So today I’m checking out the movie news at Dark Horizons and I notice a blurb about an upcoming live-action retelling of the Hua Mulan story. French director Christophe Gans is quoted as saying that
Huh? They couldn’t do the film together?
I have two theories that would explain this peculiar pronouncement. One, they couldn’t afford both stars; or two, the stars refuse to appear in the same film together.
I suspect that it’s #2, which distresses me. Not sure why. I guess I hate to think that their lovely turn together in Crouching Tiger, one of my Favorite Movies of All Time, was just…acting…? Does anybody know anything about this? Anybody got the dirt? Anyone? Anyone?
well, I don’t know much, but Ms Michelle doesn’t speak mandarin, so Crouching Lizard, Hidden Chicken was a real stretch for her, and I have heard a rumour (A RUMOUR! tsk tsk) that ChowYunFat was on her case about her bad pronunciation, et al.
Are they doing HuaMuLan in english or the ol’ Huayu? (mandarin)- and could this be a source of friction between the actores?
It’s Yeoh’s production company footing part of the bill for this-- why should she walk from the project? With Pau, Yeoh and Chow you reunite the director and stars of Crouching Tiger and get another shot at Oscar glory, with a Chinese story already VERY familiar to American audiences thanks to Disney. They COULD switch directors – but Pau and Yeoh have worked together several times, and Gans’ relatively short filmography seems suspect.
Peter Pau’s directing gives me no confidence whatsoever. He is a brilliant cinematographer, but his Yeoh vanity-vehicle debut as director, The Touch, showed there there’s a lot more to a movie than good scenery shots.
<Space Vampire>, I’m actually from Australia, but been living (and married, and reproducing) in Singapore. And you? (I’m guessing similar region- there don’t seem to be too many SEAdopers, which is a pity).
As for Peter Pau directing, I have very little opinion, but <Askia’s> probably correct, if Michelle Yeoh’s production company is fotting the bill on this, then it’s unlikely she’d walk away from it. And as I said, the rumoured hostility between Chow and Yeoh was only that, rumoured. And like any good gossip, it’s worth repeating, until it takes on a life of it’s own! cheesy grin. Actually, I hope it’s not true, I have lots of respect for Michelle Yeoh and her work to promote Malaysia as a really nice place to visit (or live if you prefer) and Chow Yun Fat is so cool when he shoots those side-ways guns in slow-motion! (additional cheesy grin)