The 26th Hong Kong Film Awards will be taking place on 15th April with many guests such as Korean stars Kwon Sang Woo and Song Hye Kyo who will be presenting the awards for the Best Asian Film. Reports also suggest that a special award for ‘Achievement in Film of the Century’ will be presented to Sir Run Run Shaw.

The HKFA president Manfred Wong indicated that in addition to the 19 regular awards, there will be two special awards this year. The award for ‘Professional Spirit’ will be presented to long-serving and well known make-up artist ‘Sis Chun’, who has given countless artistes a special confidence in front of the camera with her work. The second special award is for Achievement in Film over the century and this will be presented to Sir Run Run, who turns 100 years old this year. Sir Run Run’s life has been like a living history of the Chinese film industry and HKFA is honoured to present him with this award, which will be collected by Sir Run Run’s son on the night.

Wong also indicates that Quentin Tarantino has announced a re-make of Shaw Brothers classic “One Armed Swordsman” and this has raised focus. People from the industry indicate that since the activities held to mark the first anniversary of the Shaw Bros Fan Club at the beginning of the year, the media has started a series of activities to mark their respect for Sir Run Run.

Guest performers have been confirmed for the awards show that include Jay Chow, Eason Chan and Daniel Wu. The show will be hosted by Nick Cheung, Lam Tze-Chung and Bowie Tsang. Mainland stars Huang Xiaoming and Liu Yifei are also planned to present an award, but Liu is yet to confirm.

Translation/Source: tvbspace.blogspot.com
Original source: TakungPao

Ah…they have invited KSW and SHG. Maybe Bi is too busy to pair up with SHG . I have booked my time to watch this show.

Previous News – clickie here.

 

John Woo’s Red Cliff may be most expensive Chinese film in history

The Chinese News

史上最貴華語片

【明報專訊】吳宇森的《赤壁》籌備多時，報道說終在三月開拍。這部可能是有史以來最高成本的華語片，投資高達七千五百萬美元，粗略以八算計，為六億港元，遠比張藝謀的《滿城盡帶黃金甲》高。成本高，片也長，這部《赤壁》應該會長達四小時，可以分成上、下兩集。

日前吳宇森正式公布了卡士陣容，周潤發演周瑜、梁朝偉做諸葛亮、台灣第一美人林志玲演小喬、張豐毅演曹操、張震是孫權、尤勇演劉備、胡軍 做趙雲、還有趙薇演孫權之妹孫尚香。

以六億投資計，暫時應是華語片市場承受的極限。還好，報道指《赤壁》在內地會分成上下兩集發行，各兩小時，除開是三億一集。聽到的上映方案有兩個，一是在○八年奧運前先上映上集，下集在年底賀歲檔才推出，另一個想法是上集公映後二十天就推出下集，兩集再同上十五至二十天，總檔期為六十天。

第二個緊接推出的方案，好處當然是一次過宣傳，省掉了多一次的宣傳費，而且一氣呵成，觀眾可以在最短時間內看齊上下集。如上集與下集相差半年，熱潮有可能會冷卻。上集如大受歡迎，下集即使相隔半年也不是問題，但如果精彩場面盡在下集，那就萬萬不能相距太遠。

上下兩集故事如果各自完整，映期相距一年半載不是問題，「三國」故事有些的確可以獨立成篇，人物繁多，筆者未知吳宇森會如何剪裁。處理慣大場面的他，希望今次可以盡展所長。吳宇森拍過《烈血追風》，是現代戰爭片，古裝的記憶中有《帝女花》中的攻城場面，《赤壁》肯定有突破。

郭繾澂

Source: HK Yahoo News

In summary:

John Woo upcoming film, Red Cliff, will start filming next month (March). The budget for this film has been marked up to approximately 6 billion HK dollars and is even higher than Zhang Yi-Mou’s Curse of the Golden Flower. The estimated duration of the movie is 4 hours and John Woo has the intention of showing the original (chinese) version in a 2 separate movies (like The Lord of The Rings trilogy, which were shown in 3 movies).

Mr. Woo has already announced the cast which include:

• Chow Yun-Fatt as Zhou Yu (周瑜)
• Tony Leung Chiu-Wai as Zhuge Liang (諸葛亮)
• Taiwanese supermodel Lin Chi-Ling as Xiao Qiao (Zhou Yu’s wife) (小喬)
• Zhang Feng Yi as Cao Cao (曹操)
• Chang Chen as Sun Quan (孫權)
• You Yong as Liu Bei (劉備)
• Hu Jun as Zhao Yun (趙雲)
• Zhao Wei as Sun Shang Xiang (sister of Sun Quan) (孫尚香)

According to the news from China, the rumored expected release date of first part of Red Cliffs will be before the 2008 Olympics and the second part will be near the end of 2008. Another rumored release dates was that the first and second part will be release within 20 days of each other.

============

According to Monkeypeaches.com, the plot will be based on the actual history of Three Kingdoms. It is set on A.D. 208 about a battle between the alliance of 2 warlords, Liu Bei and Sun Quan, and another warlord, Cao Cao.

Since my history of Three Kingdoms is limited, I did a search on the WIKI for these people on the cast/character list (click on their names above). The character names that I recognised are Zhuge Liang and Cao Cao.

Now I understand the 3 kingdoms in Three Kingdoms – Wu, Wei and Shu. Cao Cao governed the Wei Kingdom, Liu Bei was the Emperor of Shu Kingdom and Sun Quan was the emperor of Wu Kingdom. >< too many information for these kingdoms and so many names :O.

There’s an article on the actual Battle of the Red Cliff – clickie here.