Variety: Studio complex puts China in the picture
Huairou Film Base hopes to lure Westerners
In a recent coup for Huairou, Keanu Reeves signed on to shoot "Man of Tai Chi," a $32 million contemporary chopsocky and tai chi actioner that will film here. The cast includes Tiger Chen and Karen Mok, with Reeves as a bad guy -- and martial arts choreography by Yuen Woo-ping ("The Matrix").
Local auds didn't flock to "City of Life and Death" in expected numbers, partially because Lu made the Japanese general in the war movie a real character.
Now the director wants his vision to appeal to auds in the booming China market as he gets ready to unveil "The Last Supper," a costume drama about two warring generals, toplining mainland-friendly stars Liu Ye, Daniel Wu and Taiwanese thesp Chang Chen.
FBA: Audience invited to all or nothing Supper
Qin Lan as Empress Lu in "The Last Supper", opening July 5th
Qin Lan
Liu Ye, Qin Lan, Daniel Wu, Chang Chen at recent Beijing press conference
(Sina)Daniel Wu
Liu Ye
Trailer for "The Last Supper"
Gong Li will play Empress Wu in "Tang Dynasty Mystic/Mystery Map"
Two versions of the film are in the pipeline, with Jacob Cheung Chi-Leung directing and Tony Ching Siu-Tung producing and filming to begin in July. An international US-China version hopes to get Danny Boyle to direct with an unnamed actress in the lead.
First stills from Guan Hu's black comedy "Design of Death"
A quack doctor (Simon Yam) performs an autopsy to determine whether the cause of a death is a murder or an accident. The setting is an ancient village in the mountains.
Simon Yam
Yu Nan atop a coffin
Huang Bo
CF: China's First Banned Film Released after 60 Years
After its premier in 1951, the film was soon caught up in ideological disputes, which saw it pilloried as being pro-capitalist, a severe accusation in an era characterized by its black-and-white politics. However, Mao Zedong's criticism of the film, in which he labeled it as carrying a message detrimental to the principles of socialism, was perhaps the main reason behind the banning of the film.
WaPo: Hong Kong selects new leader after tumultuous contest
After a boisterous but highly undemocratic contest featuring feuding tycoons, dark rumors of closet communism and a host of scandals over sex, gangsters and an illegal wine cellar, Hong Kong elites on Sunday selected a wealthy, China-backed populist as the new leader of this former British colony.
SCMP: Leung wins chief executive race
“We, Hong Kong people, have no rights to cast our votes, We come here just to voice our anger,”
"We already have no right to vote in the real election. Why should we be deprived of our rights even in a fake one?"
