Ad-lib
Director lures Titanic stars HONG Kong director Alfred Cheung Kin-ting (The Group, Her Fatal Ways) has scored quite a coup, it seems. Cheung, who has been busy making commercials in the mainland and trying to set up deals in Hollywood, has achieved the first step in his Hollywood-China plans by luring Titanic stars Kate Winslet and Gloria Stuart to appear in his coming commercial for a Chinese-made pressure cooker.
Apparently, the boss of the kitchenware company is a huge fan of the James Cameron film and specifically asked for the stars.
The commercial will be filmed in the mainland and Cheung says negotiations with Winslet were surprisingly smooth. In fact, the director said Winslet did not even demand the high salaries that some of Hong Kong's big names expect.
Weighing it up UNLIKE their Western counterparts, not many Hong Kong actresses are willing to sacrifice their looks or their figures for a film role.
Perhaps Carina Lau Kar-ling will set a new trend when she puts on about 5.5 kilograms for her role in Wong Kar-wai's new film, 2047.
Lau says putting on weight is the easy part: all she has to do is be lazy and just eat and sleep.
She is, however, worried that shedding those extra kilos might prove impossible now that she is in her 30s. Still, she can console herself that 5.5kg is just a fraction of what Toni Colette had to gain for her role in Muriel's Wedding, and Colette looks great now! Chan's plans JACKIE Chan has yet to start on his new Hollywood film, Shanghai Noon, but word has already come of two new Hollywood projects lined up for the action star.
One is the proposal for The Professionals, which should also star Michelle Yeoh, Chow Yun-fat and Jet Li. However, their schedules mean it is difficult to say when it will come to fruition.
The other is Nosebleed, which is already in pre-production, in which Chan will play a window-washer at the World Trade Center who unwittingly becomes embroiled in a plot to blow up the New York landmark.
With Rush Hour's extremely successful box-office results, Hollywood is beginning to recognise Chan's magic.
Shu's stake-out SULTRY Taiwanese actress Shu Qi is fuming over being dogged by paparazzi round the clock.
Reporters have been staking out the actress' Happy Valley home and following her around after they were tipped off that Canto-pop star Leon Lai Ming had been frequenting her home at night.
In Shanghai last week, Lai told reporters that he was not going to answer to those rumours.
'I should have space for privacy during my private time,' he huffed. Does that mean that there really is a romance? No one is saying, but one can hazard a guess that Lai will be staying away from a certain building in Happy Valley until the media pack disperses.