Asian Entertainment News & Celebrity Gossip

A mini press conference was held in Cannes on Sunday for another Chinese movie about the Three Kingdoms period set in 220-265 A.D.,titled with “Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon.”

China’s portal website Sina.com reports that an official poster and three stills were released featuring lead actors Andy Lau, Maggie Q and Sammo Hung.

With a budget approaching 25 million US dollars, the project is based on “Romance of the Three Kingdoms”, a vast 600-year-old novel by Luo Guanzhong that ranks as one of China’s four most important pieces of literature.

The novel also provides source material for John Woo’s upcoming movie “Battle of Red Cliff.” Read the rest of this entry »

Another Dumpalicious pic of Maggie Q from this year’s Hong Kong Asia Film Awards. Decked out in Versace, Maggie is going to be a break out star this year both in the US and overseas. With blockbuster Mission: Impossible 3 with Tom Cruise already under her belt, the Q decided to do something a bit smaller so this summer get ready to see her in the Die Hard sequel, Live Free or Die Harder with aging action hero, Bruce Willis. CLICK HERE to see the trailer!

Going a different direction, you’ll also see her in Balls of Fury, a comedy on ping-pong diplomacy followed by The Tourist. You’ll like this synopsis:

An accountant, Ewan McGregor, is introduced to a mysterious sex club known as The List by his lawyer friend, Hugh Jackman. But in this new world, he soon becomes the prime suspect in a woman’s disappearance and a multi-million dollar heist.

Maggie will then return to Asia to film Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon with Andy Lau, Sammo Hung and Leon Lai.

So it’s pretty obvious Maggie will be blowing up the next few years to become a ‘playah’. Though not a hometown girl, she put her dues in Asia and is representing Asia hard. Big Ups, Q. You’ll soon have many Q&A converts soon enough!

The stakes are higher, the production budgets are bigger and the competition for movie audiences is more intense. So what’s a studio to do? Get your biggest stars together to share screen time for your biggest hits. If you’re a gambling man, your odds for success have suddenly just increased. It works in the US and now Korea and Hong Kong are looking to replicate that with two new movies….

Lee Byung-hun, Song Kang-ho and Jung Woo-sung, three of Korea’s top gun actors are set to star together in a film tentatively titlted Good Guy, Bad Guy and Weird Guy.

Hong Kong director Peter Chan wrapped shooting on his $40 million epic The Warlords and the war pic, which features three of Asia’s hottest male leads, Andy Lau, Jet Li and Takeshi Kaneshiro, is set for a December 13 release.

The Warlords is the biggest production in China this year, and also features rising mainland actress Xu Jinglei. It is a meaty tale of brotherly betrayal, revenge and murder set in China driven by civil war in 1860 during the Taiping rebellion (1851-64).

And, of course, there was last year’s The Departed which won the Oscar for Best Film and was a remake of Hong Kong’s Infernal Affairs. Hollywood brought out the Big Boys for this one: Jack Nicholson, Leonardo Dicaprio, Matt Damon and Mark Wahlberg to ensure box office and critical success.

Yang Lijuan in Hong Kong 

A fan obsessed with movie star Andy Lau has received an entry permit so she can return to Hong Kong to handle the funeral of her father who committed suicide after her hopeless attraction for the star had bankrupted the family.

The 28-year-old woman, Yang Lijuan, denied media reports that she would demand 500,000 yuan (US$64,767) from Lau in compensation for her father’s suicide.

“I have never asked Lau to compensate me with 500,000 yuan and I didn’t receive 10,000 yuan from him as some media have reported,” Yang said.

Yang has been crazy about Lau for 13 years and her obsession became public when her father committed suicide in an effort to force Lau to have a private talk with her.

“I will go to Hong Kong to take my dad’s ashes, not to meet Andy Lau, but if he was a real person, he should show up and fulfill my father’s final wish,” Yang said.

Yang said she hasn’t determined the date of her trip to Hong Kong.

Read more about this tragic set of circumstances and how one director plans to exploit make a film about a fan’s obsession gone wrong after the jump…

Read the rest of this entry »

Yang Lijuan poses with Andy Lau prior to her father’s tragic suicide

A father whose daughter has been obsessed with pop star Andy Lau for 13 years committed suicide in Hong Kong one day after he managed to help his daughter meet her idol.

The 68-year old father was a retired middle school teacher earning a pension of 1900 yuan per month (~US$230) while the mother was unable to work due to her poor health. They had even sold their only apartment in order for them to afford a trip to Hong Kong.

Yang Lijuan, the daughter, finally met Lau this past week after the family traveled from their home in China’s Lanzhou city. The daughter joined Lau’s fan club and took some pictures with the star on Sunday, but the father still felt unhappy with the meeting. He complained that Lau should have spent more private time and with his daughter, and then threatened his life if the star didn’t.

Read more about fan obsession gone terribly wrong after the jump…

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Publicity stunt for a movie role or *gasp* pre-emptive strike!

Say it ain’t so! Boy, does this town like to talk. It’s been widely rumored that Hong Kong uber-star, Andy Lau, is going bald. He’s been asked repeatedly by local and overseas paparazzi and blunt reporters about speculation that his hair is disappearing faster than Britney Spears‘… but not by choice!

Andy has also adopted a penchant for wearing hats, caps, and other stylish head covering attire. When asked if this was a fashion statement or a means by which to cover up the fact that he’s going bald, Andy would shrug off the questions with a laugh before lifting his box of Rogaine into the trunk of his car and driving away…

Maggie Q

Some of your favorite stars came out last night to celebrate the inaugural Asian Film Awards as part of the Hong Kong International Film Festival. A touch of glam, high voltage Asian/ International star power, a “Host” who won the hearts of the real HK hosts, and some much needed fun. Who do you think made DD’s Best Dressed?

To see the stars arrive in style with more pics,
head on over to the other side after the jump!

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Stars from across Asia, including Iran, South Korea, Thailand, Indonesia and China arrived by limo to tread the red carpet in tuxedos and dazzling gowns for a ceremony, partly inspired by Hollywood, at Hong Kong’s harbour-side convention centre.

French director Luc Besson, actress Michelle Yeoh, Hong Kong stars Tony Leung and Andy Lau, South Korean star Rain and director Park Chan-wook were among those who attended.

“The Host”, a dark, thriller-cum-horror movie about a mutant squid-like monster and suffused with an undercurrent of anti-Americanism picked up awards for best picture, best actor, best cinematographer and best visual effects.

“(The film is) not only about anti-Americanism but about problems in Korea, for example asking for help from the police who don’t return any help,” said executive producer Choi Yong-bae, who received the white marble and twisted metal statuette for best film.

The film’s Song Kang-ho picked up the best actor prize.

Check to see who the other winners were at tonight’s AFA Awards show after the jump!

Read the rest of this entry »

Hong Kong Superstar Andy Lau wants it be known that enough is enough! The latest trend in Chinese cinema has been historical epics but Andy thinks it’s time to move on. “I think there can be fewer of them in the market. We should come up with other topics,'’ Andy Lau said at a press conference to promote his new movie Protege. Protege, about a drug kingpin who prepares for a leadership change, is a good example of an alternative topic. I think every actor should try movies like this, try new topics.
Meanwhile, Mr. Conviction is himself in the midst of shooting three historical epics on China, including the recently released A Battle of Wits about a strategist who helps defend a city under siege.
The veteran actor will also appear in Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon based on a battle from the classic Chinese novel Three Kingdoms and has also appeared in House of Flying Daggers.
Lau said the succession of epics was a coincidence. Riiight. Nice save, Andy.[Hindu]