Tinseltown’s Asian Imports
December 6th, 2006 by ddWatch out, Lucy Liu. Asian imports are continuing to flood Hollywood.
Pang Brothers
All eyes will be on twin brothers Oxide and Danny when their two Hollywood movies debut next year. The Hong Kong horror meisters of The Eye fame remade their 1999 thriller Bangkok Dangerous with Nicolas Cage and Charlie Yeung in the lead roles. There is also The Messengers, a horror film set on a North Dakota farm starring Graham Bell, John Corbett and Dylan McDermott, which is due out next year.
Andrew Lau
The Infernal Affairs director has completed filming The Flock, an action thriller about a federal agent on the hunt for a killer. It stars Richard Gere and Claire Danes and will open next year.
Hiroyuki Sanada
His last film, The Promise, may have flopped, but Sanada (The Last Samurai) is hoping to deliver with his next three English-language movies – Danny Boyle’s sci-fi thriller Sunshine, Brett Ratner’s Rush Hour 3 and James Ivory’s The City of Your Final Destination, where he will team up with Anthony Hopkins.
Ken Watanabe
The dashing Japanese actor from The Last Samurai will be seen in Clint Eastwood’s war epic, Letters from Iwo Jima, opening in March. He is also up for epic romance in Bruce Beresford’s A Dream of Red Mansions with Kate Hudson, based on a true story of an American photojournalist who falls in love in war-torn China in 1949. There are also rumors that he will play the Silver Samurai in Wolverine, the X-Men prequel with Hugh Jackman in the title role.
Zhang Ziyi
China’s hottest export to Hollywood, the prolific Zhang will be seen in The Horseman next with Dennis Quaid. The mystery drama follows a recently widowed detective’s shocking discovery that he is linked to several murder suspects connected to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
Zhang Jingchu
This rising Chinese actress has been handpicked by Jackie Chan to be the next Zhang Ziyi – she will star alongside the action maestro in Rush Hour 3. Unlike her more famous counterpart from China, Zhang, who was seen in Tsui Hark’s Seven Swords, speaks English fluently.
Maggie Q
With her success in Mission: Impossible III, this Polish-Irish-Vietnamese sizzler is in hot demand in Tinseltown. She is down for three movies next year: ping-pong comedy Balls of Fury with Christopher Walken, thriller The Tourist with Ewan McGregor and Hugh Jackman, and Live Free or Die Hard, the latest instalment in the Die Hard franchise by Underworld director Len Wiseman and starring Bruce Willis. [TheStar]
Posted in Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Asian American, China, Film, Lucy Liu, Zhang Jingchu, Zhang Ziyi, Maggie Q, Charlie Yeung, Andrew Lau, Tsui Hark | 
No Comments »