HKMDB Daily News

Li Bingbing helps launch The Message’s official website
Huayi Brothers hope for RMB$200M box office

Kungfu Cyborg Beijing premiere press conference

SCMP: Johnnie To has high hopes for HK film industry

Anthony Wong left out in the cold
He raged that the organizers did not arrange a seat for him and criticized, “Don’t arrange such things if you don’t know how to do it!”
Video of Anthony Wong leaving Laughing Gor premiere in a huff and the post-exit spin

Hollywood Reporter:Audience loud and clear for ‘Overheard’
Now that financial crime thriller “Overheard” has become the top Chinese-language film in China so far this summer, writer-director Alan Mak and Felix Chong are planning a follow-up that revolves around eavesdropping.

Hollywood Reporter: Weinsteins want autumn ‘Shanghai’ release
Film completed in 2008 but no release date yet set

Hollywood Reporter: Maggie Q cast in ‘Priest’
Joins adaptation starring Paul Bettany, Cam Gigandet
Screen Daily: Maggie Q set to star with Bettany in Priest

Screen Daily: The Search film review

Ip Man 2 - Sequel to hit biopic about Bruce Lee’s kung fu master begins filming in China

Yang Qing: Young voice finds cinema success - One Night in Supermarket
One Night in Supermarket draws from Korean director Kim Sang-Jin’s Attack the Gas Station and Cashback by British director Sean Ellis. There are also hints of Ning Hao’s work whose Crazy Stone was the highest grossing Chinese film in the country in 2006, raking in more than 6 million yuan ($877,000) in less than two weeks.

Stephen Chow’s Spokesman Resigns

Korea Times: Gluttony for Beauty Takes Toll in ‘Yoga’
The intention of the horror movie-wannabe “Yoga” seems sound enough. Misled desire for eternal beauty and youth leads a group of already perfectly gorgeous women to a sinister place where they all end up screaming and running for their lives.

Brigitte Lin recalls 3 triad encounters in latest column for Southern Weekend [apologies for the poor translation]
1. In 1981, she returned to Taiwan for three years where she shot 14 films many for triad bosses. Even if Brigitte did not want to, what could she say? One night a gangster delivered a bag full of cash to her worth NT$2.5M. After he left, Brigitte put the money in a small safe and deposited it the next day. At the time her family was living in America [for safety?] and she was alone in Taiwan.
2. Blackmail: On a film shoot, during a break in a dressing room a low level gangster asked her to lend him some money. She pretended not to understand him and cleverly turned to Derek Yee for help. The gangster then gave up.
3. Because of gang harassment, many film shoots employ ‘bodyguards’. The production crew was always ready for self-defense. The atmosphere was tense but fun recalls Brigitte. On one film her bodyguard had a knife scar. Brigitte’s nickname was Little Rose, so her bodyguard was called Little Knife Scar Rose. Filming a gun scene in front of a restaurant, Knife Scar Rose jumped out pointing his gun thinking that it was real.
Other related stories:
Jackie Chan’s Rush Hour 2, Jackie had to pay HK$500K ‘venue fee’ as protection money
Because Leslie Cheung refused to join [the gangs?] prints of Raymond Wong’s Alls Well End’s Well were stolen when gunmen stormed the production office.

Hong Kong magazine reports that 57 year old Sammo Hung had emergency heart surgery last week
According to this report, Sammo was diagnosed with blocked arteries and secretly admitted to the hopsital. He acknowledged the surgery when contacted by the media by phone. Sammo is home now and rapidly recovering and hopes to return to Mainland to continue working on Detective Dee.

Zhao Wei models new ‘owl’ look

Song Hye-kyo Teams up with Chinese stars for New Ad
Song Hye-kyo was the Korean actress/model slated to star John Woo’s cancellled ‘1949′