News Links - 8/19/08

Dennis Lee's Daily HK cinema news archive

News Links - 8/19/08

Postby dleedlee » Tue Aug 19, 2008 12:49 pm

Painted Skin poster
Image
http://ent.sina.com.cn/m/c/2008-08-19/13522139666.shtml

Film Review: Feast of Villains
Grim tale of being poor and desperate in an unhelpful society from Pan Jianlin
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/awa ... &rid=11526

Maggie Cheung at the Olympics
Image
http://i2.sinaimg.cn/ent/s/h/2008-08-18 ... 063401.jpg
http://ent.sina.com.cn/s/h/2008-08-18/06342138443.shtml

Gigi Lai
Image
http://i3.sinaimg.cn/ent/s/h/p/2008-08- ... 074233.jpg
http://i2.sinaimg.cn/ent/s/h/p/2008-08- ... 074233.jpg
http://i1.sinaimg.cn/ent/s/h/p/2008-08- ... 074233.jpg
http://ent.sina.com.cn/s/h/p/2008-08-19 ... 9341.shtml


Stefanie Sun plays Goddess Of Mercy in Royston Tan's 12 Lotus


SHE is Singapore's biggest pop export and has reportedly been approached by Hong Kong stars like Stephen Chow and Andy Lau to star in their films.

But for her big screen debut, singer Stefanie Sun picked local director Royston Tan's new getai film 12Lotus.

She delivers a three-minute cameo as Goddess Of Mercy, reciting a Hokkien poem and singing the first verse of the tear-jerking Hokkien song 12 Lotus.

Currently showing in theatres, the film is about the hard life of an unlucky getai singer and stars Mindee Ong, Liu Lingling and Qi Yuwu.

So why did Stefanie, 30, pick Royston over the other more famous directors?

'I thought (Goddess of Mercy) was too cool a role to pass up,' she told The New Paper in an e-mail interview.

'I was rather nervous speaking in Hokkien, but at the same time, I wanted to support local film and music. So I thought the best way to do it is to participate. It was definitely worthwhile.'

And the film has generated media and fan interest in Taiwan and China as 'Stefanie Sun's movie debut'.

According to Royston, 32, Stefanie saw his earlier getai film 881 and loved it so much that she got her manager to set up a meeting with him last December.

Recalled the director: 'I thought she might be a mega diva but she's so down to earth and she'd joke with you.

'She was like, 'How come you so hao lian (Hokkien for arrogant)? How come you never ask me to act? I should be one of the Papaya sisters!'.'

Royston was then working on the script for 12 Lotus and racking his brains on who to cast as the opera actress who plays Goddess of Mercy on stage.

Although a minor role, she is an 'important element' in the childhood life of the protagonist Lian Hua (played by Li Bao En, Mindee and Lingling at different stages).

He had thought of getting a real opera actress to play the role, but eventually decided to offer it to Stefanie.

He said the singer agreed after two weeks of consideration, and her scene was shot on 1 Mar at a kampung set constructed on an open field in Paya Lebar.

Secret

As Stefanie's involvement was meant to be a secret, Royston arranged for her to shoot at 3am.

No one was informed of her presence and the set was cleared for her, leaving behind fewer than five crew members, including Royston and his cameraman.

Stefanie recalled: 'I remember the auntie-type calafares giving me the evil eye... like 'What's the big hooha about? Who dat?'.

Royston added that Bao En 'almost flipped out' when she realised she would be acting opposite Stefanie and they had to give her a bottle of water to calm her down.

The filming may have been hush-hush, but no expense was spared in glamming Stefanie up for her silver screen debut.

Royston said her goddess costume was tailored for her and handsewn with sequins in Taiwan.

It cost a staggering $5,000, making it the second most expensive costume on the set after Mindee's $6,000 lotus dress.

Stefanie described it as a 'complicated and beautiful' costume. It has three layers and weighs 3kg.

She also had to wear a giant white lotus on her head, a halo and 'beautiful' stage makeup.

'We had a hoot shooting the scene all the way till 4 am,' she said.

She made it sound easy, but Royston pointed out that Stefanie put in a lot of hard work for her debut.

The Teochew girl spent a day with an opera singer to learn how to sing in Hokkien and enunciate properly.

She also rehearsed for two hours to read an eight-verse Hokkien poem penned by a monk for the film.

The petite star also had difficulty balancing herself on an elevated lotus stand with her heavy costume and head gear, while holding a vase in one hand and a willow twig in the other.

That's how the Goddess of Mercy makes her appearance on stage.

As it was her maiden acting effort, Stefanie needed time to warm up, but she managed to complete her scene after five takes.

Nervous

Royston said: 'She was very nervous and we kept breaking out in laughter. She was also scared, but the Goddess of Mercy has to be very Zen-like and she cannot shift her eyeballs anyhow.'

Stefanie was very impressed with co-star Bao En and described her as someone who 'looked 12 but was 15 but had the expressions of a 60-year-old lady'.

Stefanie also remembered seeing Lingling 'loitering around in her pyjamas', a 'faint and weak' Royston, and a 'humongous green Ikea rip-off snake'.

As for her payment, all she got from Royston was a red packet containing an 'auspicious' four-figure sum.

He declined to reveal the exact amount, saying only that it had the number eight in it.

'Stefanie was very gracious about it. She said she just wanted to support local film and play a role to help out. It was not a deal about money.

'Even when I gave her the red packet, she was like 'You crazy ah? No need, lah.' But it's just a token of my appreciation.'

When asked what she did with the red packet, Stefanie replied: 'I was supposed to buy dinner... Oops! Thanks for reminding me. ;)'
http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/show/story ... 80,00.html?

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Charlene Choi supports Liu Xiang as always: His action is worth us respecting
http://asianfanatics.net/forum/ah-Sa-su ... 72282.html

TVB receives almost 600 complaints during Olympic game coverage
http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_deta ... 80819&fc=2
Jack Wu made an inappropriate comment, TVB received more complaints
http://asianfanatics.net/forum/Jack-Wu- ... 72192.html

Now Argentina's footballers photographed making 'slit-eyed' gesture
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/others ... sture.html

Lin Miaoke Makes 3 Minute Video For 600,000 RMB
http://www.zonaeuropa.com/200808b.brief.htm#030

Image
http://ent.sina.com.hk/cgi-bin/news/sho ... 491&ct=pic
HK billionaire playboy snags diving queen Guo Jingjing
http://justwoman.asiaone.com/Just%2BWom ... 82960.html

Liu Xiang speaks back
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/olympics/2 ... 951413.htm
Liu's Pullout Avoids Tendon Rupture: Doctors
http://english.cri.cn/6066/2008/08/19/1722s396121.htm
A dark day for Liu's parents
http://olympics.scmp.com/Article.aspx?i ... latestnews
Injured Liu can count blessings
http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_deta ... 80819&fc=2

Beijing Olympics vs. the movies
Funny posters
http://shanghaiist.com/2008/08/19/beiji ... 14#gallery

Yao Ming furious over benching
http://olympics.scmp.com/Article.aspx?i ... latestnews

Beach battle - China face mighty US in women's volleyball final
http://olympics.scmp.com/Article.aspx?i ... latestnews
???? Better to light a candle than curse the darkness; Measure twice, cut once.
Pinyin to Wade-Giles. Cantonese names file
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