The president, Jay Chou, is making his way across the pond for another stab at the Hollywood market. This time with Now You See Me 2. Which is pretty cool due to Jay Chou very well known love for magic. You can see on youtube many clips of him showing off card skillz and so forth. If you see the trailers, the four horsemen make their way to Zhong Guo and bump into Daniel Radcliffe. The president doesn't show up in the trailer, but it's been surmised that he plays a significant part. Also, why not get more pub for it a growing film market that is becoming more and more important to US films making a return.
I am surprised that he's even showing up in the list of stars and that he got his own.
Big news in Mando-pop world this past weekend. The reigning king of Mando-pop Jay Chou has gotten married to Hannah Quinlivan. The two have been "linked" since 2010. But stories of their first meeting or how they met are the work of legend, as everything has been 2nd hand up to now.
Jay has been linked to other famous gals like Join Tsai and Patty Hou over the years, but got hitched to a relative unknown in the industry.
Jay's wedding news has dominated the entertainment out of Asia for the past couple of days.
Congrats and hope you both have an happy marriage. Now get to work on Now You Seen Me 2!
天台 (RooFToP) is being released in Taipei this weekend. The movie has Jay Chou not only staring in the movie, but behind the camera (sort of) as well. Jay also co-wrote the movie.
Here's the Fandango Synopsis, "When Gao meets his dream girl, a billboard beauty named Sian, fate takes him on a wild ride through romance, friendship, and gang rivalry, all told through enchanting melodies and stunning dance numbers".
This film is being touted as a new genre with its mix of action, dance, and "musical". Jay's also got buff for the film. If you search on images of his for this movie, he's not shy about showing his six pack.
The movie will be released by Well Go USA in a couple of weeks here in LA. I will do my darnest to make the showing.
The Green Hornet (青蜂俠) was released in Taiwan today. I hope that the people of Taiwan go out and support President Chou. However, it is a Hollywood movie and the slapstick aspect should fall flat on its face in Asia. But hey, its got Jay. And some really absurd action.
As for Seth in Taiwan. I hope he gets out and about to the old parts of Taipei like Jiufen (九份). Maybe hit up the night market like Shilin Night Market. Hit up Ximending!
I will be making it out to the theaters to watch the madness that is Jay Chou next week or the week after. I am no longer a fan of hitting up the theaters on opening weekend.
The most current commercials are on pretty regularly when I watch the Lakers and Clippers, so I know its being marketed here in LA. Will the rest of the US and Asia follow suit? I sure hope so! And I am hoping that the movie is good too.
The Green Hornet (青蜂俠) commercials are starting and one recent one features the dynamic duo trying to order at a Carl's Jr. The funny thing about the commercial is that the gears labels are in Traditional Chinese. I thought it was well made and makes me want to see the movie more.
Jay has one word! "Sure". Makes it easy not to have a fobby accent.
Sony Pictures released another full trailer of the upcoming The Green Hornet (青蜂俠) movie. The trailer is a little longer and goes more in depth. The plot points are hopefully revealed in the movie and not the trailer. This trailer is quite good and hopefully it'll be a great movie.
Jay Chou's English isn't nature and it sounds super stiff. Not much different than his Mandarin in his Asian movies. So, biz as usual for Jay.
周杰倫/跨時代 (Jay Chou/The Era) was released a few months back. AMAX had a full display of this during my weekly trip there. I picked it up and it's a doozy.
The first song is classic Jay Chou with his R&B inspired beats and his rap-singing. Something that's hard to reproduce since no one else in the industry has come close. The rest go into all directions of musical styles. Again, classic Jay Chou. Or similar to his the blueprint from his last 2 albums.
In all, I was quite impressed and had it on repeat for a week. I do listen to it on and off nowadays.
Since Jay's debut in 2000, he's had a studio album every year until 2009 came around. Something about making a Hollywood movie got in the way of his schedule. As most of his albums have come in the fall, but this came right before summer.
刺陵 (The Treasure Hunter) is a 2009 film out of Taiwan. The movie stars Jay Chou and Lin Chi-ling.
The movie is about a city lost in the dessert. The city is suppose to contain a treasure. It is protected by a desert eagle. Jay Chou has come upon some relics that help him locate the area. In a sense, a treasure map. Lin Chi-ling's father helped Jay get the map, so she wants to see what this thing is that killed her father.
Off they go, looking for the lost city in the middle of the desert. Enter sub plots that get in their way.
The movie wasn't as bad as some others made it out to me. You must not have watched any of the mahjung movies from last year. I think the hype killed it as it made it seem like the next indy film, but for the Chinese audience.
Don't expect it. You should expect a lot of fighting, CGI, and Lin Chi-ling looking very sultry. What more do you want?
I liked the film but don't think I'll ever watch it a second time.
熊貓人 (Pandamen) is a drama where Jay Chou was the producer, director, and actor. The series is set to premiere on January 17. But I don't think it'll happen due to some legal stuff.
However, a 8 minute trailer was released into the wild last week. In the trailer, it's a who's who of Chinese entertainment. You see Jay Chou, Eric Tseng, Jerry Yan, Shawn Yue, Tang Yan, and Will Pan in the trailer.
Looks exciting because the production value looks pretty high. But its splattered with some crazy cheezy dialog.
If this is the "Chinese" attempt to create a Iron Man, Spider-Man, and Batman mytho, I think they'll gravely miss the mark if it goes international. I personally think Chinese mythos are more interesting to explore than to repackage comic book heroes for the Chinese market.
刺陵 (The Treasure Hunter) is an upcoming movie starring Jay Chou and Lin Chi-Ling. The movie poster and some production photos were released this week.
From the looks of it, it looks pretty intense. I hope they go for an Indy feel but with a totally Chinese twist and flavor. Treasure capers are awesome due the suspense, triller, mystery, and chase elements.
We'll have to wait until December or 2010 to see this.
2 days ago, it was announced that Jay Chou (周杰倫), Taiwanese music and movie superstar, was cast to play Kato in the upcoming Green Hornet movie starring Seth Rogen.
I am actually pretty shocked by this announcement. But also a little excited as its Jay Chou. Jay Chou continues to make great music out of Taiwan and land roles in interesting movies out of Asia.
If you didn't follow the rumor mill for the Green Hornet, the first star attached to play Kato was Stephen Chow of Shaolin Soccer and Kung Fu Hustle fame. When Stephen Chou drop out of the project completely, the casting call for any "Asian" was broadcast. Korean hunk Kwon Sang Woo was than rumored for a week or so, before Kwon denied the rumors.
So, my initial thoughts are that he's got very little time to prep his English. The movie is set for release on July 9th, 2010. I don't know where Jay's English is now, but in the past, there's a strong FOB accent to it. Second is that we're not going to see the normal Jay Chou output for the next 12 months. Jay seems to work like a madman to release a CD every year with crazy videos. Jay has also been attached to several movies.
Being on the Hollywood schedule means he's going to have only 1 thing a year. And if the Kato role rumors are true, this will be the only thing he does in 2010.
Best of luck to Jay. I've included Jay's Double Blade MV as it seems to be filmed in the US and has a little of his English on display.
And for those of you that do not know who Kato or what the Green Hornet are. Kato was the sidekick to the Green Hornet made famous in the 60s by the late Bruce Lee. The Green Hornet was only able to last 1 season.
Curse of the Golden Flower (滿城盡帶黃金甲) is 2006 film starring Chow Yun-fat, Gong Li, and Jay Chau (周潤發, 鞏俐, 周杰倫) and directed by Zhang Yimou.
The story is based on the imperial family of which Chow, Gong Li, and Jay belong to. The politics of being trapped to your confines. The family dynamics and the little secrets everyone has.
The wuxia elements were much more limited in this production than with other Zhang Yimou productions.
It was quite strange to see Chow Yun-Fat in a this role. Chow is the gambler and an assassin. Not a emperor.
Over all, I wasn't sure what to expect from the movie and it was underwhelming.
I happened on 南拳媽媽 recently because of 南拳媽媽's Lara's collaboration with Jay Chau on his snake song.
From the looks of it, they've been around for a few years with 5 albums. I'll have to look into getting some in the future. But I was able to check out their videos on YouTube and Lara's collab with Jay. Very strong group.
I am finding more and more that I like in the Taiwan pop music scene. I've sorta given up on the American music scene. I buy 3 taiwan CDs vs 1 american nowadays. To bad my chinese will never good enough to get in on the Karaoke stuff.
Here's a recent song from 南拳媽媽, 下雨天 (rainy day) and Lara in Jay's snake song.
I picked up 周杰倫's new CD today. I've been listening to it most of the night. Its pretty amazing. Jay keeps to his strengths but always manages to explore sounds and realms. I am highly impressed.
We're fortunate to have an artist that transcends the realm of mediocrity on a regular basis. But this artist also dives into Movies as well. Jay's forays in film have been bad, good, and great. Let's just hope he keeps at it.
