bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

sponsorType

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

TWO bombs were thrown on to the set of a movie starring top Hongkong actor Leslie Cheung Kwok-wing and Taiwanese actress Lin Ching-hsia in the most violent act in Hongkong's troubled film industry since last year's murders, violence and threats.

  No one was hurt and police and film industry sources believe the incident was an attempt to extort money.

    Witnesses failed to provide details in what was believed to be a cover up to prevent police becoming involved.

    Two men are known to have approached the film crew the day before for tor dei, or tea money, a common form of extortion by triads on movie sets.

    The pair demanded and are reported to have received the $300 they sought.

    The bomb attack took place early last Sunday, when two unidentified men lobbed two bombs on to the set of The Woman With White Hair on Dodwell Ridge, near the Royal Hongkong Golf Club at Fanling.

  The first bomb detonated immediately, but the second device, made of three sticks of explosives taped together and with a timer in the middle, failed to go off.

    The unexploded device is believed to be similar to ''fish bombs'' used by Hongkong fishermen.

    Lin is believed to have been placed on a Taiwan ''blacklist'' of stars who would no longer be offered roles because she was demanding up to $3.5 million to perform in a film.

    The blacklist was allegedly compiled by a group of financiers from Taiwan - the biggest market for Hongkong-made films - who claim to have been losing millions of dollars as film profits have tumbled due to increasing costs and big-name stars charging too much.

    Two other top female stars who were also believed to have been on the list, Joey Wong and Carina Lau Kar-ling, have since stated that everything is fine in the industry.

    Lin, who was believed to have been working on a film in 1989 when a petrol bomb was thrown on the set, is not reported to have made any recent comments on the industry.

    The man behind The Woman with White Hair is Raymond Wong Pak-ming, the head of Singapore-based Mandarin International Films which provides movies for the Chinachem circuit, in which he is a shareholder.

    Early last year, a copy of Mr Wong's film, All's Well Ends Well, was stolen from the Kwun Tong production offices of his company by a gang of armed men.

    At the time, industry sources said the robbery was aimed at punishing the film's star, Cheung, for refusing to join a rival film company.

     That led to an unprecedented mass march to police headquarters by Hongkong's film personalities in January last year to protest against triad extortion and intimidation.

    But following the march, the industry was wracked by a series of vicious attacks, including at least two murders believed to be linked to business disputes.

   In one incident, in May last year, an unknown assailant fired a single shot into the door of Win's Film Company, which is owned by movie-maker Jimmy Heung Wah-shing.

   Then, late last year, a fake bomb was discovered in a Chinachem cinema in Tsim Sha Tsui East. No motive was discovered for the attack, which caused major disruption, and no arrests were made.

    Mr Wong said in a Chinese magazine last week he believed the bomb attack was not aimed at extorting money but was linked to a personal dispute.

    Clifton Ko, the director of the costume drama The Woman With White Hair, was involved in the production of All's Well Ends Well.

   The Cheung-Lin movie, which is still being filmed, is due for release in August.



Bombs hurled in movie set 'extortion bid'