Faces from the main cast.

Huayi Brothers is adapting their blockbuster film “Aftershocks 唐山大地震” (there’s a beautiful post about the movie here) into a television series, with Tong Liya and Yuan Wenkang acting together as the pair of siblings. The drama adaptation will flesh out the thirty-two years between the reunion of Wan Deng (the daughter, played by Tong Liya) with her family. Also part of the case are Zhang Guoli, Zhang Hanyu, Chen Xiaoyi, and Xu Yajun. Briefly summarized, the movie “Aftershocks” tells of how a family is broken apart in the Tangshan earthquake of 1976, then re-pieced together 32 years later.

Tong Liya’s character, Wan Deng (as called in the drama adaptation) was abandoned by her mother to save her brother after the earthquake. The drama adaptation will be building on Wan Deng’s journey, telling of Wan Deng’s emotions and her life and marriage in America. The drama adaptation will also go deeper into the family history of the Wans, with a record of Wan Deng’s relationship with her brother.

Hopefully, the poignancy of the movie will be retained in this expansion.

source: sina

Actress Fan Bingbing further proves that she is such a workaholic with two gorgeous photoshoots. See more here and here.
Meteor Shower’s second female lead Peng Yang dances and eats with a tiger in a cute Beijing TimeOut photoshoot here.

Which photoshoots do you like and why?

Director-actress Xu Jinglei and Singer-actor Stanley Huang releases third wave of pictures for Du Lala’s Promotions here.
Actor Zhang Hanyu poses with a car here.

Multiple-gold medalist and badminton player Lin Dan brings his hotness to Men’s Uno here.

Singers Jane Zhang and Li Yuchun both tip their images in their new photoshoots. Jane Zhang loses her classy glam and wore a Hello Kitty outfit here, and Li Yuchun does a dress photoshoot for the first time here.

Huang Xiaoming, Li Bingbing, and Zhang Hanyu

Three of the actors of the film, including Huang Xiaoming graced this month’s cover for Cosmo; the rest of that shoot behind the cut. I really hope there are outtakes, because the HXM + LBB ones  in the vid below looked cute. Although what I really want for a photoshoot is one with  LBB and Zhou Xun.

Behind the Scenes of the Cosmo Shoot:

[youtube="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0g5fMBUInc"]

The theme song sung by Huang Xiaoming is below the cut, because after watching the Cosmo shoot vid, I decided it was cuter.

I actually like this song (called simply “Feng Sheng”) a lot better than Chen Chusheng’s theme. The composer of this was Cao Xuanbin, who I mentioned had wanted to be a singer. Sadly, he’s still composing for others, but at least now he composes for more high-profile things, although neither song sounds as eerie as the film’s ambiance looks.

Huang Xiaoming – Feng Sheng

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8JKGvVy6Hw]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-exzntq6GU]

People raised the question about the lack of film classification system in China, and whether due to this problem there would be cuts. Producer Wang Zhonglei said there would not be edits made to the film due to blood, saying that  they discussed with the board, nothing was gratuitous, and it was an integral part of the movie.

This movie is targeted for a National Holiday release, on October where it will be battling it out with The Great Cause of Founding the Nation, an even more star-studded event (I’ll be posting more on that film later…the number of celebs in it is eye-popping).

Wang Zhonglei said that last year in China the National Holiday domestic box office was around 400 million yuan. This year he expects it to be around 500 million yuan, and that Feng Sheng should be able to get 200 million of that (~30 million USD).

Source

More info from the press conference where the trailer was relesed at CRIEnglish

The Message (Feng Sheng) movie continues to get the special treatment from Hua Yi, at this point clearly the most powerful entertainment company in China. Earlier, I mentioned that in a strange and rare move, Hua Yi had casted all of its biggest stars for Sound of Wind…Zhou Xun, Li Bingbing, Huang Xiaoming, and Zhang Hanyu, showing how important it was to them. Even Alec Su has been relegated to a supporting role. Now with pictures revealing the rich detail of the set, it’s shown that Hua Yi is sparing no expense for the production costs either, saying it was “without limits”. Zhou Xun marveled excitedly that it’s the most lavish set she’s ever been on, and both she and Li Bingbing says that this will be the new definitive work of their career.

Zhou Xun and Li Bingbing lounging around in The Sound of Wind. Even though all the stills so far just show them just lounging around, I still can't help but be intrigued.

Though the settings shown so far are simple…just rooms and offices where clerical affairs take place, and Zhou Xun and Li Bingbing lounge around, the exquisite detail in the design comes through. It is not ostentatious but it is  clearly opulent, and lends itself to the dark ambience of the film. The movie, only partway through filming, has already released two teaser posters, and character posters.

Hua Yi’s ambitions clearly are sky high with this film, and the result will be what happens when a powerful company throws all of their power into one project. While I am not a fan of the genre that this movie falls under, a period espionage film, my interest was peaked right when the cast was announced, and Hua Yi has continued showing moviegoers why they need to pay attention. Hopefully the quality of the film will match the effort being put into it. Either way, this will be one of the biggest films of 2010.

Despite the darkness of the film and the fact that I don't care for thrillers in general, there's no way I can't be interested in this film.

Stills of the four major players, and Hua Yi’s four biggest assets,  in this film: From Top left going clockwise: Li Bingbing,  Huang Xiaoming, Zhang Hanyu, and Zhou Xun. All except for Huang Xiaoming have won top acting awards.

Character posters (sorry…I couldn’t find Huang Xiaoming’s)

Source

The cast and producer of Feng Sheng

The newest project, Feng Sheng, or Sound of Wind from ever expanding powerhouse Hua Yi Brothers is notable for the fact that all four of the leads are Hua Yi’s most bankable stars right now, Li Bingbing, Zhou Xun, Zhang Hanyu and Huang Xiaoming. They are all some fo the most well-liked stars in China and the first three have all won top acting awards at some point in their career, with the most recent winner being Zhang Hanyu at the Golden Horse Awards. In their press conference they revealed who they were playing.

After the success of “An Suan” (a TV series that was a monster hit in China), the author Mai Jia became popular too and Hua Yi paid over a million yuan for the rights to a movie version to the novel, “The Sound of Wind”.

Li Bingbing will be playing the superior in rank to Zhou Xun, and both are playing high-class spies. Zhang Hanyu will play Wu Ziguo, the leader of the Japanese puppet regime. Huang Xiaoming, finally getting to break into movies, will be playing a Japanese spy. Zhou Xun and Li Bingbing praised each other, saying how they had worked together before in another series ten years ago and had slept together in the same bed so they weren’t distant as the media sometimes says. Zhou Xun said she admired Li Binbing for working so hard despite her poor health. Zhang Hanyu regretted that he could not have any romantic scenes with them, and would only be treating them harshly instead in the movie. Huang Xiaoming, who arrived late for the press conference because he was in dress rehearsals for the Chinese New Years Gala, jokingly asked if he had been replaced when he saw Hua Yi’s producer Wang Zhonglei in his chair and pretended to leave.

Also of note at the press conference was Zhou Xun’s dress. According to her assistant, her boyfriend Li Qi cut it in several places, so that it showed actual flesh, and at other places showed only flesh-color clothing.This fit with the theme of the movie Zhou Xun said. “You think you see something, but in reality what you saw may not be true.” She usually dresses quite atrociously however…maybe her entire wardrobe is a metaphor?

I don’t know what I was expecting when I heard that they would all be doing a movie together, but I am a little disappointed. Movies like this do not interest me and I think that there are enough of these types in the Chinese movie industry already, but the cast is really, really big and Hua Yi is putting all off their eggs into one basket, so to speak. Separately these four command quite a box office draw and could perhaps make Hua Yi more money by appearing in four separate movies, but instead they will all be collectively working together on this, and so I expect a fantastic basket. I am sorry; I am not as good with the metaphors.

Source Source 2

To make up for any digs at Zhou Xun earlier, here are a couple of pics from when they were getting ready for the make-up tests. In contrast to the furrowed-brows of the other three cast members, who seemed to be thinking “I shouldn’t have written that in my biography “, or  “I’m totally going to get overshadowed in my movie breakout role”, and “I hope they don’t mess up my hair”, Zhou Xun seemed to be rather care-free and not thinking about anything. It must be nice to be the top actor in one of China’s top entertainment companies.

It’s over! So who won between these three heavily nominated movies?

Edit: Updated with the videos of the short film “Film Dreams of the Taiwanese” and two performances. Not Lollipops though.

45th Golden Horse Film Award Nominees

Best Feature Film

“The Warlords”

“Cape No.7″

“Orz Boyz”

“Assembly”

“Ocean Flame”

Best Director

Peter Chan Ho-sun, “The Warlords”

Wei Te-sheng, “Cape No.7″

Pang Ho-cheung, “Trivial Matters”

Sylvia Chang Ai-jia, “Run Papa Run”

Best Leading Actress

Prudence Liew, “True Women for Sale”

Monica Mok, “Ocean Flame”

Karena Lam, “Claustrophobia”

Chang Yung-yung, “Miao Miao”

Best Leading Actor

Zhang Han-yu, “Assembly”

Liao Fan, “Ocean Flame”

Jet Li Lian-jie, “The Warlords”

Louis Koo, “Run Papa Run”

Best Supporting Actor

Ma Ju-long, “Cape No. 7″

Eason Chan, “Trivial Matters”

Hu Jun, “Red Cliff”

Dai Li-ren, “Parking”

Best Supporting Actress

Mei Fang, “Orz Boyz”

Lai Ming, “Money No Enough 2″

Wu Liqi, “Qi lu Tian Tang”

Nora Miao, “Run Papa Run”

Best New Performer

Jiang Su-min, “Tiao Ge Zi”

Chie Tanaka, “Cape No.7″

Lin Tsung-hui, “Cape No.7″

Pang Chin-yu, “Orz Boyz”

Best Original Screenplay

“Winds of September”

“Orz Boys”

“The Warlords”

“Claustrophobia”

Best Adapted Screenplay

“Assembly”

“Trivial Matters”

Best Cinematography

“Ocean Flame”

“Cape No.7″

“The Warlords”

“Sparrow”

Best Visual Effects

“The Warlords”

“Assembly”

“Red Cliff”

“CJ7″

Best Art Direction

“Ocean Flame”

“The Warlords”

“Parking”

“Red Cliff”

Best Make-up and Costume Design

“Trivial Matters”

“Candy Rain”

“The Warlords”

“Red Cliff”

Best Action Choreography

“Assembly”

“Connected”

“The Warlords”

“An Empress and the Warriors”

Best Original Film Score

“Cape No.7″

“The Warlords”

“Sparrow”

“12 Lotus”

Best Original Film Song

“South of the Border” (from Cape No. 7)
Music: Zhen Zhihao (Chen Chihao?)
Lyrics: Matthew Yen
Performer: Van

“Hero Chou ” (from Kung Fu Dunk)
Music: Jay Chou
Lyrics: Vincent Fang Wen-Shan
Performer: Jay Chou, Du Guo-Zhang

“Pang Pang” (from Drifting Flowers)
Music: Christine Hsu
Lyrics: Christine Hsu
Performer: Serena Fang

“Get Together” (from Miao Miao)
Music: Cincin Lee, Cheng Kuei
Lyrics: Cincin Lee, Cheng Kuei
Performer: Julian Cheung Chi-Lam

Best Film Editing

“Connected”

“Winds of September”

“The Warlords”

“Claustrophobia”

Best Sound Effects

“Missing”

“Cape No.7″

“Assembly”

“The Warlords”

Outstanding Taiwanese Film of the Year

“Cape No.7″

“Winds of September”

“Parking”

Outstanding Taiwanese Filmmaker of the Year

Wei Te-Sheng

Takeshi Kaneshiro

Li Long-yu

Lifetime Achievement Award

Chang Feng

Some of the other winners of the night…I just thought these were nice looking posters.

Videos:

The Movie Dreams of the Taiwanese Short Film:

Part1

[youtube="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFSKY7qZtNU"]

Part2

[youtube="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_G6lEudB6Zs"]

Part3

[youtube="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWJ-ejHZOrg"]

Behind the Scenes and Miscellaneous – Jia You!

[youtube="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgNzgDusIEU"]

CocoLee’s Performance

[youtube="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osdPGJQQep0"]

The Cape No 7 cast recreates the last scene in their film.

[youtube="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1sj9G7hqV8"]

Red Carpet Pictures:

The presence of this guy there had me confused if I was looking at the right awards ceremony:

I give my performance in Butterfly Lovers two thumbs up.

More pictures of this guy who with his presence has made these awards probably 20% better looking.

Where my skinny hos at?

Catch more of Vaness Wu’s Wild Wild West pimp look here.

I am better than all those stick-figured....ladies.

More of Best actress nominee Karena Lam here.

Um...I just have high metabolism.

Feng Xiaogang: Um...what's with the sunglasses? You went blind in my movie, not in real life. Zhang Hanyu: Didn't you hear? I made eighth on the 50 most beautiful people in China list. I gotta keep the ladies at bay. Feng Xiaogang: I think you're doing a good job.

Vaness, if you want o know how to do the scruffy look properly, you should just watch me. Come to think of it, you should probably watch me if you want to learn how to act...why are you here again?

Whatever...I topped all of you on the list of foreign actors Japanese ladies love. Nerdy is in.

I don’t really have too much time to do much more captions with this post…but Sina’s official site for the awards has more coverage.

I’ll try to get some videos up if I can, especially of the performances, and the short film I posted on  earlier.

I know people might be disappointed that Cape No 7 didn’t win the big ones but the Golden Horse awards probably would have lost credibility if it had won since it really was kind of flawed in areas. I think Taiwan can do better, and hopefully one day a really mind-blowing Taiwanese film can live up to the hype and knock down Titanic from being the highest grossing film in Taiwan, and win the Golden Horse, etc. The music was fantastic though, so go check out its OST and see why it won those music awards. In general this was a great year for Taiwanese films and hopefully the trend can continue in the future.