My Latest GeoPropaganda ... :
| Adding this in gets rid of the annoying pop-up ads... What can ya do? |
Xenon's at it again!
Info sent to me by Mark Walkow via John Charles. Many thanks!
Chow Yun-fat - Jackie Chan - Samo Hung From CYF: "Hong Kong Corruptor" Street 5/11, $20 SP, $10 EP. "Master" is also on DVD for $20.
I have no idea what these movies actually are. ... The CYF one has a pic of him with slicked-back hair and a pistol and scarf. Maybe from THE KILLER or something?
Of course, the fact that it has a pic from THE KILLER is not surprising -- most of the Arena flicks have pix from TK on the box. Click here for more on Arena.
"The three top Hong Kong action heroes of all time!"
"A thrilling three-pack of films never before seen in the U.S.!"
From JC: "Master of Disaster", also starring Moon Lee
From SH: "They Call Me Phat Dragon"
HK Box Office (in US$) for the Week of Mar 4-Mar 10
Courtesy of Wolverine's HKSAR Top 10 site!
| Title | Gross ($US) | Scrns | Wks | Cumulative ($US) |
| 1 Gorgeous | 273,444 | 28 | 3 | 3,335,000 |
| 2 Patch Adams | 253,081 | 22 | 1 | 253,081 |
| 3 King of Comedy | 248,330 | 30 | 4 | 3,817,521 |
| 4 Stepmom | 129,407 | 20 | 2 | 376,222 |
| 5 Life is Beautiful | 100,965 | 5 | 1 | 100,965 |
| 6 You've Got Mail | 93,138 | 14 | 4 | 1,680,473 |
| 7 Fascination Amour | 88,071 | 13 | 4 | 1,135,780 |
| 8 The Corruptor | 68,577 | 10 | 4 | 1,843,296 |
| 9 Hilary and Jackie | 45,831 | 5 | 1 | 45,831 |
| 10 Babe: Pig in the City | 34,440 | 8 | 4 | 1,118,838 |
Chow Yun-Fat's THE CORRUPTOR is cited for discrimination
From the Ming Pao Daily of March 16th, 1999. Courteously translated and transcribed at the HKSAR Top 10 by Wolverine.
Hollywood film THE CORRUPTOR starring Hong Kong film star Chow Yun Fat has begun its run on the 12th. While the film company waits for box office results, New York Chinatown's Fukianese
organizations have other ideas, siting the film's police character for insulting the Fukianese Chinese as well as all Chinese as a whole.
A spokesperson for one of the organizations expressed that upon seeing the film he felt deeply insulted and discriminated against by the racial slurs spewed by the father of Chow's partner in the film.
The spokesperson said that they have already contacted nearly 20 Fukianese Chinese organizations to protest against the film and have prepared a press conference on Tuesday to express displeasure toward THE CORRUPTOR's use of anti Chinese slurs.
That's Hollywood!
By Jonathan Kwok, for The Star of March 23, 1999. And many thanks to Tan Yee for the URL!
THOSE who think Anna And The King will be just a remake of the famous 1956 musical The King And I are in for a surprise.
The latest film version of the well-loved story of Siam's King Mongkut and his English tutor Anna Leonowens promises to be a "grand romantic epic", far surpassing its predecessors in scope and dimension.
While producer Lawrence Bender (of Pulp Fiction and Good Will Hunting fame) would not reveal much about the actual storyline, he gave hints of "a very real romance" between King Mongkut (Chow Yun-Fat) and teacher Anna Leonowens (Jodie Foster).
The movie, he said, would feature an exciting East meets West cultural clash from the moment she sets foot in Siam to her arrival with her son Louis at King Mongkut's court in 1862.
It is in the heat of personality clashes and cultural conflicts that a romance between the king and teacher is forged.
"Every bit of footage will be filmed here in Malaysia and the movie will be a visual feast with scenes of the beautiful countryside, the boats, the people and the animals," Bender said of the RM228mil 20th Century Fox production during a recent interview.
It has been reported that Foster will receive about US$15mil (RM57mil) for her role, making her one of Hollywood's highest-paid actresses.
A heart-rending sub-plot is the sad story of Princess Tuptim (played by Chinese actress Bai Ling), who is cruelly separated from her true love to be presented as a gift to King Mongkut.
One of the scenes, filmed in Penang's Armenian Street, shows Tuptim weeping silently as she is carried on a palanquin to the king's palace. Tuptim's star-crossed lover runs after her through the market square, only to be denied entry into the palace by the royal sentries.
The movie makes no apology for highlighting the reality of slavery and the repression of women during that era.
In fact, the Thai Film Board refused to give the green light for the movie to be filmed in Thailand as it was deemed an insult to the monarchy. A report by Associated Press said the board was upset that King Mongkut is depicted as a "brutal buffoon" and a "comedian" in the movie.
The board's demands that changes be made to the script if 20th Century Fox wanted to film on location were ignored, and Malaysia became the venue.
(Incidentally, a Thai can be jailed up to 15 years for insulting the monarchy.)
Adding colour to the movie is the extensive use of animals - elephants, goats, cows, horses, chickens, snakes and crocodiles - in various scenes. It's quite a jungle out there!
A sea of exotic "Siamese" faces comprising thousands of local extras add authenticity to the 19th century set.
Despite showbiz's inherent glamour, theirs is no easy task. They work 14-hour days, assembling at 5.30am and toiling through the afternoon heat, often clad in nothing more than loincloths, sandals and sarongs.
But no one is really complaining. The chance of a lifetime to star in a Hollywood production, coupled with a daily wage of between RM100 and RM250, makes it all worthwhile.
It is learnt that the cast of extras included the son of a Member of Parliament, while the son of a state exco member was hired as a location assistant.
Filming in Penang from Feb 28 till March 12 was done in several locations - the market scene and palace entrance in Armenian Street; the Siamese port scene at Swettenham Pier; the Syed Alatas mansion became Anna's rented house; the Khoo Kongsi was transformed into a marketplace, while a court scene was played out at the municipal council building.
Shooting has moved on to Perak for about three weeks before going on to Pulau Langkawi for two weeks and then back to Perak, till it wraps up sometime in May.
A grand mock-up palace has been built in Ipoh for a realistic portrayal of King Mongkut's royal courts - definitely Hollywood magic at its best.
So, what will the final product be like? We'll know when the movie is released during the Christmas season. But for now, Anna And The King remains the talk of the town.
Darlings on the set
By Choong Kwee Kim, for The Star of March 23, 1999. And many thanks to Tan Yee for the URL!
HOLLYWOOD came to Penang to shoot Anna And The King but it was Hong Kong superstar Chow Yun-Fat who got Penangites all abuzz.
Chow,as well as Hong Kong actor Kenneth Tsang, who plays a judge; and Chinese actress Bai Ling, who plays Princess Tuptim, one of the king's concubines, were the centre of attraction wherever they went.
The hoi polloi were, however, far less enthusiastic about Jodie Foster, one of Hollywood's finest actresses, who plays the coveted role of Anna.
"Jodie who?" asked some Chinese newspaper photographers and the majority of extras who sweated it out during filming with the leading lady with nary an idea of who she was. Some even thought her name was "Julie" or "Judy". Even more "anonymous" among the crowd was director Andy Tennant whose credits include Ever After, Fools Rush In and The Wonder Years.
Needless to say, homegrown talents like Mano Maniam and Shantini Venugopal, who both play servants to Anna, also did not have to contend with swooning fans.
People here, both young and old, all seem to love Chow, who became a household name, thanks to popular Chinese serials and movies including The Bund, Man In The Net, A Better Tomorrow and God 0f Gamblers.
Word that he was in Penang drew affectionate responses like: "Fatt-chai (little Fatt) in town ah?"
When Chow showed up at Armenian Street on the first day of filming, fans went wild and tried to mob him.
There was one setback though to Chow's popularity, in the form of his Singaporean wife Jasmine Tan who guarded him ferociously like an over-zealous bodyguard.
But that did not deter a group of about 40 old friends who toiled for days as extras for the thrill of seeing the Chinese stars, and to make money, of course.
Among them was hawker Lim Ah Boh who grabbed this once-in-a-lifetime chance to see his Chinese movie idols in person.
"We were more interested to see Chow Yun-Fat and Bai Ling than the Western stars, whoever they are," said Lim, who sells Hokkien mee at a stall behind The Star's Penang office in Jalan Mesjid Kapitan Keling.
Another extra, Goh Chit Hooi, 56, gushed like a schoolgirl when talking about her hero Chow. "I grew up idolising a lot of Chinese film stars and I like Chow Yun-Fat because his acting is simply superb," said the housewife whose son, in his 40s, also played an extra.
Of all the stars, Bai Ling, who recently shaved bald for her role, was probably the most approachable to fans and the press.
The 27-year-old actress even went on an adventurous night out with several pressmen to eat bak kut teh, went hunting for a pirated VCD of her earlier movie Red Corner (co-starring Richard Gere) and visited the Kek Lok Si Temple in Air Itam.
Her warm personality won her many new fans, including a group of British tourists who met her at a beach hotel in Penang.
Tourist Heany Ronald, 59, was so charmed by Bai Ling's friendliness that he vowed not to miss her new movie. "I find her interesting and very approachable which is very good for her image," said the retired meat wholesaler who followed daily reports on the shooting of the movie in newspapers.
With the best of Hollywood and Hong Kong converging in one place, it is no wonder that both visitors and residents of Penang have been starstruck.
Romanticised figure or true heroine?
By Choong Kwee Kim, for The Star of March 23, 1999. And many thanks to Tan Yee for the URL!
THE English governess glorified in Hollywood's latest movie Anna And The King was virtually a nobody during her lifetime.
It was not until the 1944 publication of her biography Anna And The King Of Siam, written by Margaret Landon, that Anna rose to fame - some 30 years after her death.
Landon's book found its way to Hollywood and Broadway, and the two movies and a play on Anna's unique experiences in Siam resulted in her being effectively enshrined in popular culture.
First came the Hollywood movie Anna And The King Of Siam (1946), starring Rex Harrison and Irene Dunne.
Broadway followed suit in 1951 with Rogers & Hammerstein's musical play The King and I, starring Gertrude Lawrence and Yul Brynner.
But it was the Hollywood production of The King and I (1956), played superbly by Brynner and Deborah Kerr, that immortalised Anna as a classic heroine.
She was portrayed as a dignified and intelligent governess who not only tutored King Mongkut's eldest son, Crown Prince Chulalongkorn, but also assisted the king on official matters and eventually captured his heart.
But in real life, glory eluded Anna, even after her glamorous stint in Siam; nor was she as beautiful as Deborah Kerr or Jodie Foster.
Life had always been quite a struggle for Anna since her younger days. Though there are contradictory accounts of her past, the prevailing theory is that she was an uprooted child.
Her own account of her background gives the impression that she came from a good family, but ended up having to work for a living due to a change of fortune.
She was born in Carnarvon, Wales, on Nov 5, 1834, as Anna Harriette Crawford.
When she was six, her father Captain Thomas Maxwell Crawford was killed in India during a Sikh uprising.
While her mother remained in India, Anna lived in Wales under the care of a relative, Mrs Walpole, who ran a school.
Upon leaving school at age 15, she sailed to India only to find that her mother had remarried and that she now had a tyrannical stepfather. It was in Bombay that Anna met Major Thomas Louis Leonowens whom she married at the age of 17, in 1851.
The couple moved a few times, between England, India, Singapore and Australia, and had four children, of whom only the last two, a daughter Avis and son Louis survived. They moved to Singapore in 1856 where Anna claimed her husband died in 1858 of heat prostration after a tiger hunt. (Leonowens' tomb at the Protestant Cemetery in Jalan Sultan Ahmad Shah, Penang, however, proves that he died in the state in 1859 at age 31).
After her husband's death, Anna had to work to make ends meet, and this prompted her to start a school in Singapore.
When she was offered a job as governess to the royal children of Siam in 1862, she took along her six-year-old son Louis, but sent Avis, seven, to a boarding school in England.
In contrast to this mild account, a startling version of Anna's background by critic W.S. Bristowe suggests that Anna was not what she made herself out to be. In his 1976 biography of Anna's son, entitled Louis And The King Of Siam, Bristowe revealed that Anna was the second daughter of a poor army sergeant named Edwards.
Based on birth, marriage, burial and army records, Bristowe found that Anna was born in India on Nov 6, 1831, three years earlier than she claimed. Her father died three months before her birth, and her mother (whom Bristowe suggested could have been the product of a union between an English soldier and an Indian woman) remarried another soldier when Anna was two months old.
Anna and elder sister Eliza were sent to England to study there, and both returned to India in their teens in 1845. There she met 30-year-old Rev George Percy Badger, and Anna, then only 14, purportedly travelled with him to Egypt unchaperoned, and not together with his wife as she claimed.
Bristowe found that Badger, an assistant chaplain, had no wife and that a few years later he married a girl three years younger than Anna. Anna's action those days would have been deemed scandalous, resulting in an early loss of reputation.
Upon her return to India from what she called "an educational tour" to the Middle East, she married Thomas Leon Owens in 1849 when she turned 18.
Her husband died as a hotel master in Penang in 1859. Upon death, his name was changed to Thomas Leonowens.
Bristowe claimed that Anna changed her background so as to present herself "as a young gentlewoman whom ill-fate had forced to work for a living" and not as a lower-class working girl.
However, the question of who Anna Leonowens really was, did not matter much during her lifetime, as were her writings of her experiences in Siam. Her foray into commercial writing to make a living after her five-year stint in Siam, was not particularly successful.
At the end of her service as governess there, she returned to England with Louis, left him there in a school and took Avis with her to live in America. A widow with two children to feed and clothe, Anna had to find ways to make a living and subsequently lectured and wrote about her travels to earn money.
Her book The English Governess At The Siamese Court was published in 1870, followed by The Romance Of The Harem about three years later. Critics denounced her as "a lower-class conniver of dubious respectability, ungrateful to her royal employer, crippled by ignorance, and blinded by narrow-minded religious prejudices."
But Anna continued to publish her books, even after she went to Canada sometime in the 1880s to live with her daughter Avis who married a Canadian.
After several reprints at the end of the 19th century, her books seemed to fade away. Then along came an American woman, Margaret Landon, who discovered her books and was inspired to write a semi-fictional biography on Anna which made her famous at last.
Hence, it was only some 30 years after her death in 1915 that Anna finally won recognition and became a heroine far exceeding her wildest dreams.
Source: The Romance Of The Harem by Anna Leonowens, edited and with an introduction by Susan Morgan (University Press Of Virginia, 1990).
Paparazzi in a frenzy
By Jonathan Kwok, for The Star of March 23, 1999. And many thanks to Tan Yee for the URL!
JODIE Foster and Chow Yun-Fat are in town for the filming of Anna And The King. Find out where they are staying and get pictures and interviews with them." The boss's instruction was clear enough, and exciting as it was, I had that sinking feeling we were in for a really hectic week.
The task of tracking down the stars seemed simple enough - after all, Penang is pretty small and we know it like the back of our hand. Surely, there aren't too many places for top movie stars to hide, right?
Wrong!
Six hours and dozens of phone calls later, no one in our "manhunt" team had the faintest clue as to where the stars were staying.
Hotel officials were either tight-lipped or insistent that the actors were not putting up at their premises. And the actors' unit publicist could not be reached. Our efforts to locate the actors were getting us nowhere.
But just as we were bracing ourselves to give an account to the editor, the phone rang. A fellow journalist told us excitedly that Jodie Foster had been spotted shopping at a pharmacy in Penang Plaza, a mere 10 minutes' drive from the office! If we hurried, we just might catch her!
A mad scramble ensued as photographers and journalists sprung into action. Come what may, we were not going to let Foster get away!
The two-time Academy Award-winning actress (for The Accused and The Silence Of The Lambs) was apparently doing some shopping when her driver noticed several reporters (from the Chinese press) lurking suspiciously close by. He sounded the alarm and Foster, casually dressed in a cotton shirt, shorts and sandals, immediately made a dash for her car.
Despite our near-suicidal rush, we were just in time to see Foster hurriedly get into a metallic grey Mercedes Benz which sped off. No waves, no smiles, no comments, just a stern warning from her bodyguard to stop taking pictures even as the shutterbugs clicked away furiously.
She was gone in the blink of an eye, but we got her pictures! Not a bad start. It certainly felt good to be paparazzi.
As luck would have it, another reporter from a Chinese daily happened to be "hanging around" outside the adjacent Sheraton Hotel, when he caught a glimpse of Chow Yun-Fat walking out, accompanied by several bodyguards, and getting into a white Mercedes Benz.
Overcome by excitement and nervousness, this reporter only managed a few blur shots as his hands were shaking uncontrollably.
The two weeks that Hollywood was in Penang (Feb 28 to March 12) saw our lives take a bizarre turn as we immersed ourselves in our new-found roles as celebrity-stalking paparazzi.
With the exception of Chinese actress Bai Ling, the Hollywood stars, especially Foster and Chow, remained aloof and elusive.
Despite several celebrity sightings at the Mutiara Beach Resort, Rasa Sayang Resort and the Sheraton, no one could confirm where the stars were staying.
Badgered by the press for interviews with the stars, their unit publicist Claire Raskin politely explained that they needed the privacy to rehearse their roles: Chow as King Mongkut or Rama IV and Foster as English governess Anna Leonowens.
"We'll have a press conference with the actors once the shooting is under way," Raskin assured us, a promise that has yet to be fulfilled. In the meantime, we were to leave the celebrities alone - something we jolly well could not do as die-hard journalists.
After all, it is not every day that a RM228mil 20th Century Fox production featuring top Hollywood and Hong Kong stars gets filmed right in our backyard. Adding to the urgency was the very real possibility of getting "scooped" by rival papers. The hunt had to go on.
On one occasion, we had to take drastic measures when security was particularly tight at Swettenham Pier - which was converted into a Siamese port to film the arrival of Anna and her son Louis in Siam.
Unable to get past the over-zealous police and Federal Reserve Unit officers, we decided to gang up with several Chinese press counterparts and hire a motorboat to get a "sneak preview" from the sea.
In the blistering noonday heat, we made our way out to sea in a small motorised fishing boat.
The sight that greeted us was incredible: The pier had been magically transformed into a realistic-looking Siamese port, complete with wooden crates with Siamese writings, exotic- looking labourers and elephants busy unloading vegetables from barges. A majestic 30m-long Siamese junk was docked there, while an imposing fort (made of plywood and plaster) formed an impressive backdrop.
Knowing that we would be chased off if we were spotted, we tried to be as inconspicuous as possible and headed for a nearby row of floating wooden fishing huts, specially-constructed as props.
We stealthily pulled up behind the huts, fastened the boat and sneaked into the huts - aiming our long lenses like concealed snipers through the attap walls and windows.
We had a clear view from our hideout. Now all we had to do was wait for the action to begin. And begin it did! Even as we peered through our lenses, we saw publicist Raskin stomp into a speedboat with four security officers and head straight for our direction.
From then on, everything happened at the speed of lightning. Before we could even pack our equipment and make a run for it, the speedboat had pulled up alongside our craft.
The only thing to do was to look innocent (rather difficult with cameras and long lenses slung over our shoulders).
I pulled my cap low and turned away, hoping Raskin would not recognise me, but she did. "So, Jonathan, it's you! Going undercover, huh?" she said, not the least bit amused.
The rest were asked to identify themselves and their newspaper organisations before being told to leave the area. Within moments, Raskin had called up our editors and politely but firmly requested that we stop our paparazzi antics as we were a "great distraction" to the actors.
Undaunted, our editor simply asked us to look for new avenues.
This led to us using a company director's private office on the 12th floor of a nearby building for a bird's-eye view of the pier. We managed to follow the action from afar using binoculars and telephoto lenses.
Other paparazzi tactics included hanging around dressed shabbily (and inconspicuously) outside the film sets, and mingling with curious onlookers with our cameras concealed.
My colleagues Choong Kwee Kim and H.N. Leong were among a group of paparazzi accidentally locked up in a pre-war house in Armenian Street during one of their stake-outs.
Apparently, the house owner had forgotten about the group hiding upstairs and had gone out for some errands, leaving them stranded for at least three hours!
Adding to the madness was the difficulty in identifying the real stars, as each of the actors, from Chow and Foster to young Tom Felton, had their own doubles who looked like carbon copies from afar. Their job was to be red herrings to throw the pesky press off the scent.
Looking back, it would have saved everyone a lot of trouble if only the stars had granted us a short interview and photo session so that we need not play this cat-and-mouse game.
But I guess they had a job to do and the last thing they needed was more publicity. In the meantime, we, the press, also have our jobs to do ... at whatever the cost.
Behind every filming-in-progress story for Anna And The King, is a story of a reporter and photographer who braved the odds and took the risk of getting caught, even humiliated.
MAGGIE CHEUNG MAN YUK AND MICHAEL DOUGLAS IN A MOVIE?
From the Apple Daily of March 9th, 1999. Courteously translated by Wolverine and posted on his HKSAR Top 10 page.
After attempting to pull Chow Yun Fat, Michelle Yeoh
(Yeung Chi King), Jackie Chan and Jet Li (Lee Nin Kit) together, Hollywood
tries its hand on another project -- a large scale collaboration with China
titled CHOI GUM FA.
According to Taiwan's TA SING PAO yesterday, CHOI GUM FA which has
been in preparation for 6 years finally could see daylight. According to
Beijing New Century Film Company chief Yiu Wan, the company would sign a
contract with a Hollywood film company which would invest US$40 million
to make the historical costume film CHOI GUM FA.
Maggie Cheung Man Yuk's name has been linked to the lead character
Choi Gum Fa. The role would be highly difficult since it would require
the actor to play the character from the age of 17 to 64.
Other names that have been linked to the project include Hollywood
superstar Robert DeNiro, Michael Douglas, or Dustin Hoffman who would
play the role of a general. Also, Hong Kong film stars Chow Yun Fat and
John Lone have also been mentioned.
The producer reportedly would be the director of THE GODFATHER
Francis Ford Coppola and Ang Lee is being considered to direct.
HK Box Office (in US$) for the Week of Feb 24-Mar 3
Courtesy of Wolverine's HKSAR Top 10 site!
| Title | Gross ($US) | Scrns | Wks | Cumulative ($US) |
| 1 Gorgeous | 568,501 | 34 | 3 | 3,061,556 |
| 2 King of Comedy | 555,988 | 32 | 3 | 3,569,191 |
| 3 Stepmom | 246,815 | 20 | 1 | 246,815 |
| 4 The Corruptor | 197,573 | 23 | 3 | 1,774,719 |
| 5 You've Got Mail | 181,825 | 17 | 3 | 1,587,335 |
| 6 Fascination Amour | 145,959 | 13 | 3 | 1,047,709 |
HK Box Office (in US$) for the Week of Feb 17-24
Courtesy of Wolverine's HKSAR Top 10 site!
| Title | Gross ($US) | Scrns | Wks | Cumulative ($US) |
| 1 King of Comedy | 1,397,548 | 33 | 2 | 3,013,203 |
| 2 Gorgeous | 1,377,959 | 31 | 2 | 2,493,055 |
| 3 The Corruptor | 661,551 | 29 | 2 | 1,577,146 |
| 4 You've Got Mail | 553,389 | 27 | 2 | 1,405,510 |
| 5 Babe : Pig in the City | 461,089 | 18 | 2 | 947,554 |
| 6 Fascination Amour | 403,284 | 15 | 2 | 901,750 |
HK Box Office (in US$) for the Week of Feb 11-17
Deduced from Wolverine's HKSAR Top 10 site!
| Title | Gross ($US) | Scrns | Wks | Cumulative ($US) |
| 1 King of Comedy | 1,615,655 | 33? | 1 | 1,615,655 |
| 2 Gorgeous | 1,115,096 | 31? | 1 | 1,115,096 |
| 3 The Corruptor | 915,595 | 29? | 1 | 915,595 |
| 4 You've Got Mail | 852,121 | 27? | 1 | 852,121 |
| 5 Babe : Pig in the City | 544,270 | 18? | 1 | 544,270 |
| 6 Fascination Amour | 498,466 | 15? | 1 | 498,466 |
WAITING FOR CHOW YUN FAT TO JUMP OUT OF HIS OLD FRAME
By Wu Dip, from the MING PAO DAILY of February 27th, 1999, as courteously translated and transcribed by Wolverine at the HKSAR Top 10 site.
Chow Yun Fat has made two movies in Hollywood. One is THE
REPLACEMENT KILLER and the other is the currently showing THE CORRUPTOR.
In the first Fat Gor played a killer, in the second he played the
opposite -- a Chinatown cop.
Fat Gor in Asia indeed is a superstar, but in Hollywood, he is
just another new comer. Like artists who have worked in Hollywood once
said, Hong Kong actors are not as famous as everyone imagines. A lot of
times it is the Hong Kong media that is making its own artists sound
that way.
Chow Yun Fat has been in America for three years. He continues to
learn English in hopes of breaking in Hollywood. This time in THE
CORRUPTOR, his dialogue has indeed greatly improved. Unfortunately,
the film's subject is limited to the confines of Chinatown and still
cannot jump out of his old frame.
The analytical reasons on why Chow Yun Fat still has not make a
name for himself in Hollywood is simple. First his English ability is
still not up to the Hollywood standard. Secondly his gun totting action
in the movies is not like Jackie Chan and Jet Li (Lee Nin Kit)'s. Their
action is something foreign actors cannot accomplish. Fat Gor however
lacks that advantage. In terms of looks, Fat Gor to the Asian audience
is indeed handsome, but Hollywood has plenty of pretty boys like Tom
Cruise and Kevin Costner who can mesmerize the foreign female audience.
The Chow Yun Fat in their eyes is not the same Chow Yun Fat in ours.
Let's hope Fat Gor continues his effort and truly break out of Asia
Blurbs on the AATK filming
And many thanks to Sanney, working despite injury to translate the latest fluff reports! More fluff & pix available at Sanney's site. Oriental (3/1) -- ANNA AND THE KING held its opening lens ceremony
yesterday. In attendance were it's stars Chow Yun-Fat and Jodie Foster
along with six hundred extras and more than a dozen elephants, horses,
cows, and sheep.
At the opening lens ceremony, Chow Yun-Fat was like a big kid playing
around with the herd of elephants. Taking pictures of them with his camera
and learning to give them orders. Despite being dressed in costume, Jodie
Foster still took time out to breast feed her son when he began to cry out
of hunger. Chow was not the only one enthralled by the animals as Foster's
son clearly found the animals amusing as well.
Oriental (3/5) -- Since Chow Yun-Fat does not have to shoot any scenes yet
for ANNA AND THE KING, he has been acting as a tourist recently taking in
the sights of Penang with his wife. Fat-Jai and Fat-So discovered a
seafood place called END OF THE WORLD and found the food so much to their
liking that they took Jodie Foster there after she was done her days work.
Oriental (3/5) -- Mainland actress Bai Ling had her head shaved yesterday
for her role in ANNA AND THE KING. Bai Ling admitted that she could not
help but shed tears as her hair was being shaved off. It was also revealed
that not only will Bai Ling sacrifice her hair for the movie but that she
will also sacrifice her body. It was revealed that she will appear
bare-chested in the movie. Bai said that she has confidence in the
director and that it will be tasteful. When asked if she was doing this to
make a name for herself as a sexpot in the Hong Kong film market, Bai
replied, "Right now, I'm concentrating on Hollywood. Maybe later I'll
think about Hong Kong."
PROFILE OF BAI LING (Oriental 3/5) Bai Ling was born in the 1970s in China. When she was appeared at an exhibition in Tibet for the army. Thus began her career in the
entertainment circle. After the Tiananmen Square massacre, she was allowed
to go to the Moscow Film Festival to talk about police weaponry. At 21,
she was allowed to go the United States briefly to study film. Later, as a
member of the People's Liberation Army she was granted permission to stay
in the United States. In 1997, she was given a role in the film RED
CORNER. The film led to compliments by critics and wide international
recognition. She was also selected by PEOPLE MAGAZINE as one of the 25
most beautiful people.
CHOW YUN-FAT FEELS LOTS OF STRESS OVER "ANNA AND THE KING"; BAI LING CRIES AS HAIR IS SHAVED OFF. (Apple (3/6)) -- Chow Yun-Fat's third Hollywood film ANNA AND THE KING sees
Chow working with Oscar award winner Jodie Foster. Naturally, the pressure
Fat-Jai faces is not small. Fat-So told an Apple reporter previously, "My
husband, for this film, has really put a lot of effort. Everyday he's
learning non-stop. English, dancing, reading the script, learning Thai.
Watching him work so hard, I don't know if it's because of the stress, but
he mumbles lines from the script while he's asleep at night. Sometimes he
mumbles so loud he wakes me up!"
Chinese star Bai Ling is a main supporting actress. For the film, she had
to have her head shaved. Although she willingly sacrificed her hair for
art, she did shed many tears over her hair. Nonetheless, she is very happy
to be able to work on this film.
Although ANNA AND THE KING has been shooting for four days in Penang, no
one has seen Chow Yun-Fat on set. Kenneth Tsang Gong, who has a role in
the film, told NAM YEUNG SEUNG PO in an interview, "Fat-Jai says he does
not have any scenes yet. Naturally, you won't see him around!"
Oriental (3/6) -- Although he has been busy in his hotel room in Penang
learning Thai, Chow Yun-Fat took time out yesterday to hold a seafood
feast. During the day, Fat-So went out to buy a large amount of seafood.
Later, she and Fat-Gor cooked it all up in the kitchen. Judging from the
looks on the faces of his guests, Fat-Gor's handiwork was well-received.
Fat-Gor also promised to take everyone out again someday to share a feast.
A taste of Hollywood in Penang
By Choong Kwee Kim for The Star of March 1, 1999. Many thanks to Tan Yee for the URL!
PENANG: Penangites had a real taste of Hollywood when filming of Anna and the King began yesterday with movie superstars Jodie Foster and Chow Yun-Fat appearing at the location site at Armenian Street.
Foster, playing the part of English widow and governess Anna Leonowens, arrived at 9am in a Mercedes Benz with child actor Tom Felton who plays the part of Anna's son, Louis.
The Academy Award winning actress, who looked the part in a black bonnet and shawl, white blouse, light green coat and skirt, was a prominent contrast against a sea of "exotic" looking people, who were local extras.
The setting was a bustling bazaar outside King Mongkut's palace set in 19th century Siam.
Extras, looking like those of an earlier era with their costumes, were milling around the bazaar as Thai marketware-mongers, pony-tailed Chinese, Indian merchants, palace guards and noblemen.
Shortly after rehearsals started with the scene of elephants parading through the bazaar, Chow who was casually attired in track pants and a zipped-up jacket, arrived at 9.40am with his wife Jasmine Tan.
The Hong Kong superstar who is playing the King, was not scheduled to act for the opening scene but he came with a camera to take pictures of an admiring crowd of residents and onlookers (peeping from window cracks, corridors and alleys), who waved and shouted his name.
Chinese actress Bai Ling who plays princess Tup Tim, arrived shortly, also in casual attire.
Filming proper started about 10.30am with Foster and Felton getting caught in a parade of elephants as their rickshaw made its way to the palace.
This scene of confusion reflecting Anna's bewilderment upon reaching a foreign land, captured the cultural clash of "East meets West" that set the mood for the romance between Anna and the King.
A minor accident happened during the filming of this scene when the rickshaw (behind Foster's) that was carrying an Indian woman suddenly overturned.
The passenger who was seen massaging her sore head, quickly recovered and filming of the same scene resumed for many takes under the scorching sun until break time at 12.50pm.
Sources said filming of the market scene was expected to take 10 hours but there may be a reshoot today if results were unsatisfactory.
Filming will continue at Port Swettenham today where a full-sized junk have been remodelled for the scene of Anna's arrival at Bangkok harbour.
Like yesterday, extras have to gather at the Esplanade field at 5.30am for make-up and costume fitting before going to the film site by bus.
Filming in Penang that mainly feature the arrival of Anna and her journey to the palace, ends on March 10. The rest will be filmed in Langkawi and Ipoh.
This 20th Century Fox production is based on Anna's book about her five-year service as tutor to the King's many children and wives.
A glimpse of superstar at last
By Jonathan Kwok for The Star of February 26th, 1999. Many thanks to Tan Yee for the URL!
PENANG: Press photographers waiting for hours outside the Sheraton Hotel for Hong Kong superstar Chow Yun-Fat were finally rewarded with a glimpse of the actor and his wife on Wednesday evening.
Chow, dressed casually in a T-shirt and slacks, walked out with his wife Jasmine Tan at about 6.30pm and boarded a white Mercedes which then quickly pulled away.
With the filming of Anna and The King just round the corner, Chow had replaced his usual thick and well-combed hair with a short crew-cut.
His newest look is in line with historical records which show that close-cropped hairstyles were the popular fashion adopted by Siamese royalty in the 19th century.
Tan, apparently unenthusiastic to see the lensmen, motioned to them and said: "Stop! Don't do this," as the cameras clicked away while Chow just smiled broadly as they boarded the car.
The brief encounter was the third sighting of Chow since he arrived here last Thursday.
The first sighting was when he arrived at the Penang International Airport last Thursday and on Tuesday when he was spotted walking out of the Sheraton Hotel.
Despite being here for a week, Chow and the other movie stars--Jodie Foster, Bai Ling and Randall Duk Kim have refused to meet the press.
It is learnt that the actors are busy rehearsing their roles for the epic movie which will start filming here on Sunday.
Sources say the superstars may agree to a press conference later when the filming has gone smoothly.
The constant presence of pressmen lurking outside hotels where the actors are believed to be staying have apparently resulted in tighter security in these places.
George Town OCPD Senior Asst Comm (II) Mustafa Abdullah confirmed that police personnel have been stationed at the hotels where the stars are staying.
"This is to prevent over-zealous fans from harassing the actors," he said.
Mr. Showbiz CYF interview, by Kevin Maynard.
Elvis, CCR, Patsy Cline Who'd ha' thunk it? Those are CYF's American music faves ... read about this and other more reputable CYF details at the interesting Mr. Showbiz interview with CYF, by Kevin Maynard. It's short, but Maynard asks a few questions that other interviews haven't covered. (And thanks to John Charles, Brad, Katherine, lrogers6,
TC Talkshow Promos by Wahlberg & Foley (March 3-12ish)
National Enquirer blurb on TC (March 4th, 1999).
CYF: Enquiring Minds Want to Know One of the anecdotes Wahlberg told on Conan was also (astoundingly) reported in the trash tabloid The National Enquirer on March 4th. In the interview though it's clear that CYF was playing a practical joke on Wahlberg, whereas in the paper it's a little more ambiguous. The blurb ran, "On 'The Corruptor's' set, Mark Wahlberg was having trouble reading his lines in Cantonese, so co-star Chow Yun-Fat said he would tape the lines to his forehead so Mark could read them during their scenes. But when the cameras rolled, Mark just started laughing -- Chow wrote the dialog in Chinese characters." (And many thanks to Jeff Koga for forwarding the quote!)
Howard Stern Mocks CYF
The Art of Corruption, for the National Post of March 6th, 1999.
March issue of the American Cinematographer (80th Anniversary Edition cover).
March issue of the White's Guide to the Movies (Gwennyth Paltrow on the cover).
Mediawatch from late Feb/early March
Entertainment Weekly TC Review (March 26th issue)
"It's being marketed as a down-and-dirty action machine, but beneath the
explosive body count is a rock-solid, visually slick crime thriller set in the
squalid netherworld of Manhattan's Chinatown." Back to Chow Yun-Fat: God of Actors....
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"... The stars trade their East-meets-West zingers with amusing hostile
finesse, and Chow, the ferocious baby-faced star of John Woo's Hong Kong
pictures, gets to play his first fully realized American movie character, a man
fighting to keep his balance as he walks the edge between corruption and
valor."
"...As directed by the gifted James Foley... the film is like a sleeker, less
overwrought Year of the Dragon merged with a gloss on Donnie Brasco."
Grade=B
times since October 15th, 1998.