Assassin

[GeneChing]

Shu Qi? Chang Chen? I'm in.

Shu Qi, Chang Chen Join Hou Hsiao-hsien's Movie 'Assassin' (http://www.asianpopcorn.com/default.asp?Display=1038)

Cannes-winning director Hou Hsiao-hsien's new kung fu movie will be a US$12 million (€8.5 million) production about an ancient Tang dynasty woman who's adopted and trained by nuns as a political assassin, an investor in the film said Tuesday.

Taiwanese actress Shu Qi will play the female assassin, Huang Hsin-yi, a publicist at SinoMovie, one of the investors in the film "Assassin," told The Associated Press on Tuesday. Hou has also cast Taiwanese actor Chang Chen, who starred in the Oscar-winning "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," in an undetermined role and is considering approaching Japanese actor Tadanobu Asano, Huang said.
Shu Qi Chang Chen

Shu Qi, Chang Chen (in black), and director Hou Hsiao-hsien at Cannes

Huang said it wasn't clear when and where the movie will start shooting. No other details about the film have been released.

The US$12 million budget makes "Assassin" a big production by Chinese standards and marks a departure from the art-house movies set in his native Taiwan that Hou's known for.

Besides Taiwan's SinoMovie, Huang said the Taiwan branch of Hollywood studio Fox is also investing in the movie and the Chinese news Web site Sina.com reported Tuesday that Hou is also raising funds at the ongoing Pusan International Film Festival in South Korea.

Hou's past productions have been explorations of Taiwanese culture. The director has shot movies about a local puppeteer ("The Puppetmaster"), southern Taiwan's gang culture ("Goodbye South, Goodbye") and government oppression ("City of Sadness").

"The Puppetmaster" won the jury prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 1993 and "City of Sadness" won the top Golden Lion prize at the Venice Film Festival in 1989.

Hou's most recent movie is the French-Taiwanese co-production "The Flight of the Red Balloon," starring Juliette Binoche. The movie is about a single mother who hires a Taiwanese student to take care of her son.

Hou and Shu are frequent collaborators, working together on "Millennium Mambo" and "Three Times," which won Shu best actress honors at Taiwan's Golden Horse Awards, the Chinese-language equivalent of Oscars, in 2005.

"Three Times," about three love affairs in three different eras, also co-stars Chang Chen.

Director: Hou Hsiao-hsien
Genre: Kung fu
Cast: Shu Qi, Chang Chen
Chinese Title: 聂隐娘

[doug maverick]

sounds like good **** to me

[GeneChing]

You don't have some inside scoop on this one, Doug? You always have some inside scoop. Whazzup?! ;)

I don't think I've seen Hou's work before. I'm a big fan of Binoche so I'll keep my eye out for that one. Any picks for this?

[doug maverick]

gotta go to my sources. but hou is a pretty good director. it'll be cool if they had szeto kam yuen(exiled,spl,city with no mercy) write it(just thinking out loud.) the story sounds like this anime called hellsing and another old story about assisans trained by preist. if its done right then itll be good i'll find out more later.

[Li Kao]

Hmm when I saw Hou's name in the title along with Shu Qi and Chang Chen, I immediately thought "Hey wait a minute, I just watched a movie by Hou with those 2 in it!" It was the "Three Times" movie that's listed at the end of the article. I liked the 1st and 3rd part of the story, but the 2nd part, which was set in an ancient era, was a little annoying to sit through as there was no spoken dialogue -- the dialogue was all done in frames in between the camera shots on a black background similiar to old silent movies. I suppose it was creative/unique but it seemed too gimicky and was distracting for some reason. Still, it has shades of Wong Kar Wai (I suppose I compare all mellowdramas to him since he's my favorite director) -- all in all, the acting was rather subdued, especially in the 1st sequence and just didn't resonate with me like a good Wong Kar Wai film. So it was nice to see Shu and Chang on the screen together again, but the film didn't really win me over and I can't see ever watching it again. Still, I'm definitely willing to give Hou another chance and this one could be a winner. Definitely gonna want to see it.

[doug maverick]

yea its weird when watching mellow drama's now i always think of WKW, lust caution made me think of him alot.

[GeneChing]

There's an extremely mediocre pic of Shu Qi if you follow the link. In respect to her, I felt obligated to add this (http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/entertainment/2006-07/17/content_642521.htm).

Shu Qi, Diane Kruger to Join Berlinale Jury (http://english.cri.cn/3086/2008/01/31/1261@319249.htm)

Hollywood actress Diane Kruger, French star Sandrine Bonnaire, and Chinese actress Shu Qi will join the jury at the Berlin Film Festival next month, on a panel led by Greek-French director Costa-Gavras, organizers said Tuesday.

The jury, which will award the festival's Golden and Silver Bear top prizes, will also include Russian media executive Alexander Rodniansky and Oscar-winning cutter and sound designer Walter Murch.

Rounding out the list are Danish director Susanne Bier ("Things We Lost in the Fire") and German production designer Uli Hanisch, Berlinale director Dieter Kosslick told a news conference ahead of the February 7-17 event.

The German-born Kruger ("Troy") is currently appearing in "National Treasure: Book of Secrets" with Nicolas Cage. She starred as the wife of a South African prison guard in "Goodbye Bafana," which was in competition at the Berlinale last year.

Cesar award-winner Bonnaire has appeared in films by the biggest names in French cinema including Claude Chabrol, Jacques Rivette and Agnes Varda.

Shu Qi is a veteran of more than 50 Asian films including the 2002 international thriller "The Transporter" and Stanley Kwan's "Island Tales" in 2000.

Ukrainian-born Rodniansky is a major film and television producer as well as a documentary director in Russia and president of the Moscow media holding CTC.

Murch has worked closely with Hollywood director Francis Ford Coppola for 30 years on films including "Apocalypse Now" and "The Godfather."

A star of the dynamic Danish cinema scene, Bier got her start in Lars Von Trier's Dogma school of filmmaking and made a splash worldwide with her 2007 Oscar-nominated drama "After the Wedding."

Hanisch has picked up German and European accolades for the sets of "Perfume" and "Run Lola Run."

The festival announced in November that Costa-Gavras would serve as jury president. He made his international breakthrough in 1969 when he won two Oscars, including for best director, for the political thriller "Z."

He won the Golden Bear prize for best film at the Berlin festival in 1990 for "Music Box," starring Jessica Lange.

The Berlinale is ranked alongside Venice and just behind Cannes in the ranking of Europe's top film festivals.

It will kick off with the gala premiere of a Rolling Stones concert film by Martin Scorsese, "Shine A Light."