Hey folks, Harry here... and ya know what... this is supposed to be Father Geek's job. But when I sat him down on this here Mac Laptop... he stared at it... poked at the keyboard... looked at me like a dog getting ready to be gassed to death in the kennel, and said "Why does the apple have a bite out of it?" I said, "Because" and he said, "Because why?" And I said, "I think it is supposed to symbolize man and woman's original sin... the thirst for knowledge and intelligence and curiousity that came with that first taste of the forbidden fruit." This is when he went cross-eyed. I'm afraid the voodoo symoblism of a Mac computer caused his Old Dog brain to blow a fuse... Instead... I have been left to do a half ass job of introducing a fantastic installment of ASIA AICN by the god in disguise as Darius 25. Because of the convention... talking with friends and acquantances to wee hours and my personal need to swim... I have to go now and enjoy the folds of freshly tucked sheets and enjoy the somber slumber of a boy having spent his day in the greatest toy store in the world... here in San Diego at COMIC CON!!! Enjoy...
Asia-AICN #14
Hey all. Hope you had a good week. Here’s the latest from Asia:
INDIA
- Deepa Mehta has decided to shelve Water, due to all the controversy and problems surrounding the production. The production’s troubles first started when actress Manisha Koirala had to walk out of the film, due to creative differences with Mehta. The production also had to make many relocations due to riots and troubles on the sets. The final nail in the coffin must have been when actress Nandita Das (who was Manisha’s replacement) left the film.
- Director Shankar’s new film has been titled Nayak (Actor). As previously reported in Asia-AICN #10, it is a remake of Shankar’s South Indian hit Mudhalvan. This new version stars Anil Kapoor and Rani Mukherjee.
- One of director Mahesh Manjrekar’s upcoming films will star actress Sonali Bendre and newcomers Diwakar Pundir and Nikhil Chinappa. The film has yet to be titled.
- One of Producer-Director Ketan Desai’s upcoming ventures will star Salman Khan and Rinke Khanna. The film has yet to be titled.
- The release date for this year’s Deewali (an Indian holiday) blockbusters have been announced. Three major films will supposedly release on October 27, 2000. The films are Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s Mission Kashmir, with Sanjay Dutt,. Hrithik Roshan and Jackie Shroff; Lagaan (Tax) with Aamir Khan; and Aditya Chopra’s Mohabbatein (Love Affairs) with Shah Rukh Khan, Amitabh Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai. However, there is talk that Mohabbatein might be delayed due to an accident on the sets involving Aishwarya Rai. (She’s fine now by the way, it wasn’t a major injury.)
- Speaking of Shahrukh, his latest venture, Ashoka the Great, has passed through the pre-production stage and principal photography is already in progress. Along with SRK, Kareena Kapoor and Arwind Swamy also star in the historical epic, which is to be directed by Santosh Sivan. The film will be released sometime next year.
- Abhishek Bachchan will have a lead role along with Shahrukh Khan in the third production from Dreamz Unlimited, which will be directed by dance choreographer Farah Khan. The film is only in the planning stage now and has yet to be titled.
- Akshay Kumar’s next film, Dhadkan (Heartbeat) will be released on August 11, 2000. Shilpa Shetty and Sunil Shetty also appear in the film.
- Last week’s new release was Jungle. The film stars Fardeen Khan, Urmila Matondkar, Sunil Shetty, and Sushant Singh and is directed by Ram Gopal Verma. The film is loosely based on the exploits of the notorious South Indian bandit Veerappan, who mostly wandered around in the jungles in the southern regions of India.. The film’s about a group of tourists kidnapped by a bandit named Durga Narayan Choudhary (Sushant Singh) who resides in one of the jungles in India. He demands that the local police release one of his fellow robbers. When the robber is released, Choudhary releases all of the tourists except a girl, prompting her boyfriend to go into the jungle in order to find her. Like most of Verma’s films, this film has a tight and suspenseful story which kept me on the edge of my seat throughout the film. The action starts early and never lets up until the end credits. Also, the movie has one of the best knife fights I have ever seen and the songs (there are only 4) do not seem out of place or distract from the overall suspense of the film. However, I must warn you guys that this movie is extremely violent where many people die in extremely gory fashion (ie. one character is stabbed in the eye with a tree branch), so keep the children at home. Here are four pictures from the movie.
This first picture is of the main leads (actor Fardeen Khan and Urmila Matondkar) and is located at: http://www.erosentertainment.com/Movies/Jungle/Images/Finalinwater.jpg.
The second picture is of the main leads (but you can see their faces this time) and is at: http://www.erosentertainment.com/Movies/Jungle/Images/Finaluand.jpg
The third picture is of actor Sunil Shetty (the guy at the right), who plays an Army officer in the film, and is located at: http://www.rediff.com/entertai/2000/jul/14jung2.jpg
The fourth picture is of the main villain Choudhary (played by Sushant Singh) and actress Urmila. It’s located at: http://www.erosentertainment.com/Movies/Jungle/Images/finalu.jpg
- This week’s recommendation is Satya (The name of the main character. It also means truth.), which is also directed by Ram Gopal Verma. The film stars J. D. Chakravarthy, Urmila Matondkar, and Manoj Bajpai and is Verma’s best technical achievement. By that I mean that the film is perfect (technically) in all aspects, whether it be story, acting, direction, cinematography, music, etc. The movie starts off like as a gangster movie (with an innocent becoming a gangster) and then throws away the main plot to just show us the reality (and the consequences) of the Bombay underworld. The film is rather unique from other Bollywood films as there is no real good character in the film. None of the characters are sympathetic and we are unable to root for anyone in the film. When the film ends, we don’t feel sorry for any of the characters. Combine the characters and the powerful storytelling of “Goodfellas” with the ultraviolence of “Scarface” and you’ll end up with Satya. If you’re interested in buying this film on video or DVD, here’s the link: http://www.erosentertainment.com/store/search/New_MovieDetails.asp?MovieID=H0095
CHINA/HK
The following was reported by “Crashpoet”:
- Reports have emerged stating that following THE ACCIDENTAL SPY, Jackie Chan's next Hong Kong film will be the HK$50 million THE TERRACOTTA WARRIOR. Backed by EEG, the film will have Chan play a Qin Dynasty warrior who is accidentally frozen and ends up being revived in the 21st Century. (Sounds like a Groovy movie, BABY!! – D25) The film will shoot on location in Mainland China and Australia sometime next year after Chan completes the sequels to SHANGHAI NOON and RUSH HOUR. The director of the film will be an American picked by Chan.
- Following on the heels of Takako Tokiwa and Norika Fujiwara, Japanese celebrity Asaka Seto will be making an assault on the Hong Kong entertainment circle. Seto, reportedly, will star opposite Leon Lai Ming in the upcoming Gordon Chan Ka-Seung movie HA YAT GIK BA SA (lit. NEXT TARGET BRAZIL).
- Regent Films has agreed to distribute GEN-Y COPS in North America. In addition, the company has decided to make an eight figure investment in the film and provide American talent to the project (see The Accidental Spy’s report, below). Regent backed the 1999 Academy Award winner for best screenplay GODS AND MONSTERS.
The following was reported by “The Accidental Spy”:
- Hollywood actor Paul Rudd ("The Cider House Rules") has joined the cast of Benny Chan's "Gen-Y Cops". The shooting is expected to wrap up at the end of August.
- Gigi Leung ("Feel 100%", "Those were the Days") is about to join the cast of the live-action adaptation of "Tekken". According to the source, she will play Jin Kazama's girlfriend.
- Eason Chan ("Twelve Night", "City of Glass") joins Takeshi Kaneshiro and Kelly Chen in UFO's "Lavender", a romantic movie about an angel ( Takeshi Kaneshiro) who falls onto Earth and falls in love with a woman (Kelly Chen). Sounds like another remake of “Wings of Desire”. Eason Chan plays a homosexual angel (!?) who is ordered to go to Earth and find Takeshi Kaneshiro's character. The movie is directed by Yip Kam-hung, whose last film, "Metade Fumaca" is an impressive, well-written drama which everyone should check it out.
- Internationally acclaimed mainland director Zhang Yimou ("To Live", "Not One Less") is going to searching for an actress for his latest film, "Happy Times". Zhang Yimou said that he is looking for an ethnic Chinese girl between 16 to 19 years old with an expressive face. She can be completely inexperienced with acting. The casting crew has already interviewed 65,000 people and still searching for the perfect female lead. Zhang Yimou is the director who once discovered international star Gong Li and rising star Zhang Ziyi from "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" to make their debut in his movies.
- This week, director Johnny To's "Needing You..." has crossed the $30 million HKD mark to become the highest grossing HK movie of the year. This screwball comedy, starring Andy Lau and Sammi Cheng, is estimated to finish just behind 1998's "Stormriders", which grossed around $45 million HKD.
- Johnny To's latest film, previously titled as "Saving Job", has started shooting this week. Produced by his partner Wai Ka-Fei, the film stars Ekin Cheng and Jordan Chan (most famously as Ho-Nam and Chicken in "Young & Dangerous" series, respectively), as two ex-doctors who had quit their jobs after a mistake happened and are now struggling to go back to their positions. This is the first time that the couple are working with Johnny To and they both agreed to the press that Johnny To is the toughest director they've ever met. The movie is also stars Cecilia Cheung from "ZU 2" as a trendy young doctor. Here's a picture of Ekin Cheng and Jordan Chan from the set: http://www.appledaily.com.hk/page/20000718/entl511d.jpg
JAPAN
- A big budget SF/period movie,"Gojoe" is nearly complete. It will release on 7th of October in Japan. The film is about legendary 2 warriors. I saw a 4-minute long promotional video and it looks pretty cool. The film has about 2000 VFX shots (the most in Japanese movie history). “Gojoe” will be directed by Sogo Ishii and the protagonists will be played by Masatoshi Nagase ("Mystery Train") and Tadanobu Asano(Nagisa Oshima’s “Gohatto”).American moviegors can see this film sometime next year.
- Watch out Ultra Man fans, he is back! Ultra Man Neos, number 20 of the Ultra Man series, will be made for a video release. Tsuburaya production announced that they plan to make 12 episodes and will be releasing them all over the world. The first video will come out on November 22 in Japan.
- For the second week in a row, M:I-2 is at the top of Japanese box-office. Close second was Pokemon 3, which was followed by Digimon Adventure 2.This past weekend audience an advance screening of "Juvenile" was shown and it will be a strong contender for M:I-2.
- "Sakuya Monster Story"'s web site has just opened. It will feature lots of monsters later on. Visit the site at http://www.digital-plus.com/sakuya/
KOREA
- The 4th Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival will be held between July 13th and 21st. 145 Features, Documentaries and Short films from 30 countries around the world will be screened. The festival consists of 8 sections such as Official Competition, World Fantastic Cinema, Cinemasphere, Fantastic Short Films, Family Section, Forbidden Zone, Made in Korea and Spotlight on Finland. The opening film is ‘American Psycho’ and the closing film is Korean slasher film ‘A Nightmare’. Check out its website at http://www.pifon.or.kr
- Jacky Kang, the director of Korean blockbuster ‘Shiri, plays the role of the producer for ‘Ginko Bed 2’, which will be open in Korea late November. ‘Ginko Bed 2’ is the prequel of ‘Ginko Bed’, which was directed by Kang. ‘Shiri’ grossed about $25 million last year in Korea and is a blockbuster in Hong Kong and Japan right now.
Well, that’s about it for this week folks. Remember, if you have
information on any movie industry in Asia, please contact us at our
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