TVB News World - Asian Entertainment News Daily

The star-studded cast of The Monkey King, Chow Yun Fat, Donnie Yen and Aaron Kwok, arrived at the press conference venue in Shanghai on Harley Davidson motorbikes reportedly worth HK$4 million (approximately S$650,000) last weekend.

At the event, 58-year-old Chow Yun Fat flung his hair to show off his new hairstyle and asked reporters if he had “grown younger”. He even went on to tease his co-star Donnie for not having “much hair left”.

The duo continued their good-natured bickering on stage, displaying their good relationship, while Aaron appeared unusually quiet at the press conference.

Yun Fat took another jibe at the martial arts star after he learned about Donnie’s lead role at the film’s press conference. “So you are the main character of the show. Then we shall leave now,” he joked. “Donnie is a god, Aaron is a cow and I am a human. That’s why I had a relaxing time filming this movie.”
Jokes and laughter aside, Yun Fat also sang praises of Donnie, who will double up as an action director in the film, for his professionalism in both action and artistic presentations. “He is the number one male action star,” he said.

Donnie reportedly spent five hours in hair and makeup, and required an hour to remove the thick makeup after filming. He had to take a break from the shoot every two days for his skin to get supple rest.

As seen from the trailer released last Sunday, Donnie plays “Monkey King” while Chinese actress Zhang Zilin and actor Hai Yitian take on the roles of “Nuwa” (a goddess in ancient Chinese mythology) and “Bodhi ancestor” respectively in the movie. The imaging of the other cast members will only be revealed when the movie is released at the end of the year.

The Monkey King also features Taiwanese actress Joe Chen and actor Peter Ho.

Source: Xinmsn

Moses Chan's "double happiness" has led to his rise in popularity and increase of jobs. It has been widely rumored he's become really expensive and his unborn baby has brought him prosperity.

This is Moses' third year as the spokesperson for Saint Honore Cake Shop. Yesterday he appeared dressed like a magician in a white suit for the mooncake advertisement shooting. Saint Honore's representative gave Moses coupons and a wedding cake to celebrate his marriage. Moses joked: "I want to give out mooncakes!" With happiness written all over, Moses thanked the heavens for all its care and thanked clients for their long-term support, but he denied that he's expensive to hire. When asked whether the baby inside Aimee's stomach is prosperous to him as a father? Moses smiled sweetly: "OK! But I can't say anything yet. (When can you talk about this?) When the time is right, I will tell you."

A magazine reported Aimee is 10 weeks pregnant and even photographed her pregnant look. Moses denied on his wife's behalf. When speaking of Aimee's plan to retire from the industry? Moses said: "Don't break Aimee's career path. She has lots of potential, it would be a waste if she stops acting. She can be a mother and an artist. There could be a balance to both sides."

Source: Mingpao
Translated by: aZnangel @ AsianEU Forum

Yesterday The Voice 4 press conference was held. The TVB artists participating in this season's contest included Oscar Leung, Mandy Wong, Benjamin Yuen and Carat Cheung. Dodo Cheng and Amigo Chui are the hosts; The show will prepare on July 7th.

It was said TVB appointed Oscar to participate and he did not have to audition to enter the contest. Oscar denied he's got special treatment and said he had to fill out an application. It just so happened during the audition, he was not in HK, but because he had previously participated in other singing contests, TVB felt he could sing and allowed him to qualify for the final. He frankly expressed he does not have confidence in winning because his opponents are strong. He supports his fellow competitor Fred Cheng, who started out from a singing contest.

When asked about Oscar's marriage plans? He said: "Not this year, there are too many people getting married this year. There is no place to hold the wedding banquet." Someone suggested TVB help him host the wedding banquet and do a live broadcast of it? Oscar said: "I thought about that too, but a senior told me, Alex Man and Tien Niu's marriage in 1992 was broadcast live on TVB, but they ended up in a divorce. I gave up on the idea because its bad luck."

Source: Mingpao
Translated by: aZnangel @ AsianEU Forum

Miss Hong Kong 2013 second round of auditions was held yesterday. There were 60 candidates that appeared with surprises. Each candidate had a tactic, some tried to push up their chests, revealed their backs and were dressed in low-cut outfits. "Sexy BB Karena Ng" (Sisley), "Big Chest Tracy Chu" (Lau Wan Hing) and "Black Girl Myolie Wu" (Zoe) all advanced to the second round. Resembling Taiwanese star Cyndi Wang, Peggy, appeared with a courageous attitude, but taking a closer look, she actually resembles the "Big Big Big See Jeh" -- Miss HK 1979 Olivia Cheng -- which made her stand out the most.

Source: Mingpao
Translated by: aZnangel @ AsianEU Forum

Yesterday Johnson Lee accepted Nancy Sit's Metro radio interview. He never thought Nancy would play a practical joke on him. Nancy had three friends pretending to be listeners calling in, and kept asking Johnson strange questions. They also wanted to apply to be part of Johnson's "Practical Joke Team". One of the staff, pretending to be an enthusiastic Johnson fan, waited for him at the radio station. When Johnson got the sign, "Congrats, Johnson Lee has just been pranked!" He suddenly realized a practical joke was just played on him. He expressed: "So thoughtful and well planned. (Add more episodes?) I may have to take a year off before I do another one, but I'll change the style of the practical jokes. My artist friends aren't afraid of me. Actually I got to know Bob Lam and Linda Chung more because of this show."

Source: Mingpao
Translated by: aZnangel @ AsianEU Forum

At the kick-off ceremony of Hong Kong Humorous Culture Exhibition recently, Hong Kong actor-comedian Cheung Tat-ming reassured the media and his fans that he has just stopped receiving his hospital's outpatient treatment and that he will exercise more to stay fit and keep his stamina up instead.

The 48-year-old actor elaborated that he already quit smoking and binge drinking. As a result, his weight has seen a steady increase, although he still has to gain 10 more pounds to be considered healthy.

As for his career plans, the actor said that he will return to Hong Kong's entertainment industry after he fully recovers. He joked and said "I will do more stand-up comedy shows in Hong Kong if I still alive!"

Last September, Cheung was revealed to be suffering from metal poisoning as a side-effect from his chemotherapy, which then affected his mobility and nerves.

Source: Yahoo! Entertainment

According to Hong Kong actress Karena Ng, it is still not an appropriate time to marry her actor boyfriend, Raymond Lam.

During a promotional event, Karena took the opportunity to wish the newlyweds Moses and Aimee Chan, and called them "a sweet couple".

When asked when her turn to get married is, the 19-year-old actress said it is still early for marriage, and that Lam has yet to propose to her anyway. However, Karena revealed that she wishes to have a sunny seaside wedding ceremony.

When asked whether she has performed contraceptive measures to avoid pregnancy, the actress became embarrassed.

"I don't want to answer your question. It's so embarrassing! We don't have any plans whatsoever."

Source: Yahoo! Entertainment

Marco Ngai is upset with public's view of him for the past five years since he broke up with his girlfriend of nine years, Joyce Tang, in 2007 and explained to the public about the rationale behind their breakup.

As reported on Groove Asia, the actor, who appeared on the Chinese reality show, "Battle Of The Sexes" expressed that it was unfair of the public to blame him solely for the breakup, saying that their negative views influenced his career negatively.

Marco stated that his decision to not marry Joyce was not made without consideration, and added that he had read an article about the probability of divorce among couples that have dated for more than three years.

"I did some reading and according to statistics, those who get married after being in a relationship for seven to eight years have a higher divorce rate rather than those who were dating for less than three years," the actor explained, and his wife, mainlander Zhang Lihua agreed with him.

When asked on her opinion about Marco's statement, Joyce, who got engaged to her non-celebrity boyfriend Matthew Chu early this year, stressed that she is not disturbed by the statement, saying that Marco plays no importance in her life anymore.

Marco Ngai and Joyce Tang met at the set of "Armed Reaction" in 1998 and dated for nine years before they called it quits. He then caused a controversy when he married mainland student Zhang Lihua in 2008 as she was only 19.

Source: Yahoo! Entertainment

TVB executive Sandy Yu recently refuted rumours that she has a big role in the internal politics that affected the casting process of TVB's anticipated drama, "Aerobic Girls", reported HK Channel.

Previously, it was alleged that Eric Tsang, the brain behind the drama's production, has no say in the casting choices due to Sandy Yu's interference.

It was reported that Sandy refused to let members of Sun Entertainment girl group As One play the younger version of the lead stars in order to give equal chances to stars from other companies. She also turned down Nat Chan agency's girls; Rainky Wai and Carol Yeung for the roles.

Sandy denied that what the media reported happened and that every decision for "Aerobic Girls" was made by Eric himself.

Her husband, Herman Ho, also agreed with her statement, saying, "Eric and Tommy Leung are the ones responsible for all the casting selections. I heard that Heidi Lee and Cheronna Ng (from Super Girls) have been confirmed to play a role, but what roles they will be playing have yet to be decided."

He also dismissed rumours saying that the two Super Girls members were chosen because they are a part of his company.

"Aerobic Girls" will begin shooting next month, yet the casting dilemma has yet to be resolved.

Source: Yahoo! Entertainment

Having turned 60 recently, Eric Tsang has decided to reduce his workload, and is passing the torch to his good friend Wong Jing to manage TVB's anniversary movies instead.

HK Channel reported that one of the films that have been planned is the fourth instalment of "God Of Gamblers", which starred Chow Yun-fat in the titular role.

Originally set to begin filming in May, it was rumoured that the movie will only commence production in November this year to cater to Chow Yun-fat's schedule, as well as Nicholas Tse, who will play his gambling partner and Kimmy Tong the leading lady.

It was also reported that the movie, to be titled "God Of Gamblers: Die Another Day" will boast a budget of RMB 100 million.

However, when asked about the movie, Wong Jing stated that they cannot confidently confirm the production at the time being, although it is very likely to happen.

Source: Yahoo! Entertainment

Andy Lau had always treated his fans as family members, this year being Andy World Club’s 25th anniversary, he celebrated in advance on 8 June 2013, his parents were also present to cut the cake, as usual his father was tasked to open the champagne as the 51-years-old Andy acting like a spoiled child as he lied on his father’s shoulder, showing off his blissfulness.

His recent film Switch was being criticize as a lousy film, he left comment on his website: “In my family, every year there will be a gathering, those familiar fans and me, but this time had more feelings! This night, expected a full house, prepared Soft Hard as guests, for you and for me. An affinity of 25 years, in-front of family members, Wah Zai is Wah Zai, Wah Zai is still Wah Zai. Because with your love for me, really very blissful!”, seems like thanking his “family members” for supporting his film.

Andy would celebrate Andy World Club’s anniversary in June and his birthday in September with his fans, his parents would always be one of the guests, although both near 80 years old but they are still cheerful and healthy, especially his father who always put on a smile, for every “family gathering” his father will be tasked to open the champagne, the playful Andy always used the champagne to spread at the fans.

It is said that the birthday of Andy’s father was round the corner thus a giant cake was prepared. During the cake cutting, Andy hooked onto his father’s hand becoming a small child.

After he’s finished promoting Switch and Blind Detective in July, Andy would start training and rehearing for his Mainland China concert tour which will kick off on 11 September 2013 in Shanghai. Andy revealed that he would spend ￥80,000,000 to bring the 4-sided stage of Hong Kong Coliseum for his Mainland China concert tour.

Fans would get to catch the charisma of the heavenly king from 11-14 September 2013 at Mercedes-Benz Arena in Shanghai, followed by 4-5 October 2013 in Nanjing, 16-18 October 2013 in Guangzhou and 30 October – 1 November 2013 in Beijing, more details on other stops will be revealed later. To prevent fans from getting cheated, the organiser had reminded fans to refer to ticket sales dates, ticket price and other details of other cities show from the official Andy World Club website.

Source: Apple Daily News (Taiwan), Headline Daily, Liberty Times, Macao Daily, sohu.com, Hong Kong Daily, Wei Wen Po, Sing Tao News
Translated by: AndyLauSounds

16th Shanghai International Film Festival opening ceremony was held on 15 June 2013 and it was a gathering of superstars. Chow Yun Fat lead the entourage of The Monkey King which includes Aaron Kowk, Donnie Yen, Joe Chen, Peter Ho, Eddie Cheung to walk the red carpet, becoming the limelight of the ceremony.

Walking down the red carpet also include the entourage of Blind Detective where all wore black, their appearance attracted screams from the audience which covered the comperes’ voice. When talked about his performance in this film, Andy exclaimed that he “gave his life out” for this performance, he said: “The director has high requirement, all these years had not been so tough for shooting a film.” In addition, he also acted out a blind man’s scene of the film by putting out his hands and legs looking for directions which made everyone burst into laughter. With regards to Andy, Johnnie To said: “With Andy Lau in Blind Detective, it will be nice to watch.”

In the opening ceremony, Hong Kong film director Tsui Hark was presented the Chinese Film Outstanding Contribution Award, this award was given to filmmakers whom had promoted Chinese films to the world, previous winners includes Lee Ang, Zhang Yimou, Chen Kaige. When receiving the award, Tsui Hark express that Shanghai is the cradle of Chinese films, to be able to win the award in Shanghai had a strong meaning for him.

Being the introducing guest, Andy pointed out that he had been in showbiz for 30 years and more than 130 films to his name, but he only managed to collaborate with Tsui Hark once, just one collaboration which is beneficial to him, he said: “I learn how to act, learn how to choose a film that I like and the audience will like my film, Tsui Hark taught me how to see the world in another angle.”

Source: tom.com, udn.com, Headline Daily, Wei Wen Po, Sing Tao News, Ming Pao, sohu.com
Translated by: AndyLauSounds

Andy Lau who was currently in Shanghai to attend the opening ceremony of 16th Shanghai International Film Festival and promotion of his film – Blind Detective. He was supposed to board the 9AM flight and expected to touch down around 12PM, unexpectedly due to bad weather, his flight was delayed for 4 hours and only could take off at 1PM, thus he had to cancel the original scheduled job at 2PM. With regards to the flight delay, Andy looked at it as heaven knew he seldom had chance to rest thus specially gave him 6 hours of rest at the airport.

Due to work commitments, Sammi Cheng was unable to attend the red carpet ceremony at the 16th Shanghai International Film Festival thus only Mainland China actor Guo Tao, film director Johnnie To, executive producer Wai Kar-Fai, scriptwriter Yau Nai-Hoi all males made an appearance, the only female accompanying them was Johnnie To’s wife.

Sammi finally could meet up with them for the press conference at Shanghai yesterday where 4000 people jam packed at Shanghai International Finance Center Mall, an excited Johnnie took out a bottle of red wine to drink when being interviewed by the compere. This film is the collaboration of Andy, Sammi and Johnnie after 10 years since their last collaboration in Yesterday Once More. Johnnie exclaimed that the box office takings are not important, most important is their everlasting friendship.

When asked if Andy’s character is similar and looked like him, Johnnie said: “If I’m Andy Lau, I would be rich! When he acted me, I don’t feel that he looked like me but everybody feel that he looked like me. Hope Andy be the film director and I’m the male lead, I don’t do cameo!”

Andy then replied: “For intimate scenes, it would be tough for Johnnie because he need to slim down!”

Johnnie then exclaimed that Sammi’s failure to win any Hong Kong Film Awards resulted him being angry for 10 years, he sang praise her being relaxed when acting comedies. Johnnie tipped Andy and Sammi to vye for Best Actor and Actress award with this film. Andy quipped that he does not hope to win Best Actor award with this film, but hope that Johnnie can win Best Director and Sammi win Best Actress.

When talked about Sammi slapping him in the film, Andy pointed out that nobody dare to hit him like that in his whole life but only Sammi. Whereas Sammi thanked Andy and the director for giving her space to show off her talent as she used coffee to represent their relationship: “If Andy is like coffee, then Johnnie is the milk whereas I’m the sugar.”

Before the interview, the event promoters had remind the media not to ask any sensitive questions, however when talked about the insensitive character of the blind detective, Andy talked about that he do have several demerits in real life and talked about the problems of selecting films, : “I can’t finish talking about my demerits within 20 minutes. Selecting film is my greatest demerit, hahaha.” Although nobody talked about Switch, but Andy took the initiative to make a statement: “I’m the kind of person who looked highly that my vision, think that whatever film will become a good one under me. Will do better next time, sorry.” With regards to after the completion of Switch and he did not try to rescue it, Andy raise up his hands and said: “All these isn’t it a bit late to be making suggestions after the event, I can see it. Everybody had already gave me a good chance.” Johnnie added: “This is the life of Andy Lau, after a few good films he would encounter a bad film.”

The compere asked Andy and Sammi to grade themselves for their performance in Blind Detective, Sammi think she worked hard enough and gave herself 100 marks, whereas Andy gave himself zero marks. The media then asked if it’s due to bad reviews of Switch resulting to giving himself zero mark. Andy explained that giving himself zero mark as he wanted the audience to grade his acting after watching the film, he wanted to give the chance to audience and not denying himself, he stressed: “I’m the one in Switch, whatever I had not done well, it’s my personal matter, it does not concern the crew of Blind Detective and not related to them.”

In addition, it was Father’s Day yesterday, being a father himself Andy was in Shanghai and could not celebrate with his daughter thus he wrote a post on his official website message board, : “Despite working overseas, hope father and this new father like me…thinking would also be sweet! Hehehehe… wish every father a Happy Father’s Day.”

Source: Sing Tao News, Ming Pao, Apple Daily News, sohu.com, Headline Daily, Wei Wen Po, Sing Tao News
Translated by: AndyLauSounds

Dramas

Slow Boat Home - 情越海岸線 (EPS 21-25 END) - 28 PTS (Peaking at 30 PTS)

A Change of Heart - 好心作怪 (EPS 06-10) - 27 PTS (Peaking at 29 PTS)

Come Home Love - 愛 . 回家 (EPS 276-280) - TBA

Variety Shows

Bachelors At War - 求愛大作戰 - 20 PTS

(Nielsen TAM: 1 point represents 64,200 viewers)

Source: HKChannel
Translated by: aZnangel @ AsianEU Forum

Yesterday Vincy Chan was at a CD store in Mongkok promoting for her new album Free (我自在). Good friend Michelle Wai was there to support her and gave her a hot and sexy bikini. Michelle said: "I can estimate her size. I bought her a medium, she probably will feel like its suffocating." Lately there has been a lot of gossip around Vincy's new album. Aside from Netizens turning the album into a "porn CD", there is also a video clip secretly taken of Vincy in her "lady's bedroom" that circulated online.

Vincy expressed the concept of her album is a lady's bedroom. Netizens dismantled the album and said each of the 10 songs describes each step in bedroom sex. Vincy did not mind, she said: "I know some people said my album is the most erotic album in Hong Kong. They even described each song title as the before and after of activity in the bedroom. Actually it fits pretty well, but of course that is not my original meaning! (Speaks in your experience?) Er... its close, but I never thought Deep White Color would be understood as the peak!" Asked if her album should be listened to during sex? She laughed: "If can follow the rhythm then its OK!"

To promote for her album, Vincy didn't hesitate to put herself on the table. It turns out the source of the video clip that circulated online was Vincy herself! She said: "Actually I was the one who put the video online. There are so many practical joke shows lately, so I decided to play a practical joke on everyone as well. Just joking with you all!"

Free 我自在 Track List
01. Breathe 心呼吸
02. Free 我自在
03. Before Bedtime 睡前服
04. Bedroom Declaration 睡房宣言
05. Deep White Color 深白色
06. Half of the Bed 一半床
07. Electricfy 通電
08. Pure Love 清潔愛
09. I'm a Scorpio at Night 晚上我是天蠍座
10. Afterwards 後來

Source: The Sun
Translated by: aZnangel @ AsianEU Forum