Sunday, November 26, 2006
Lucas in Singapore
everyone's got money
Saturday, November 25, 2006
Golden Horse Award
Goum Ian Iskandar (left) is the youngest Golden Horse recipient |
Chan was named best director and China's Zhou Xun was named best actress. The film also won best cinematography and best song.
But After This Our Exile caused the biggest surprise by scooping best film.
It also made nine-year-old Goum Ian Iskandar the youngest Golden Horse winner for best supporting actor.
The film was honoured again when Hong Kong actor and singer Aaron Kwok picked up his second consecutive award for best actor for his portrayal of a single and abusive father.
"The movie is a huge challenge for me... but I never thought I could win (best actor) again," he said at the ceremony in the Taiwanese capital, Taipei.
The 43rd award ceremony was dogged by controversy in the run-up to the event.
Two nominated films pulled out of the competition.
Director Tsai Ming Liang, who is Malaysian-born but a Taiwan resident, withdrew his film I Don't Want to Sleep Alone, upset by comments from jury members that it was too self-indulgent and failed to engage audiences.
And The Go Master, a film by Chinese director Tianzhuang Zhuang, was also abruptly pulled with no official explanation given.
Other winners included Hong Kong's Nikki Shie, who won best supporting actress for her role in the film Reflections.-------------
I would have done the same thing Tsai Ming Liang did. The juries in Taiwan are not humble and lack experiences in judging films. First off, there's barely a film industry in Taiwan. Therefore based on what do these Taiwanese judges have for the filmmakers to respect. And the remarks they made were totally inappropriate.
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
Deja Vu
This could be a good thing for filmmakers wanting to shoot in Asia. Things are already cheap here. It will only get cheaper.
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
You're not Ari
Perhaps having the top client in the music industry in Asia gives him the bragging rights, but honestly none of the clients are talented or good actors. Nor are they bankable in the film industry. Usually, it makes sense to have the film industry as your priority in a career choice. But in Asia, less in Hong Kong, film takes a back seat. Hollywood films have overwhelm the market here. The real money making entertainment business here is music. So the next time you try to get an Asian talent, see what their main role is, singer or actor. Then you decide if the juice is worth the squeeze.
I am taking my project back to the US.
Director Robert Altman dead at 81
The Player was my favorite movie of Altman's.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Player (1992) is a movie that tells the story of Griffin Mill (Tim Robbins), a Hollywoodstudio executive who believes he is being blackmailed by a screenwriter whose script he once rejected. It was directed by Robert Altman using a screenplay by Michael Tolkin based on his own novel. The movie's best known feature is its more than 60 cameo appearances by major Hollywood actors, producers and directors, all playing themselves.The film, loaded with movie references and Hollywood insider jokes, is a critique of the Hollywood movie business, which treats artists poorly and sacrifices quality for commercial success. It might seem surprising that so many big Hollywood names agreed to play themselves in the film, but Altman himself admits that "it is a very mild satire" and it offended no-one.[1]
Altman had had his troubles with the Hollywood studio system in the '70s after a number of studio films (McCabe & Mrs. Miller, The Long Goodbye) lost money or had trouble finding audiences despite the critical praise and cult adulation they received. Altman continued to work outside the studios in the late '70s and throughout the '80s, often doing small-budget projects or filmed plays to keep his hand in. The Player was a comeback to making films in Hollywood, although it was made for Fine Line Features rather than a major studio. It ushered in a new period of filmmaking for Altman, who continued on to an epic adaptation of Raymond Carver's short stories, Short Cuts (1993). Altman won a number of European best-director awards for The Player (the BAFTA, best director at the Cannes Film Festival) and he was nominated for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe as best director (the film won the Golden Globe for best "comedy or musical"). Tolkin received an Edgar Award for Best Motion Picture Screenplay.