12/23, Tony is now the official spokesperson for ACAP (Asian Conservation
Awareness Programme) for the year of 1998-1999. Jackie Chan was last year's
spokesman. Tony was invited to Singapore to shoot some free commerical for Hong
Kong's Discovery Channel. The aim is to protect the rare and endangered animals
by raising public awareness through the celebrity campaigns. A few weeks ago,
Tony went to the villages and came close contacts with the endangered gibbons.
The acrobatic Gibbon is one of the smallest apes. On your right hand side, Tony
was holding a small gibbon while shooting some public stills. According to a
news article, this gibbon soon developed an affection for Tony, after the shoots
were over and Tony was about to leave, the gibbon was yawping for his attention.
Tony was touched by this emotional outburst from a new friend. He cherished this
opportunity and hoped with his efforts that more natural habitats will be
preserved.
The wild animals are living in a world where the human
population is growing and their natural habitats are being destroyed. To some
animals there is also a more immeninent threat : the demand for their body parts
for use as traditional cures and luxury goods. When people buy endangered animal
parts, they are supporting a network of poachers, smugglers and traders and are
risking the extinction of critically endangerd animals. Preserving the natural
habitats will maintain the biodiversity and the ecological equilibrium of the
planet earth. I urge everyone who has read this message to start thinking about
conservation and do whatever you can to contribute. A simple thing as recycling
newspaper will reduce the deforestation tremendously. It's estimated everyday
there are 100 animal and plant species lost to the deforestation. Rain forest is
destroyed at 50 acres per minute. Astonishing figures? Think about it. I would
like to thank Tony for his involvement in the conservation awareness programme.
Just in case you are wondering why am I so enthusiastic about conservation,
well, I am a bio major. Reading the recent deforestation, it almost sounds like
a horror fiction to me.
12/18, Tony and Carina will be vacationing in Japan during Christmas. Their
family will also accompany them to Japan. Carina has always wanted to go to the
Hot Spring in Japan. She has already bought Christmas gifts for Tony. Asked what
gift Tony will present to her, Carina replies she doesn't know yet. But she said
Tony always surprises her with special gifts.
12/12, Lok Song Gwun Pui took the Best Actor Award in the Golden Horse. The
movie "Tin Yuk" was the biggest winner, took home 7 awards. Joan Chen
was named the best director for her work in "Tin Yuk". FYI, Tony
didn't make the trip to Taipei. He decided not to go in the last minute. Hey,
maybe he read my message here. Well, I won't blame him because he knows he
doesn't stand a chance with a light comedy "Your place or mine".
Carina went to Taipei to present the Golden Horse Award. She wore a white gown
for the evening.
12/11, 35th Golden Horse Award is only one day away. Based on a poll conducted
by a Taiwan newspaper, Tony is the top vote getter for the Best Actor Award. He
tops everyone with 70,000 votes. If the public have their says, Tony should be
running away with the Best Actor Award. Carina has already arrived Taipei. Tony
is still working on "The Glass Bottle" at the moment. He will be
arriving Taipei on the 12th. After the award, Tony will finish up "The
Glass Bottle". On the 28th, right after Christmas, he will start a new Wong
Kar-Wai movie in China. Carina will accompany him to China. As much as I want
to see him winning the Best Actor Award, realistically, he doesn't have much of
a chance. Bear in mind, comedy never wins anything. So don't be shocked if Tony
comes home empty-handed. But, I wish him the best of luck. Well, no matter what
he gets, he will always have our votes. Isn't that right, Tony fans?
12/5, Carina held a private birthday party last night. Her birthday, however, is
on 12/8, three days away. She planned to celebrate it early because it would be
convenient to have the party on weekend. She invited more than 30 friends to the
dinner party. Tony was standing quietly next to Carina during this short
interview. Asked if he brought anything for her birthday, Tony smiled slightly
but refused to say. Later, the reporter learned it's an expensive jewelry. Their
party was interrupted bluntly when a group of taiwanese tourists caught sight of
them and started asking for pictures and autographs. They left the restaurant
soon after.
12/2, Carina's Birthday is just around the corner. She is planning a big b-day
party, and Tony is going to take care the bills. Carina asks her friends not to
bring any gifts, instead she urges them to chip in some money so she could
donate them to a local charity. If you haven't heard this, Tony is considering
doing a musical with Faye Wong. It's based on the original movie script
"Chinese Ghost Story". Apparently, there is a little confusion with
this musical thing. For some strange reason, two directors are interested in
this musical. One favors Faye and Tony to star it. The other favors Leslie, the
actress has yet to be determined. It's still unclear to me why all of the sudden
people are all going crazy over the same script. Go figure. Tony has yet to make
up his mind. One more thing, Tony will be attending Golden Horse Award around
the mid-December.
11/18, Tony is filming "The Glass Bottle" at this moment. He hasn't
decided if he is going to attend the Golden Horse Award. He said it all depends
on his schedule. If he finds the time, then he will make the trip to Taiwan. The
award is around mid-Dec. Asked if he has any confidence in winning the award,
Tony said he has one-fourth of chance winning it. Thanks tony, we can do the
math. There are only four nominees competiting for one award. Just when you
think he has plenty trophies at home, here is another award for Tony. He is
named the top ten Classic figures of Hong Kong by a magazine. I have no idea
what this is based on. It's not based on longevity or achievements. But anyhow,
it's an award. Yeah, they have tons of these in HK. My suggestion to Tony is
that he should start building a trophy room if this trophimania continues. :)
11/12, Tony has successfully entered Japanese mainstream with two consecutive
hit films, "Flowers of Shanghai" and "Happy Together".
During an interview, he said he was pleased and extremely honored to be in both
films. As a matter of fact, he said that he owed everything to the two directors
of the film, Ho Shao-Shen and Wong Kar-Wai. Every time he worked with them, it's
always a challenge. These two world-class directors have quite different styles.
Wong puts great emphasis on creating and brainstorming in the middle of
shooting. He is well-known for his fancy camera shots and the freelancing camera
work. Wong often toys with his casts. His script is totally unpredictable, and
he often changes the script during middle of a shooting. Sometimes, the outcome
of the story can be drastically different from the original script that he
handed to the casts. Meanwhile, Ho Shao-Shen is well prepared before the shoot.
He loves to use long shots without any cuts in between, which give the cast the
maximam freedom to express themselves. Tony said he had a lot of fun working
with him. Therefore, jokingly Tony said that he wouldn't mind to jump into the
sea if that's what Ho wanted him to do for his next film.
Reactions from Tony after he was informed about his nomination for Your Place
or Mine( formerly known as "Loving you 8 hours a day") in Golden
Horse Award. When asked if he was disappointed that he wasn't nominated for
"Flowers in Shanghai" (Hoi Seung Fa), Tony seriously said,
"Actually either film is fine, because I did my best in every film. I am
pleasantly surprised by the fact that small romantic films like "Your Place
Or Mine" would earn a nomination because there aren't too many previous
winners from this genre." Tony says that although "Happy
Together" was a hit it didn't win an award last year in Golden Horse, so he
is thrilled that "Your Place or Mine" was nominated. He said
"Your Place or Mine" is a sweet love story and that he was surprised
it was nominated.
11/3, Tony is nominated for the best actor award in the 35th Taiwan Golden Horse
Award for his role in "Your place or mine". Both of his movies
"Flowers in Shanghai" and "Your place or mine" are
completing for the Best Film Award. Congratulations!
In November, Tony will work on Wong Kar Wai's new film which will also star
Maggie Cheung Man Yuk and Takeshi Kaneshiro. The movie is called "Fa
Yeung Nin Fa" (literally: Flower Like Years). Director Wong has locked
himself for almost two months to finish up his script, but I wouldn't say it's
the "final" script since Wong has alway been prone to the last minute
changes.
Here I have included a brief article that I receive from a newsgroup some
time ago. On location during "Your place or mine", Tony said the
shoot has been very comfortable. His only complaint was mosquitoes visiting the
countryside set. Covered in bug spray, Tony still attracted kisses from
mosquitoes. First time playing an image designer, Tony did everything like Chang
Suk Ping because he is the "example" he has the most contact with.
"In real life I won't be in that business. I hate dressing up. It's too
much trouble." Surrounded by two women, he couldn't avoid kiss scenes. What
did Tony have to say about Choi Siu Fun and Siu Suen (the two lead actresses)?
He seriously thought, "Siu Suen is real good, she is very cute; Choi Siu
Fun is very tasteful."
10/16, Tony and Carina received the 12th best dresser award in HK. For the
award, Tony put on his Versace suit, and Carina wears a evening gown.
10/15, "The Bottle" began shooting today at the Golden Harvest Studio.
Tony, Jackie, and Hsu Chi all attended the opening ceremony. Here is another
twist as to why Tony would want to honor a 11 year old contract. He did it to
return a favor to the late Leonard Ho. Mr. Ho, the boss of Golden Harvest
Studio, lent some money to Tony back in 89 when Tony went short on a house
payment. They became good friends since then, but Tony never had the chance to
pay him back, until now. Mr. Ho passed away last year, since they didn't really
sign a real contract, it's just a mutual agreement, Tony would easily get by and
nobody would know such thing had occurred. However, Tony felt compelled to
fulfill the contract as well as paying a tribute to the man who had helped him
in a difficult time. Golden Harvest Studio will be demonished next month. It's
Mr. Ho's wish to shoot "Bottle" in this soon-to-be vanished Studio.
After a brief visit with Jackie, Tony volunteered for a part in this film. FYI,
he will be playing a Homosexual guy in this film.
10/14, Tony will be starring a new film called "Bottle" with Jackie
Chan. It would be the first time he will be co-starring in a Jackie Chan movie.
Surprise, surprise, the movie is supposed to be a mixture of
"romance-action-comedy". So I figure Tony will take care of the
romance part, Jackie will do the action, and the comedy job is probably left to
the lead actress Hsu Chi. Tony is honoring a contract he has signed with the
Golden Film Company some 11 years ago. Thus, he will only get paid $400,000 HK
for this movie, one tenth of what he should be making today. Talk about
honoring your contracts, Yikes!
10/10, Tony and Carina attended the HK premiere of "Rush Hour"(Jacky
Chan's new movie). Tony's mother was also in attendance. Carina said she wasn't
upset of losing her role to Anita. She was competing with Anita Yuen for the
role in "Mulan". She plans to take easy for the rest of the year,
and spends more time with Tony.
10/2, Tony and Carina came to Taipei for the release of "Flowers in
Shanghai". Carina attended the press conference wearing a sparkling 2 carat
Diamond ring on the ring finger of her right hand. People immediately speculated
there was a possible wedding purposal made by Tony. Carina quickly denied such
thing. In response, she took the ring off her right hand and placed it on her
left hand to demonstrate the truth. Carina did admit the ring was a gift from
Tony, and she would expect a bigger diamond for the wedding. Later, they went to
a talkshow, again faced with same question. When do they plan to get married?
Instead dancing around with the questions, the host of the show went straight
forward with her question. She asked," Tony, when do you want to have
kids?" (it's one of the questions many are curious of.) Tony played around
with the question, and finally said, "I don't have time for it now."
Good answer, but not good enough to get the host off his back. The tension is
building up. The host bounced the question right back by saying, "You don't
need a lot of time. You are not the one who has to be pregnant." Now it's
the Tony's turn to respond. Time for him to figure out a clever answer. Unable
to find one, wearing a self-conscious smile, Tony turned around and pointed to
Carina, "She doesn't have the time." Almost the same time, Carina
fired back in laughs,"He doesn't have the time." Well, you get the
pictures. The discussion was leading to nowhere. Finally the host had to let go
the question without further embarrassing the guests. I almost translate the
article word by word, cuz I think it's kind of funny. Can you just imagine how
embarrassing this is? :) Anyhow, after the show, they went to Taipei's
Warner Studio for the premiere.
I just gathered some review articles of "Your Place or Mine"(formerly
known as "Loving you eight hours a day"). Based on what I read, it is
a lighthearted comic. It's currently showing in HK. Director: James Yuen
Category(IIA) Starring: Tony Leung, Vivian Hsu, Ada Tsoi, Vincent Fong.
On 9/23, Tony and Carina attend the premiere of "Loving you eight hours a
day" in Hong Kong. Tony says he usually does not go to the movie premieres.
For one, there are always lots of annoying crowds, and besides, he gets nervous
watching his own movie. Tony has never gone to any Carina's movie premieres. One
of the reason is that he doesn't want to watch the love scenes between Carina
and other actors. Although he understands it's just acting, but he finds it
unpleasant to watch. Tony believes attracting more audiences into the theater is
the best way to save the dismal HK showbiz. He thinks by attending the premiere
it will boost public interests as well as the attendances. Tony says it's a much
better method to save the market than cutting back his own salary. As for his
immediate plans, Tony will go to Thailand to promote "Longest Night"
on the very next day. Later, he will go to Taiwan for "Flowers in
Shanghai".
9/21, Tony met the press today for the release of "Loving you eight hours a
day". Tony refused to comment on Clinton's sex scandal, cuz he said the
public figures has no private life, that includes himself. He doesn't care if
anyone digs out his past, since a grow man has to be responsible for his own
action. He has gotten nothing to hide from.
After coming back from Japan, Tony was back to work again, working on
"Loving you eight hours a day". He will start on Wong Kai Wai's new
movie on Nov. Then another Hou Shao-shen movie after that. The Vietnamese
Filmaker Tran Anh Hong is also another possible director he will work with for
next year. Tony said he plans to work three films a year, not overloading
himself. Since he has a big following now, he wants to control the quality of
his performance by limiting his workload. He wants to give 100% to everything he
does. Most importantly, he does not want to disappoint his fans.
Tony went to Japan with the filmmaker Hou Shao-shen from August 26th through
the 28th to promote "Flowers in Shanghai". "Flowers in
Shanghai" is scheduled to premiere on October in Japan.
8/25/98, Tony is in Korea at the moment to promote the premiere of "Happy
Together". To relieve the diaster victims, Tony and Director Wong Kai Wai
started a fundraising after they learned the flood had swept throughout Korea.
They raised $10,000,000 Korean currency (approximately $10,000 US Dollars) in a
30 minutes media session. Tony even donated the blue jacket he was wearing; it
was snatched at $5,000,000 by one of his loyal fans. Shown in the pictures, Tony
was shaking hands with the fan who bought the jacket. She even gave her wedding
ring to Tony as a gift to show her adoration. However, later Tony returned the
ring back to her. I don't know what to make of that, it's way beyond my
comprehension. It's definitely a crazy gesture, but nonetheless very lovely....
Another note: "Happy Together" was a big box hit on its debate. .
Please note this Correction: This is Seo-Young from Korea. I'm sending
this mail to just correct some of the wrong parts of the articles about Tony's
visit in Korea. :) I was really disappointed when one of my friends translated
the article for me. They didn't raise that much!!! ^_^;;; I was there, and I
remember the exact amount! They raised approximately 19500 HK dollars
altogether, and Tony's gray(not blue...as you see in my pic..^_^) jacket was
sold 3600 HK dollars. Tony's necklesses were sold, too and those were sold about
1400 HK dollars each. The most expensive item was actually one of the original
posters of 'Happy Together'(That poster was a French one). One of the posters
was raised about 10000 HK dollars. So approximately 3500000 won(Korean currency)
was raised altogether and Tony and Wang Kar-wai added their own money, 1500000
won. So they donated 5000000 won altogether. (That's about 27500 HK dollars) So
the article is totally uncorrect!!! And the woman who bought Tony's jacket
didn't give her wedding ring to anyone! How crazy of her to do that!!! She was
actually given about 20 minutes to have a chat with Tony(a special case however)
when Tony visited Tae-ku(one of the major cities in Korea) -> She actually
lives in Tae-ku and that day, she came to the Premium show which was held in
Seoul. And that's why she was given a special date with him. :) During the chat
with Tony, she was with her child, and how could she do such a thing.
8/19/98, Currently Tony is still shooting the new movie "Loving you eight
hours a day" in Hong Kong. He will go to Korea within a few days to promote
the new release of "Happy Together" in Korea. "Happy
Together" was prohibited to show in Korea for almost a year, only recently
it passed the government regulation. Later, Tony will make a trip to Japan to
promote the movie "Flowers in Shanghai". In an interview, Tony said
after 16 years of show-biz, he had thought about retirement during the time he
was shooting "The Grand Canal". The 16 years of show business had left
him with many unforgettable memories as well as many painful experiences.
At the moment, 8/7/98, Tony is shooting a new movie called "Loving you
Eight Hours a Day"(literally). Just reading the name, you can tell it's a
love story. Since it's not an action packed movie, Tony doesn't have to worry
about his back while shooting the film. How nice!
8/3/98, Tony made his first public appearance after his back injury in a Radio
Promo. Tony said he took a hard fall while skiing in Japan, didn't think the
injury was serious until he got back to Hong Kong. After a series of X-ray, a
crack was found in the bone, thus he needs a minimum of 6 weeks for the bone to
heal. The first couple weeks he couldn't move and had to lay on bed the whole
time, but right now the injury has subsided. Although he can move around with no
problem now, but he can't do any heavy duty exercises at the moment.
Bad news here. Tony was severely hammered by a waist injury that he suffered
while skiing in Japan. Carina delivered the bad news when she appeared for her
new movie promo on 7/25. Right now, Tony is recuperating through Acupunctures.
Carina said Tony was able to walk and will need some time off to rest his lower
back. Tony, wish you a speedy recovery!
I am pretty surprised to find out Tony and Carina were crazy on the World Cup
Soccer. One of the articles said them inviting friends home to watch the World
Cup together. They wore their favorite sports gear during the game, an act
displaying their support to the team. Carina's favorite team are England and
Italy. She is fiercely loyal to England. After England's defeat, she was crashed
and shredded into tears. She went absolutely berserk, even more animated than
Tony.Being a sports fan myself, I can identify with that. Aren't they a great
couple?
Tony and Carina was back in HK on 6/28/98. The HK Golden Bauhinia Award staffs
arranged a special trip to the airport. They presented the Best Actor and the
Best Actress Award to Tony and Carina. Both are jubilated, especially for Carina
after so many trying years. Tony said this was the best present he could imagine
for his birthday. It's a thrill for them.
This just in. Tony and Carina were crowned with the Best Actor Award and the
Best Actress Award in the third Annual Golden Bauhinia Award. However, both were
not present to receive the award. Apparently they were in Japan during a
business trip. Hey, a perfect present to celebrate Tony's 36th birthday which is
on 6/27. Happy Birthday!!!
Tony and Carina arrived in Cannes on 5/20/98; their movie "Flowers in
Shanghai" is competiting in this years Cannes Film Festival. Tony wasn't in
a good mood when he arrived cuz their luggages were delayed in the transfer of
flights. Everyone wants to know his thoughts on this year's Best Actor Award.
Tony replied that he had not seen the movie himself. So it would be immature to
speculate anything right now. He expected a very busy schedule in Cannes,
starting with plenty of interview sessions. Good Luck, Tony!!! I am rooting
for you! :)
That's
Tony's mother on the left hand side of the picture. Chow Yun-Fat's mother was
the older lady on the right hand side. Tony's mother and Chow Yun-Fat's mother
were invited to a Hong Kong radio show on the mother's day. Tony's mom said Tony
gave her a jade ring as the Mother's Day present. She did not ask him how much
it costed. It's estimated to be at least one million HK dollars.(Hey, Tony
has given his mom and Carina some very expensive gifts this year, Wow!!!)
When asked about Tony's girlfriend Carina, Tony's mom replied that Carina would
make a wonderful daughter in law.
On
5/4/98, Tony and Carina arrived in helicopter as the guests of honor of the
Cable TV's Racing Day in Hong Kong. Tony told the reporters he plans to get
married in 1999. However, Carina replied that marriage is not necessary as long
as both of them are happy together. Maggie Cheung called Carina immediately
after the HKFA to offer comfort. Carina said she was feeling much better now,
and thanks for all the supports. A magazine reported that Tony gave Carina a
diamond worthing more than three million Hong Kong dollars. Tony replied that as
long as Carina is happy, he will be happy as well.
Tony visited Taiwan on 5/2/98 to promote his new movie "Longest
Night". Tony shaved his head for this movie, and he said it was the third
time in his career that he had to shave. The first time is "Duke of Mount
Deer", and 2nd time is for "the Ghost story---part III". Tony
jokely replied that he did not mind to shave his head. One of the benefits is
that he can save shampoo with a bald head. Besides, he loves to surf, a bald
head is convenient for surfing as well. As for the movie "Longest
night", Tony said that he almost got burned in one of the scenes. One time
when they were shooting a fire erruption in the kitchen, Tony's pants was almost
caught in fire. Luckily, it was not serious. Tony was not hurt, but got a bit
scared. After his winning of the HKFA's Best Actor award, Tony will make a trip
to Japan to film his newest commercial. Since there are several movies waiting
for him, he should be very busy in the next few months.
So,
how did Tony spend his first night celebrating the best actor award? He did not
attend the post-award party, instead he went with several friends, such as
Rosamund Kwan Chi-Lam and Carina Lau, celebrated privately. When asked why he
was wearing sunglasses throughout the night? Tony said that he did not sleep
well the night before, so he did not want to take off his sunglasses. Someone
jokely said that Tony looked like Wong Kai-wai when he was wearing sunglasses.
Tony laughed at such ridiculous comment. He responded that he had a love and
hate relationship with Wong Kai-wai. Because Wong Kai-wai would never follow his
own script, Tony had a very hard time in Argentina filming "Happy
Together". However, they share an common understanding since they know each
other for many years now.
Congratulationg to Tony!! Winning the best actor award in the 17th Hong Kong
Film Award!!! Although I am hoping Carina would win the best actress so they can
be crowned on the same night, but Maggie Cheung again beat out Carina for the
best actress award. Tony looked very confident when he won the award. When asked
how would he fare in this years Cannes, he said it had to do with alot of luck.
So he is not going to worry about it.
No surprise here. "Hoi Siong Fa" (AKA flower on the sea) will be
competiting in Cannes this year. Director Ho expects Tony and Carina both to be
there for the award ceremony. The 51th Cannes Film Festival will open on 5/13.
Another movie related news: tony's new movie "The longest night" was
shown in Italy's film festival a few days ago. It received a standing ovation
and an overwhelming positive responses from Italy movie critics.
Congratulations to Tony and Carina! Both are nominated to the 17th Hong Kong
Film Award. Tony is nominated for the best actor award. Carina is nominated for
the best actress award. The 17th HK film award is on this Sunday, 4/26/98. Tony
will be giving out award for the best Art Direction and the best Custome Design,
and, of course, competing for the best actor award.
Yet another rumor has hit between Tony and Rosamund Kwan Chi-Lam. The HK East
Touch Magazine took photos of Tony and Rosamund outside of a night bar on
3/7. Apparently, they were having a good time with a group of friends in the
"97's bar". Later in the night, Tony drove Rosamund home. Rosamund
claims there is nothing going on with Tony. She is a good friend of Carina, and
Tony simply gave her a ride home. Personally, I think HK reporters love to
gossip on everything. This is probably another example of making something out
of nothing.
In a recent article, Tony said that he has almost finished with his new movie
"Hoi Siong Fa" (AKA flower floating on the sea). He also plans to
record his new album with his favorite producer Chou. :-)
Great News!!! By the way, he plans to endorse credit card for a major HK
bank. He is going to shoot the commerial later in the month. As for the rumored
affair between Carina and a Taiwanese actor, Tony said that such rumor is crazy
and stupid. He stayed with Carina the whole time when they were shooting the
"Hoi Siong Fa".
Have you wondered why "Summer in Beijing" has been delayed for almost
two years? Apparently, Director Wong Jia wai has yet to receive a pass from the
chinese movie regulation agency.(Director Wong couldn't film in Beijing unless
he receives the pass.) The article reported that the agency was not satisfied
with Wong's script. Furthermore, the chinese agency also requested a change to
the name "Summer in Beijing", since they feared it might have some
political motives. Therefore, "Summer in Beijing" is still in a
process of delaying til further action. If you have a chinese browser, read the
post below.
Shown above, a picture from Tony's new movie "Hoi Siong Fa" (AKA
flower on the sea). Tony and Carina both starred in this movie. However, they
are not coupled with each other. Tony is coupled with a Japanese actress, and
Carina is coupled with a Taiwanese actor. In this movie, they are required to
speak Shanghainese. Since Carina is from Shanghai, she has little problems
speaking. But Tony finds Shanghainese extremely difficult, so Director Ho
changed Tony's character to a Cantonese Officer. This way, Tony won't have to
put up with his poor Shanghainese. Director Ho filmed this movie without much
cuts. He let the actors and the actresses expressing themselves in the flow of
scenes. Everyone involved in the shooting had a great time. The staffs on the
set reportly said that Tony and Carina treated each other like old husband and
wife. They are very professional on the set.