Derek Yee's drug thriller "Protege" continues to shoot in the mountains of
Northern Thailand, with Andy Lau and Daniel Wu staying in Chiangmai, whilst
actress Anita Mui has returned home after finishing her scenes. The shoot has
been hard going according to Lau, who tells of being plagued by swarms of
mosquitoes and having to film a sequence riding an elephant. Meanwhile, director
Yee, who worked previously with Lau on "Full Throttle" has spoken of how the
actor has matured in the time since, although he agrees with Anthony Wong's
comment that no matter how Andy changes, he will always be Andy - presumably
a reference to his managing to resist the ravages of age. The picture here shows
Andy celebrating the success of his latest music album, treating the "Protege" cast
and crew to a fine seafood meal after a hard day's shooting.

source: kfccinema.com

Chinese director Feng Xiaogang's martial arts epic "The
Banquet," starring "Memoirs of a Geisha" actress Zhang Ziyi,
will have its world premiere at this year's Venice Film Festival on Sept. 3.

It will be the first full-length showing of the film after last year's
promotion in Berlin, Cannes and the United States, Wang Yang, spokeswoman for
Huayi Brothers Film Investment Co. Ltd., China's biggest private film maker,
told Xinhua Wednesday.

Feng and actors Zhang Ziyi, Ge You and Zhou Xun will promote the film at the
festival, she said.

The 20-million-U.S.-dollar film, coproduced by Huayi Brothers and the Hong Kong
Media Asia Films Company, will be released across <st1:place>Asia</st1:place> on Sept.
15.

Set during the tumultuous Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period (907-979), "The
Banquet" recounts the tragedy of an empress, played by Zhang Ziyi, who is
destroyed in a struggle for power inside the palace, Feng said.

The 130-minute movie was composed by Oscar winner Tan Dun and choreographed by
Yuen Wo-Ping, both acclaimed for the Oscar winner "Crouching Tiger, Hidden
Dragon."

It represents a major change of style for Feng, one of the most bankable
Chinese film directors, who has shot modern comic movies like "Big Shot's
Funeral," "Cell Phone" and "A World Without Thieves."

The movie's distribution rights in the <st1:country-region><st1:place>United
Kingdom</st1:place></st1:country-region>, <st1:country-region><st1:place>France</st1:place></st1:country-region> and <st1:country-region><st1:place>Spain</st1:place></st1:country-region> have
been sold, according Wang.

According to a Chinese newspaper, Zhang Ziyi's only two action scenes may be included in the the international print, but many not show up in the domestic Chinese print.

The first scene is the Empress (Zhang Ziyi) and the Crown Prince (Daniel Wu) practicing swords with movements they learnt from the previous emperor. I suspect a few second of the scene is included in the latest teaser trailer. The second scenes is the Empress playing polo with the current Emperor (Ge You). Ge You suggested to limit the weight of Zhang Ziyi's action in the film because she had already done that so many times and director Feng Xiaogang agreed. He said Zhang Ziyi's performance was so good that no action was needed to strengthen her role. Feng would cut these scenes because he believes they were not closely related to the main storyline. Feng said he would avoid showing lavish fight scenes with a weak story.

Loosely Inspired by William Shakespeare's Hamlet, Zhang Ziyi plays a young Empress, who was forced to marry the current Emperor, played by Ge You, who took the throne after murdered the previous Emperor, his own brother. Daniel Wu plays the exiled Crown Prince, son of the previous Emperor and was once in love with the Empress. He returned to the imperial palace after survived an assassination attempt ordered by his uncle.

The Banquet will be released in China this September, by which it will be qualified for the Best Foreign Language Film Award of next year's Oscar. Reportedly, this film has been selling very well internationally. Media Asia, co-producer of the film, will release it in Hong Kong. Gaga Communications Inc. acquired the Japanese rights with US$ 5 million. The unidentified Korean distributor is now pushing for a simultaneous in the country. Release in Southeast Asia is also being secured. Rights in seven European countries have already been sold and a deal for UK release will be signed soon. Distribution in France and Germany are currently in negotiation. Several US distributors, including Paramount, WB and Miramax, have shown their interests on the film, after a 15 minute featurette was shown at American Film Market last november.

By: asianfanatics.net

YES I hope this movie it been released in France!!!!!!!! 

With recognized fame from his seven hit New Year comedies in the past, director Feng Xiaogang is whetting people's appetites once again with his latest work, The Banquet that marks a dramatic breakaway from his modern comedy style to tell a tragic story of ancient times.

Despite growing interest in the film following its completion on January 8 in Beijing, the director remains patiently low-key giving little away as to the content. "All that I can tell you is that the director is busy with the post production phase in Canada right now. Any thing else, like the publicity activities and realease date have not yet been decided", said Wang Yang of the production compagny, Huayi Brothers.

What is known is that the film is set in the time of the Five Dynasties that ruled the Yellow River Basin and neighboring regions from 907 to 960. Wars were frequent among the nations and scrambles for power occurred between the emperor and his ministers and even the royal families were rife.

In such a setting, tragic conflicts were inevitable as the emperor dies in his boots while his brother, played by Ge You, takes the throne and captures the beautiful young empress (Zhang Ziyi) and her son (Daniel Wu). Consequently, the princess becomes determined to avenge her father.

The plot is fairly simple and often seen in similar court-themed productions. With his prevailing influence, Feng also managed a few famous names in front of his camera, and, of course, his long time partner Ge You, who helped establish Feng's comedy style by starring in all of the director's New Year comedies. In addition, Chinese American composed Tan don't, who won an oscar for the music in Ang Lee' Crouching Tiger and Hidden Dragon also jumped on board to create the music for the movie.

 For audiences, finding out what Feng will deliver is the mojor concern as they wonder to what extent he can repeat his previous success with comedies. With a budget of US$ 20 million, the rebellious director is also looking to present a piece of work that will prove his directorial worth.

"Since society has a prejudice against commercial movies, I wanted to shoot one that belongs to the so-called high-grade film school", said Feng.

The Banquet is likely to be released in September on the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and the Southeast Asian regions simultaneously.

 by: asianfanatics.net

You can see some picture about Daniel in he new movie Night Banquet. Go to www.alivenotdead.com Daniel annotated few photo.