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Tonyjaa 会见甄子丹
Tonyjaa 会见甄子丹Tonyrecently when to China to meet with legendary director, actiondirector, and star: Lau Kar Leung (36th Chamber of Shaolin, Heroes ofthe East, Martial Club etc.), to discuss a possible role for him inLKL‘s upcoming movie Heroes of Shaolin.Tony is interested, but had to see which role he would be playing first- Which would be as a bad guy..After the meeting with LKL, Tony also had a meeting with HK action starDonnie Yen (SPL, Flash Point etc.) at the launch party for the TheWeinstein Company‘s new asian film fund.. SHOWDOWN AT THE CHINA CLUB : Action idols collide at launch party for TWC’s Asian Film Fund. The setting was the exclusive China Club, on a high floor of the OldBank Of China building. This venue, owned by Anglophile, entrepreneurand bon vivant David Tang, has hosted its fair share of high calibrestar power, and, on this particular evening, we were proud to seegathered there the brightest lights of the current generation of Asianaction idols. Tony Jaa,Donnie Yen, Nicholas Tse… It felt like a throw down could go down atthe drop of a champagne glass.The occasion was the launch of The Weinstein Company’s new Asian filmfund, a major financial resource that allows the company to invest inthe region’s entertainment industry at an unprecedented level. The weeksaw TWC honcho Harvey Weinstein in town for a round of high levelmeetings, crowned by our China Club gathering.Guest of honour was undoubtedly Thai action ace Tony Jaa, with whom weenjoyed a huge success, theatrically and on DVD, with The Protector(AKA Tom Yum Goong). We’re eternally grateful to Tony for helping getthe label off to a flying start, and we look forward to bringing himback to North American audiences in his directorial debut, Ong Bak 2.Tony was en route from a martial arts award show in the Chinese bordertown of Shenzen, and made a special detour to celebrate the fund launchwith us. Also on hand was local hero Donnie Yen, whose high impact copsocky Flashpoint we will soon be bringing to you. In his openingremarks, Harvey Weinstein quipped that “the good news is Tony andDonnie are going to fight, the bad news is that they’re going to fightme!” Instead, Jaa and Yen were all smiles, and expressed a keeninterest in finding a suitable project on which to cooperate. We alsomanaged to round up Nicholas Tse and Shawn Yue, two of the stars ofanother forthcoming Dragon Dynasty release, Invisible Target. (Sadly,the third lead from the film, Jaycee Chan, was away promoting his newfilm, The Drummer, in Taiwan.) Nic made a rare public appearance withhis wife Cecilia Cheung, who Stephen Chiau fans will remember fondlyfor her debut in his King Of Comedy. (The couple are proud parents of abeautiful baby boy.) I was happy to see one of my oldest friends in thebusiness, Simon Yam. (I say ‘oldest’, even though he never seems toage, damn him…) Simon starred, alongside Donnie Yen, in our very firstDragon Dynasty release, Kill Zone, and will soon be seen in ourforthcoming release of Johnnie To’s PTU. Another old mate, MichaelWong, landed his helicopter on the roof (at least, that’s what he toldthe ladies…) to join the fun. (Michael had a supporting role in anotherearly Dragon Dynasty hit, Seven Swords.) There were also some beautiesamong us beasts, with the lovely ladies present including actress/modelAnkie Black, singing stars (and budding actresses) Rosanne and RaceWong (the artists formerly known as 2R), actresses Eugenia Yuan andJosie Ho (with husband Conroy Chan in tow), singer/model Celina Horan(daughter of Snake In The Eagle’s Shadow bad guy Roy Horan) and singerKelly Fu (looking deadly in red). Also on hand were some of theuber-producers without whom none of the above would have the chance toshine, including Media Asia honcho Peter Lam, Celestial Pictures chiefAndre Morgan, Fortissimo partners Michael Werner and Wouter Barendrechtand one of the true pioneers of international quality Asianentertainment, Andre Morgan. TWC was represented by EVP for Asia DavidLee, our head of production Michael Cole and my humble self.As the event wound down, Harvey Weinstein and various other high flyersdecamped for another party being held across town by Michelle Yeoh.Those die hards who remained at China Club engaged in a spontaneous‘sing off’ between two rival tables, orchestrated by Hong Kong musicmaestro Howard McCrary. This un-American Idol revealed some hithertohidden singing (and rapping) talents. The survivors then relocated tothe now empty main hall of the China Club, where Howard took to thegrand piano to allow the likes of Michael Wong and Celia Horan to bustloose their pipes and work the room. Though naysayers continuallyannounce the death of Hong Kong cinema, I felt that we had enough starpower and good energy in one room to launch a whole new wave of Asianaction cinema. If our combined efforts can’t achieve this, it won’t befor want of trying.(My thanks to David Tang, sadly in absentia on the evening, for hisusual extraordinarily generous hospitality. My thanks also to my long-suffering former assistant, Helen Cord, for her efforts in putting the event together.)
