El Cosmico here, with the ever excellent Asia-AICN column, compiled as always by our pal Darius25. So full of Asian goodness, it's hard to believe.
Asia-AICN #16
Hey all. Hope you've all had a good week. Asia-AICN has just completed its fourth month here, and to celebrate, we have added a section from the Philippines. Hopefully from now on, new reporter "AznFob55" will inform us all about the Philippines Film Industry. Also, in this column, we have news on The Isle, the Tekken movie, Fiza (Crazy), Cecilia Yip, Gigi Lai and Okinawa Rendezvous. Now here's the latest news from Asia.
INDIA
- Before we begin this section, I have some serious news that will concern South Indian moviegoers and perhaps everybody here. I must regretfully inform you all that famous South Indian superstar Dr. Rajakumar has been kidnapped by notorious bandit Veerappan this Sunday night (July 30). Dr. Rajakumar was at his home in Gajapur, Karnatka when he was abducted along with his son-in-law, his son's father-in-law, and a young director by the name of Nagraj. Veerappan has told Dr. Rajakumar's wife that he will not harm the actor but he has some serious demands from the Karnataka government. The demands are not known but it is suspected that Veerappan wants some of his imprisoned friends released and a full pardon for all the crimes that he is accused of That is all the information I have so far, but I will continue to report on this as I find out more.
- We accidentally reported some false news last week regarding Miss World 2000's South Indian movie debut. It seems that Yukta Mookhey is not in Gautam Menon's film. The actress paired opposite famous South Indian actor Mudhalvan in the upcoming film will be Reema Sen. The film does not yet have a title.
- Director Yagnesh Shetty has announced his next film which will be called Yahoo (dumb choice IMHO). The film is being written by Sanjay Chhel and will star Govinda, Juhi Chawla and Amisha Patel.
- Following news of Amitabh Bachchan and perhaps Shahrukh Khan on TV shows comes the news that actress Madhuri Dixit is showing interest in the small screen. Dixit has expressed her willingness to star in a TV show titled Swar Sadhana (the name of the lead character). She will supposedly play the main character - a classical singer.
- Filmmaker Ashok Kaur is planning to make India's first feature-length animation/live-action film. The film will combine live action with animation ala "Space Jam" and "Who Framed Roger Rabbit ?". The film will be a period piece about the romance of Prince Qutub Shah and Princess Bhagmati. The main characters will be played (and voiced) by Milind Soman and Tabu. The film will be released in Hindi and English languages. The film has not yet been titled.
- One of Sanjay Dutt's upcoming films will be Mehbooba (Girlfriend) and will co-star Ajay Devgan. No word yet on who the "Mehbooba" is.
- Some more details have surfaced on the hotly anticipated film Fiza (Crazy), which is being directed by one of India's most respected film critics, Khalid Mohammed. The film is hotly anticipated because it stars Hrithik Roshan, the newcomer who made a HUGE impact in India earlier this year with his debut in the blockbuster Kaho Naa Pyar Hai (Say You Love Me). The film is about a woman (Karishma Kapoor)'s obsessive search for her younger brother (Roshan) who has ran away from home. The running time of this was apparently 3hrs. and 15mins. Long but about half an hour (or more) have been cut to give it a tighter pace. What's surprising is that the deleted footage also included a short appearance by Shahrukh Khan, who will no longer be seen in the final cut. The film is going to be released on September 8. To see two trailers for the film, visit the following website:
http://www.desihits.com/video/fizza.htm
- There was no new movie released last week so I will instead jump straight into the recommendation for this week. Since we started this section with some bad news, I recommend a comedy that will (hopefully) brighten things up a bit. The film is called Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro (Let It Go, Friends) and is brilliantly directed by Kundan Shah. Like most political movies, it aims to exploit much of the corruption behind the powers that be, but it makes us laugh at the same time. As the title indicates, it does not provide a solution to the problem, but instead, the film tells us to just let it be. The film focuses on the misadventures of two photographers (Naseeruddin Shah and Ravi Vaswani) as they try to expose a scandal involving the Police Commissioner, two business tycoons and a renegade journalist. It should be noted that there are no songs in this movie, which will make it much more viewable to an international audience, and also helps keep the pacing of the movie very tight, with no interruptions or distractions. The acting is also very good with Naseeruddin Shah at his comedic best and also features a very funny (albeit short) performance by Om Puri (in a very different role from East is East). The puns, dialogue and jokes are all hilarious, and combine to make this movie one of the best comedies ever while setting it apart from such gross-out comedies as My, Myself and Irene; and The Klumps.
CHINA/HK
The following was reported by "The Accidental Spy":
- Director Tsui Hark is delaying the shooting of "Black Mask 2" to 2001, because the movie's leading actor Louis Koo needs to shoot a TV series for HK TVB network starting next month. The series is a sci-fi adventure about a future soldier (Louis Koo), who is sent back to an ancient period to prevent the first king of China from finding an eternal-life medicine. Louis Koo is currently finishing up the boxing actioner "Beastic Pupils" with Daniel Wu ("Purple Storm", "Gen-X Cops"), which hopes to wrap up at the end of this month.
- Cecilia Yip, the leading actress from Chow Yun-Fat's "Peace Hotel" has joined the cast of the live-action adaptation of "Tekken". Cecilia is now in the tough training of fist-fighting and she has said that she would rely more on real fighting skills rather then the computer generated special effects.
- Another leading actress of "Tekken", Gigi Leung, was the first to try out the costumes from the movie. Even though the costumes are top secret, Gigi joked that it's impossible to wear it while fighting because her outfit is uncomfortably sexy, with shiny powder all over her exposed body parts. Recently, Gigi Leung was selected the "Female of the Century" by the Hong Kong Tourist Association.
- Ng Chi Hung, most famous as Brother Bee in the "Young & Dangerous" series, has announced a feature from his own production company. It will be a car-racing movie titled "The Legend: God of Racers", and will star stuntman-turned-singer-turned-actor Dave Wong. The film will also feature Karen Mok (" Fallen Angels") and Maggie Siu ("The Longest Nite"). Ng claims that Dave is the perfect choice for the title role since he was a professional driving stuntman before he turned into a singer and he can handle most of his own stunts in the movie.
- Two Hollywood summer movies, "Gone in 60 Seconds" and "The Perfect Storm", opened last weekend in HK, but unexpectedly landed on the second and the third of the weekend box office, respectively. Both movies were edged out by a new HK movie, "Okinawa Rendez-Vous" (previous mentioned as "Love and War in Okinawa"), which was directed by Gordan Chan ("Beast Cops", "2000A.D.") and stars Leslie Cheung, Faye Wong, Tony Leung Ka-Fei and Gigi Lai. The movie follows a HK police officer, Tak (Tony Leung Ka-Fei), who is on vacation in Okinawa and accidentally meets Kit (Leslie Cheung), a professional thief who comes for a bag of ransom from a Japanese triad leader. Soon they both fall for a mysterious woman named Jenny (Faye Wong), who is in fact the girlfriend of the triad leader who escaped from Kit with that bag of ransom. Director Gordon Chan has said that this is a romance movie instead of an action movie, and highlights HK pop-diva Faye Wong's "unprofessional"(which he claims is a good thing) offbeat performance in the movie. Audiences find that the most interesting character is played by "Fatty" Vincent Kok (The director of Jackie Chan's "Gorgeous"), who plays Kit's sidekick and imitates Takeshi "Beat" Kitano every time goes to attract the girls! Here's the official website:
http://www.chinastar.com/html/enews/cstarcinema/okinawa/index1.htm
JAPAN
The following was reported by "Pigmon":
- Juvenile received the Grand prize of Best Children's Film category at the Gifoni (sp?) Film Festival in Italy. The director of Juvenile, Yamazaki, was pleasantly surprised.
- I was shopping at the hippest Tokyo Bay area, Odaiba, last Saturday when I saw more than 300 people screaming and running away from something. I found out that they were shooting Godzilla vs. Megaguirus (this is an official English spelling from now on). The scene that was being shot was the one where Godzilla lands in the Tokyo Bay and proceeds to the center of Tokyo. I saw 300+ extras run many times and the temprature on that day was more than 95 degrees Fahrenheit! Also, the Godzilla vs. Megaguirus website has just opened. Check it out at http://www.godzilla.co.jp/g_2001/index.html
- Throughout last week, audience were allowed to see the filming of Godzilla vs. Megaguirus at Toho Studios - for a price. 250 people paid around $45 USD each day of this week to watch a battle between the two suited monsters. Toho could use this money to add their budget.
- One of most anticipated films of the summer, Sakuya Monster Story started its advance screenings last week. I saw it last Friday and I wasn't the only one to be disappointed. The effects, which were done by Higuchi (of the Gamera series fame), were horrible. An insider told me that Higuchi did only storyboards and most of VFX was done by various small companies, but still the film was filled with '60s style visual effects. The film's main protagonist is Sakuya, a young girl warrior who has a sword which can destroy all the monsters which appeared after Mt. Fuji erupted sometime in the 1700s. For Sakuya, killing these monsters are as easy as killing mosquitoes. The last 15 minutes of film focus on the battle between Sakuya and a 40-feet high Spider woman. The best actor in this movie is Tetsuo's director Shinya Tsukamoto who plays a spooky inn owner. This movie runs for less than 90 minutes but it felt like more than 3 hours long. Warner Brothers is supposed to distribute to all over the world next year but I doubt it!
- Nagisa Osima (Gohatto)'s next project will be "Hollywood Zen". It's about the first successful Japanese actor in Hollywood .
- Various Japanese newspapers have reported that a big Japanese actor has been approached by the production of "Pearl Harbor"' for the role of Ishoroku Yamamoto. One news source says that the (secret) actor is Ken Takakura (Mr. Baseball and Black Rain).
- George Lucas is now going to produce a feature-length anime with the Japanese company Anime World Osaka. The title of this film will be Small Fairy Milun. It's about a small fairy who comes from outer space and can communicate through crows to human beings. The design will be done by Anima World Osaka and Lucasfilm will do the animation. It will be showing in theaters in US (with a three-hour running time!) and as a TV series (made up of 26 episodes) in Japan. The Osaka Film Office will back up this project and Anime World Osaka is responsible for most of the budget which is set at $20 million USD.
KOREA
The following was reported by "Matrix1966":
- 1998 Japanese blockbuster - "Bayside Shakedown"‚ (Odoru Daisosasen) opened nationwide in Korea on July 22nd. "Bayside Shakedown", starring Japanese heartthrob Yuji Oda, was originally aired on Fuji TV as a mini series back in 1997. The film version, which was directed by Katsuyuki Motohiro, drew more than 100 million dollars in Japan.
- "The Isle"‚ (Seom), a Korean thriller directed by maverick director Ki-Duk Kim, was invited to the 57th Venice International Film Festival as an official competition entry. This is the third time that a Korean film was included among competition in Venice Film Festival, which opens August 30th. "The Isle" is a story about a woman who begins a strange relationship with an ex-cop after rescuing him from an attempted suicide.
PHILLIPPINES
And now we add yet another country to our weekly column. Please welcome "AznFob55" as he tells us all about the Philippines Film Industry:
- After the well-received and multi-awarded GMA films (Jose Rizal and Muro-Ami) broke records and won tons of international awards, another company, Regal Films, are also taking the same route to success with their new movie called "Pangarap ng Puso" (Heart's Dream). The movie, which is currently in production, is being directed by Mario O'Hara and the story is getting tons of buzz from the press. The movie will star comeback-kid "Matet".
- Ruffa Gutierrez, International Model/Actress and Miss World 1993 2nd Princess, has returned to the Philippines after her many hosting gigs (she was the host of Disney's Countdown to Millenium, the Holyfield/Lewis fight, and worked at Cannes) to film her latest movie from Century Productions. The still untitled movie will be shown internationally and it has been confirmed that the movie will heavily borrow elements from "Notting Hill". Here's an extremely HOT picture of Ruffa:
- Miss Universe 1994 Semi-Finalist, Charlene Gonzalez, has been rumored to be the next "Darna" (The Filipino version of Wonder Woman). There has been at least 15 movies starring this character with a different actress taking the mantle each movie. The last Darna movie starred controversial film star Anjanette Abayari.
- Janno Gibbs is now filming the sequel to the box-office smash, "Pedro Penduko", a faux superhero with no powers at all. The first movie mainly focused on comedy and was a parody of Filipino super-heroes. The first one had cameos from other notable Filipino super-heroes, "Panday", "Darna" and "Captain Barbel". Expect many more cameos this time around.
- If you thought America was taken over by gameshow fever, think again. The very (as in VERY) popular game show, "Pero O Bayong " is now a movie here and its actually making a lot of money.
- The host of "Unang Hirit" (First Hit) and Miss Universe 1999 First
Runner-Up, Miriam Quiambao, has been seriously pursued by many producers
to star in a film but she continues to decline saying that she doesn't
think she's ready yet. On a side note, she is now a spokesperson and the
model for a facial wash and a shampoo. She also joined MTV Asia's prime
VJ, Donita Rose, in Europe to watch some tournament with THE Royal Queen
herself. Here's a picture of Miriam in her national costume:
- Finally, to those of you who don't know yet, Tony Award Winning Lea Salonga (and the singing voice of Jasmine from "Aladdin" and Mulan from "Mulan") has returned to the Philippines to reprise her role from Broadway as Kim from "Miss Saigon".
- Action movie legend FPJ and erotic film star Ara Mina, are teaming up on a new movie called, "Ayos Na Ang Kasunod" (All Set For The Next). The movie will be a sexy action/romantic comedy and will be opening really soon. Ayos Na Ang Kasunod is generating a lot of buzz and is expected to do extremely well in the box-office.
- Starting July 28 and all the way through August 8, The 2nd New York Film Festival will open at the Lincoln Center. The first festival was very successful. Here are the movies that are going to play in the festival (all of them will be sub-titled in English): "Hubad Sa Ilalim ng Buwan" (Naked Under The Moon), "Milagros" (Miracle) and "Bulaklak ng Maynila" (Manila's Flower), "Bata, Bata, Paano Ka Ginawa?" (Lea's Story, starring Vilma Santos), "Kriminal ng Baryo Concepcion" (The Barrio Criminal), "Sidhi" (The Story of Ah, starring Nora Aunor), "The Moises Padilla Story" (starring, ugh, Philippine President Joseph Estrada), "Gangland", "Jose Rizal" (this movie is the most critically acclaimed movie of all time in the Philippines and also the most successful), "Sarrangola" (The Kite), "Babae sa Bubungang Lata" (The Woman on The Tin Roof) and "Pila Balde" (Fetch a Pail of Water).
These are the short films that will be also shown: "Doon Sa Kabila ng Bulkan" (On the Other Side of the Volcano), "Laho" (Disappear), "Sa Maynila" (In Manila), "Anak Maynila" (Son of Manila), "Patibong" (Trap) and many more.
- Regal Cinema, the most formidable company with regard on Action movies, is at it again with a new movie called "Anghel De La Guardia" (Guardian Angel) which stars up and coming stars, Jeric Raval and Isabel Granada. This movie is also opening really soon.
Well, that was HUGE, wasn't it? I hope that "AznFob55" can keep on bringing us more news like this and also that "The Accidental Spy", "Pigmon", and "Matrix1966" can keep on doing great work in their respective columns. It's time to end this column now, but let me just remind you to send any info that you may have at our Asia-AICN offices:
Until next week, take care.
- Darius25
