As part of the Music Ai de 5003 project (which Top Combine and other performed for) Bobo went to a mountainous unprivileged school, bringing with them school supplies. They acted as teachers, teaching the children songs, participating in their PE sessions, and went to the homes to get a better understanding of the conditions. They are one of many artists who have contributed in charity recently, but we could never post on them all, so this will have to be the representative of all those efforts.
It’s times like this when you learn to appreciate the difference between a good voice and an average one, and the value of hardwork. Laure Shang Wenjie’s voice definitely stood out as the one gifted with a beautiful voice. Even Cong Haonan, a decent singer normally (and from Sichuan Conservatory of Music, too), made me annoyed when him singing meant the end of Laure’s segment.
Then there’s the contrast between Huang Xiaoming and Li Bingbing. Neither were born singers, but from his other recent live and this, it’s obvious he’s been through major practicing. Li Bingbing obviously haven’t, but that’s forgivable since she’s not a singer. (more…)
Huang Xiaoming's scene where he inspects Li Bingbing's body has nearly a full-movie's amount of shot footage.
What a bribe. Film company Hua Yi has said that they will release a 3 hour version of The Message on DVD if the box office exceeds 300 million yuan (this was what Hua Yi’s previous blockbuster If You Are the One got easily). I hope this means some of the more graphic scenes like the one that took place between Huang Xiaoming and Li Bingbing (above) would be unedited. Usually I’m not one for torture and blood and that sort of movie, but I really want to see this particular one it in its gory glory.The running length in theaters was 122 min, which audiences have said was too short.
Three of the actors of the film, including Huang Xiaoming graced this month’s cover for Cosmo; the rest of that shoot behind the cut. I really hope there are outtakes, because the HXM + LBB ones in the vid below looked cute. Although what I really want for a photoshoot is one with LBB and Zhou Xun.
Behind the Scenes of the Cosmo Shoot:
The theme song sung by Huang Xiaoming is below the cut, because after watching the Cosmo shoot vid, I decided it was cuter.
Fu Dalong as Di Renjie in the upcoming TV adaptation
While I have to roll my eyes at how certain things in China get filmed in abundance around the same time (two versions of Hong Long Meng, countless Jing Yong) , I’ll give this some slack because Di Ren Jie has innumerable stories to base on, and new productions keep adding new material. Di Ren Jie was a high-level official during the Tang Dynasty, under Empress Wu Zetian, exiled at one point by her, and then recalled, a fact that the movie version takes off from. He is credited with advising during her ruthless reign, bringing the Tang dynasty order and efficiency, and has been through several later media adaptations portrayed as a crime-solver.
This is one of the two A-List film festivals in Asia, the other being Tokyo. Despite starting late (1993), organizers have been working hard to make this as prestigious as possible, a subjective measure, and it does seem to be a step up from last year with Danny Boyle heading the jury, and various other stars walking the red carpet. I’m sure you’ve seen a lot of these pictures already, sorry for the lateness! I’ll post on the SIFF again later.
The Message (Feng Sheng) movie continues to get the special treatment from Hua Yi, at this point clearly the most powerful entertainment company in China. Earlier, I mentioned that in a strange and rare move, Hua Yi had casted all of its biggest stars for Sound of Wind…Zhou Xun, Li Bingbing, Huang Xiaoming, and Zhang Hanyu, showing how important it was to them. Even Alec Su has been relegated to a supporting role. Now with pictures revealing the rich detail of the set, it’s shown that Hua Yi is sparing no expense for the production costs either, saying it was “without limits”. Zhou Xun marveled excitedly that it’s the most lavish set she’s ever been on, and both she and Li Bingbing says that this will be the new definitive work of their career.
The newest project, Feng Sheng, or Sound of Wind from ever expanding powerhouse Hua Yi Brothers is notable for the fact that all four of the leads are Hua Yi’s most bankable stars right now, Li Bingbing, Zhou Xun, Zhang Hanyu and Huang Xiaoming. They are all some fo the most well-liked stars in China and the first three have all won top acting awards at some point in their career, with the most recent winner being Zhang Hanyu at the Golden Horse Awards. In their press conference they revealed who they were playing.
This more or less perfunctory type event was given a little jolt by Taiwan TV personality Small S, or Dee Hsu. As Zhang Ziyi, who was next to last to receive an award, made her way up to the podium, Small S exclaimed, “It’s her, It’s her! This is the first time I saw her with my own eyes!”
