TAIWANESE actors, once the poorer cousins of Hong Kong movie stars, are shining brightly these days.
They are creating a Taiwan Wave as they increasingly win over Asian directors with their fresh pop appeal.
Arguably leading the trend is R&B king Jay Chou, who has become a director’s favourite after starring in two box-office hits - Initial D and Curse Of The Golden Flower. Hong Kong director Corey Yuen recently expressed interest is casting him in an action flick with a Korean pop star, reported Taiwan’s United Daily News.
Perhaps the next to shine is supermodel-turned-host Lin Chiling, who was hand-picked by acclaimed Hong Kong director John Woo to star in the historical epic, Battle Of The Red Cliff. She plays Xiao Qiao, the beautiful wife of the great strategist Zhou Yu (Tony Leung) during the Three Kingdoms period in China. John said he admires Chiling’s ‘oriental beauty with a modern aura’.
Meanwhile, pop idol Rainie Yang has been hogging headlines for shedding her cutie-pie image to play a sexy Web-cam girl in the Taiwanese movie Spider Lilies, which was a hit in both Taiwan and Hong Kong. It opens here on 14 Jun.
Actor Dylan Kuo of The Outsiders fame is slowly working his way up from supporting roles too. He starred in the horror flick Black Night last year, and his next project is the upcoming Japanese-China co-production The Longest Night In Shanghai, which co-stars Masahiro Motoki and Vicki Zhao Wei.
But, the Taiwanese actor drawing the most praise must be the versatile Chen Bo-lin, Jay’s co-star in Kung Fu Dunk. He has starred in blockbusters like The Twins Effect II and The Eye 10.
Hong Kong’s Wong Kar Wai said Bo-lin has character and audience appeal, reported Sina.com, while Japan’s Shunji Iwai added that there is no actor in Japan who is as ‘genuine’ as Bo-lin is. Perhaps his only flaw, according to Corey, is his impatience.
Although he is keen to take Bo-lin, 24, to Hollywood, Corey said the actor has a tendency to act hastily, thereby misinterpreting his direction and ending up doing retakes. Also, Bo-lin’s artistic leaning may be a stumbling block to international stardom. Instead of fighting for more high-profile projects, he told The New Paper that he has written his own movie scripts and plans to write novels, maybe even an autobiography.
When asked about the emerging Taiwan Wave, the 24-year-old actor was quick to point out that Taiwan’s niche is in arthouse films.
‘I’m sure Taiwanese movies can retain our unique quality because Taiwan has many small-time directors who will continue making art films,’ he said.
‘We will never become totally commercialised even as we increasingly make an impact on the international market.’
Still, the pioneer batch of Taiwanese stars who ventured out appear to be doing exceptionally well these days.
Shu Qi, for one, won Korean fans last year in the Korean action comedy My Wife Is A Gangster 3.
Coincidentally, Chang Chen also drew high praise from Korean arthouse director Kim Ki Duk, a Cannes regular. He plays a death-row prisoner who finds love in midst of despair in the latter’s new film, Breath. This marks his first Korean outing, after starring in a string of acclaimed films like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and 2046. Ki Duk told Reuters: ‘Chang Chen is really a great actor. I was really very moved by his performance during and after the shooting.’ [by francesca]
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