CYF Archive: May 1999

Miscellaneous CYF News and Rumours

This page owes a great debt to Jerry "Wolverine" Chan, who painstakingly translates dozens of articles on the Hong Kong entertainment industry every week at his HK Top 10 site. Please see Wolverine's site for more details and pix. I would also like to thank Sanney and John Charles, who have been circulating lots of neat info recently. Whoohoo! Sanney's HK Entertainment Review is now online too.

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Other News:

May 1999:

HE PUT AWAY HIS GUNS FOR A SWORD

By Janet Ho, for the Singapore Straits Times of May 25th, 1999. And many thanks to John Charles for forwarding the URL!

HONGKONG actor Chow Yun Fat is to play a swordsman in his next film.

A swordsman? That is hard to imagine of the veteran actor who is more often seen in cops-and-robbers films.

But, under the direction of Hongkong leading stunt choreographer Yuen Wo Ping, a credible -- and menacing -- Chow may soon be showing off his gongfu kicks in his new role in Lee Ang's next film, Wo Hu Cang Longg, which is set in the late Qing dynasty period.

He replaces Jet Li who turned down the part due to other film commitments.

Yuen is none other than the action director behind the success of the Hollywood blockbuster The Matrix.

So can Chow be the next Li? After all, Yuen's skills did help to make The Matrix the top-grossing film in the United States so far this year.

Chow Yun Fat to appear in Ang Lee's "Lying Tiger, Hidden Dragon"

From the WORLD JOURNAL of May 23rd, 1999. Posted to a.a-m. by some kind soul.

Chow Yun Fat did not shave his head for his role in "Anna & the King", but he will shave his head for Ang Lee's "Lying Tiger, Hidden Dragon". After finishing up "Anna & the King", Chow Yun Fat will meet with Ang Lee, who will start shooting his new movie in June. Michelle Yeoh is already preparing for her role in the movie by practising her martial arts.

Ang Lee is working with screenwriter Wang Wei Ling in the final draft of the screenplay. The three main characters in the movie will be played by Chow Yun Fat, Michelle Yeoh and Chang Zheng. Originally the character "Li Mo Bai" was intended for Jet Li. When Ang Lee thought that Chow Yun Fat might be interested in the movie, he sent the script over to Chow Yun Fat. After reading the script, Chow Yun Fat did not say anything but agreed to play the character. Ang Lee said, "Chow Yun Fat is a good actor. He has never played any characters in a martial arts movie. This gives the audience a fresh image." Ang Lee also praised Chow Yun Fat as a good guy. The story of the movie takes place in the Ching Dynasty, so Chow Yun Fat has to shave his head and he is willing to do that for Ang Lee.

Chow Yun Fat will start to work on Ang Lee's movie starting in June until the end of this year. Michelle Yeoh has also expressed that this year she would only work on Ang Lee's movie. Several days ago she had started practising her martial arts.

Home turf for Chow

By Ian Markham-Smith, for the SCMP of May 19th, 1999. And many thanks to John Charles for circulating the URL!

Chow Yun-fat, who has been establishing himself as a mainstream Hollywood actor in such films as Anna and the King and The Replacement Killers, is returning to his roots to star in a Chinese-language action film for director Ang Lee.

In Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, he will play the love interest of co-star Michelle Yeoh.

The film tells of two women in 19th century China. One is an aristocrat's daughter who becomes the country's most-wanted criminal. The other, played by Yeoh, is assigned to track her down.

More on the Ang Lee flick

By Choi Wing Yi for THE SUN of May 18th, 1999. And many thanks to Wolverine for reposting the blurb on his HKSAR Top 10 site!

Reports from Taiwan claimed that Ang Lee's new film CROUCHING TIGER HIDDEN DRAGON has replaced Hsu Chi with Mainland actress Wong Ling because Hsu Chi has not completed preparation for CROUCHING and thus has effected the quality of her performance.

Hsu Chi's manager Manfred Wong (Man Jun) expressed, "I have already denied that in Taiwan! No such thing happened! However we are still working on the contract."

"Ang Lee is still writing the script, thus we still don't know what role Hsu Chi will play."

The US$15 million CROUCHING TIGER HIDDEN DRAGON will begin production in August and wrap by Christmas. The film will shoot in Beijing and Xinjing. Besides Hsu Chi, Chow Yun Fat, Michelle Yeoh (Yeung Chi King) and Chang Chen (Cheung Chun) also star.

Dark Horizons AATK Rumours

The May 17th news at Dark Horizons featured this scuttlebutt:

Anna and the King: 'Clint' managed to get talking with a source on the set of the Jodie Foster/Chow Yun-Fat flick and reports some very nice things:

"I have heard a few juicy bits from the set. Contrary to reports, the film will be called "Anna and the King" (some reports suggested it may just be "Anna"). Both actors are doing a "knockout" job and by the sounds of it, look set to be sizzling in this film. actually the word "romance" came up a few times, I dont know if he was hinting to me that the two leads are romancing or its just the characters, but he said it interestingly. There have been some well covered up fights on the set though, mainly between the DOP and director, Tennant. Others in the crew haven't got too many good words to say about Tennant either, including this source. He says he did a bad job at "Ever After", and he is doing a botched up directors job this time too. He says that his 13 years in film, gives him good reason to say this. There is some good news though, the film is 70% finished, meaning a release may come along sooner than expected. The source says he will keep me posted to any further news on the set."

Chow Yun-Fat succeeds Jet Li in CROUCHING TIGER HIDDEN TIGER

From the Oriental Daily of May 17th, 1999. And many thanks to Wolverine for posting the article at his HKSAR Top 10 site!

After ANNA AND THE KING, Chow Yun Fat later will star in Ang Lee's new film CROUCHING TIGER HIDDEN TIGER (NGOR FU CHONG LUNG).

Yesterday those responsible for the production of the film revealed to the press at Cannes that because Jet Li (Lee Nin Kit) is busy with ROMEO MUST DIE, he has to turn CROUCHING down due to scheduling problems and Chow Yun Fat has stepped up.

Ang Lee's CROUCHING already has Michelle Yeoh (Yeung Chi King) and Hsu Chi in the leads. Though Chow Yun Fat has taken the place of Jet Li, he believes the film would not be effected. Actually he has always wanted to work with Fat Jai and finally he has a chance. Currently Fat Jai and Jodie Foster's film ANNA AND THE KING is nearing the end of production. In August he should be able to head to Beijing for the production of CROUCHING.

During casting, Ang Lee originally has considered Fat Jai for the role, but at the time someone felt that Jet Li's martial art background would make the movie prettier. Now that CROUCHING has hired stunt coordinator Yuen Wor Ping who earlier has made Keanu Reeves look like a martial artist in THE MATRIX, conceivably Bat Ye (Yuen Wor Ping) can do the same for Fat Jai.

CROUCHING is a swordplay film that takes place at the end of the Qin Dynasty during the 18th Century. Yeung Chi King's heroine and Hsu Chi's heiress are the souls of the entire film, now with Chow Yun Fat in the lead, the script might be changed. Another problem is whether Fat Jai has to make the sacrifice for the costume -- by shaving his head.

Extras' King-size Complaint

From the SCMP of May 5th, 1999. And many thanks to John Charles for circulating the URL!

Sixty Malaysian Thais hired as extras for the 20th Century Fox film Anna and the King have accused the production company of shortchanging them.

The group has filed a complaint with Malaysian police and demanded compensation, claiming they were dismissed by film officials after waiting on location in the northern Langkawi island for three days, the Star newspaper reported yesterday.

"To aggravate the matter, an official chased us away when we sought an explanation from him," a representative of the group, hired to recreate the Hollywood epic The King and I, said.

Brief E! TV appearance

Aired May 1 on the show WILD ON HONG KONG. Cyndy Jones wrote:

Just watching a program on E called Wild on Hong Kong and saw a really good interview with CFY. It was obviously filmed when he was doing his Peking Opera Stage show last fall. The CYF bit was great fun although the rest of the show was disgusting. Jackie Chan was also briefly featured and came out second best to Chow who was charming in his make up. In addition to CYF's interview they also played clips from the Corruptor and made references as to how CYF is usually an action hero.

Thanks Cyndy!

Silly AATK fluff from THE STAR

The Malaysian Star apparently had a short fluff bit on one of the kiddies in AATK, featuring a pic of her with CYF and, as Cyndy Jones wrote:

... a whole story on the girl and her family including that Uncle Chow is "kind and sometimes funny, like when he gets his words muddled up. Once, he sneezed halfway through his lines".

No detail too petty ... ;) Thanks Cyndy!

Back to Chow Yun-Fat: God of Actors....

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