7th MayNews 1: Ten directors to film promotion trailers to fight SARS
Ten well-known directors in the movie industry, including Wong Kar Wai, Johnnie To, Andrew Lau, Peter Chan etc will film promotion trailers to fight SARS and stars like Tony Leung, Maggie Cheung, Andy Lau, Francis Ng and Leon Lai will be acting in these trailers.
News 2:
Anita Mui, as the chairman of Artistes Association, planned to hold a four-hours long "1:99 Music Concert" at the Hong Kong Big Football Stadium on the 24th this month to raise education funds for children of SARS patients. They were contacting singers such as Andy Lau, Kelly Chen, Eason Chan, Leon Lai and Jacky Cheung etc to attend and perform in the concert.
8th May
"Infernal Affairs" was well-acclaimed and well-received, and Media Asia recently announced the filming of "Infernal Affairs 2" and "Infernal Affairs 3". In "Infernal Affairs 3", Golden Horse Best Actor Leon Lai joined the cast and made the movie even more attractive to watch. However, before the movie began its filming, rumours had already kept coming. After it was said that Tony Leung increased his price while Andy Lau and Leon Lai maintained their prices, yesterday a magazine gave a big report on its various rumours.
Most of the magazine reports were directed at Leon Lai. One of them said that Leon only received HK$800,000 for this movie and when he knew that both Tony Leung and Andy Lau received HK$5,000,000, he was very angry and did not want to sign the contract. The report also said that when Leon knew that he had to play the bad guy while Andy Lau got to change from bad to good in the movie, he was so furious that he slammed the table. The report further said that Leon was being neglected by the boss, Mr Lam, during the press conference last Friday and thus Leon might decide not to act in the movie anytime.
The spokesperson for Media Asia Films Promotion Department, Cora, said that actually Leon had already signed the contract way before the press conference. About the report that said that Leon was not happy with a bad guy's role, Cora said that the role was not even confirmed yet, but she pointed out that it was possible that Leon would be playing an undercover, and it was difficult to say whether the role was bad or good, just like Andy Lau's role which is half-good half-bad.
When she was asked whether Leon's price was really HK$800,000, Cora laughed and said, "How can it be HK$800,000? It's more likely if it is in US Dollars (which is about HK$6,200,000)." Is it about the same as Tony Leung and Andy Lau? She said, "They are about the same." Is it all HK$5,000,000? She laughed and said, "Around there." Did Leon requested for any special conditions? She pointed that every actor had his own requests, but nobody requested not to be in the same place as another person. About the report which said that Leon was being neglected by the boss Mr Lam at the press conference, she stressed that it was only the positioning problem. She even pointed out that Mr Lam often had phone calls with Leon and there was not any problems. As for the weight of the roles of Leon, Andy Lau and Tony Leung in the movie, it would be arranged by the director Andrew Lau.
Leon's manager, Joe Chan pointed that the report was very nonsensical. When he was asked whether Leon's price was really only HK$800,000, he said, "In short, they can write whatever they want to write. I won't respond to this type of news." Did Leon know about this matter? He said, "I haven't had a phone call with him yet." About previously when Leon attended the press conference and hinted that he might decide not to act in the movie anytime, Joe Chan said that Leon did not mean it that way at all, since he had already attended the press conference, he would definitely act in the movie. He also stressed that requesting to read the script was a very normal way of doing things. Then did Leon mind playing a bad guy? Joe Chan explained, as long as it was something good, Leon would not mind, and because Leon is an actor, he would choose something which is suitable for him to do. As for how much Leon actually received for this movie, Joe Chan said that it is a trade secret.
Yesterday, when reporters contacted Director Andrew Lau and told him about the rumours, he was a bit angry and did not want to give his respond. Especially when the reporter said that it was reported that Leon only received HK$800,000 and was angry that both Andy Lau and Tony Leung received HK$5,000,000, he said, "Crazy! Why don't they say HK$30,000,000? I don't need to say so much, you'll know when you see the movie." When he was asked that before filming began, there were already rumours, was he afraid that more rumours would come? He said, "I've always ignored these rumours, I only care about how to film the movie well. In short, everyone are very happy and there are no problems in the cooperation." Reporters continued to ask him whether Leon would be playing a bad guy, he told reporters not to ask too much and he did not want to say anymore. As for Tony Leung, he said that he would not respond to all rumours. And Andy Lau laughed and said, "Wow? Before filming begins, somebody has already done the script?"
Anthony Wong also felt that the rumour was very odd, he said, "How can it be that Leon negotiated the price himself? It is always done by the manager. It is impossible. About Leon fighting for more scenes, how can you measure it? By every page or every scene? It cannot be calculated. Furthermore, the script for 'Infernal Affairs 3' is not out yet, even creating such a rumour is very stupid. Firstly, everything should have been negotiated well, then only Leon would join the cast."
*Many thanks to LFS for translation of news*
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these false claims were reported in a magazine owned by EEG i think; the same one that said Leon's concert tickets did not sell well, his record sales are falling, his popularity is falling, his movies are not doing well, etc. have they got nothing better to write instead of constantly pulling Leon down?! oh well, they made the report too fake to believe anyway! :D Leon got paid HK$2,000,000 per film last time i checked (in 1997) so how can it drop so much to be HK$800,000 today? :wacko:
