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Posted: 11 Jul 2011 04:37 AM PDT

Li Nanxing's own life is the inspiration for his directorial debut in The Ultimate Winner.

FOR many Singaporeans and those who live in the southern region of Malaysia in 1993, their collective memory would be seeing an oh-so-suave Yan Fei as the unbeatable gambling god in The Unbeatables, MediaCorp' first drama series about gambling.

Shot in the vein of Hong Kong gambling classics like God Of Gamblers, the TV series took viewers by storm. Singaporean actor Li Nanxing, who portrayed the ace gambler to perfection with his brooding good looks and winning charm, soon found himself becoming synonymous with the role. Together with Zoe Tay, his love-interest in the series, they are hailed as the King and Queen of Caldecott Hill.

It turned out that it was not just the Singaporeans and the Johoreans who were gripped by the gambling fever brought on by the show's success. The person most emotionally invested in the role was Li himself, who developed a gambling habit and ended up parting with what he described as "a sizable amount" of money.

It would take another eight years after The Unbeatables III, (the third instalment of the hugely popular drama) for Li to hold the poker cards again – this time on the silver screen – in his directorial debut The Ultimate Winner.

The film centres on a gambler, played by Li, who finds himself trapped between the thrills and the quick bucks at the gambling table.

Instead of showcasing fancy card tricks, the first-time director was more interested in delving into human nature and telling a story of lust, greed and power.

The 46-year-old Li, who looked dashing in his black shirt and jeans when he was in Kuala Lumpur recently, revealed that part of the movie was derived from real-life experience, particularly his.

"It may not have happened to you, but those around you. We have a lot of such cases in Singapore. Some of the events in the movie happened to me in real life, especially the gambling part.

"The Unbeatables was so well-received and it spawned a trilogy. I really loved the character Yan Fei. People started calling me that everywhere I went. I got so into the character, thinking that I'm him before I realised that this couldn't go on."

Word had it that at one point, he chalked up a S$2mil (RM4.9mil) debt due to his gambling habit.

Li refused to disclose the figure, saying: "When you lose your direction in life, you tend to listen to no one but yourself. Coupled with an eagerness to get back what you've lost, you would only sink deeper. During scripting, we actually incorporated a lot of what we've seen and heard in real life. So this movie is a representation of what gamblers go through."

Despite tackling a subject matter that he is familiar with, the multiple-award-winning actor, who has 25 years of experience in show business, found himself in foreign territory when it comes to directing.

"I faced huge pressure as I was not familiar with many aspects. I had to rely on professionals and learn from them. I used to just focus on my parts, now I have to take care of other aspects such as editing, but I was lucky to have so many people helping me," said Li.

One of the challenges he faced was shooting car-racing scenes, which were abundant in the film.

"Each of the car costs millions so we had to make sure we carried out safety precautions and we only shot those scenes at midnight when there were no cars on the roads," he said.

It helped that the cast, consisting of his fellow MediaCorp stars and longtime pals like Constance Song, Phyllis Quek, Zheng Ge Ping and Rayson Tan, are seasoned actors.

The younger ones like Dai Yang Tian and Rebecca Lim came with impressive resumes, too. Dai is a rising star in the station while Lim was named Best Actress at last year's Asian Television Awards.

"I was not worried about directing the actors. I didn't tell them what to do. I just told them to be natural in their performances. I watched them perform and then told them how to improve on the scene," said Li.

It was a technique approved by Song, who described the working process as "comfortable".

"Maybe because he is an actor, so he understood the pressure we faced. He's so gentle and never lost his temper once. He talked to us and patiently explained the requirements of the scenes. That helped us a lot," said Song who was at the press conference.

The actress, who looked radiant in a figure-hugging yellow one-shoulder dress, plays socialite Honey Ma, whom Li described as a well-connected person who's seen it all. The character is successful in every aspect but not so in love.

According to Li, Song is the opposite of Ma and he added cheekily: "She has always been a winner in love".

The pair has a love-hate relationship in the film – something Song finds challenging to convey on the big screen

"There're some scenes in which I had little dialogue and had to rely largely on facial expressions," she said.

Is her convincing performance in any way inspired by real life? "Maybe," replied Song coyly, adding: "I'm sure everyone has experienced heartache before, so have I. I can definitely relate to it."

Li also roped in Aaron Chen, a prominent star of the Taiwanese Min Nan drama, who shines here as a two-faced Taiwanese tycoon.

"I needed somebody to showcase the different sides of human nature. I was thinking of getting someone outside Singapore and I straightaway thought of Aaron. He spoke some of his lines in Hokkien," explained Li.

Li, who was tasked with singing the movie's theme song, Zai Hui Shou (Looking Back Again, originally sung by Taiwanese singer Jiang Yuheng), said it gave him sleepless nights.

Another challenge was a love scene. As unbelievable as it may sound, the charismatic actor, hailed as Singapore's answer to Chow Yun-fat, sheepishly said that it's a barrier that he simply can't overcome.

"I just can't bring myself to do it naturally. I'm the conservative kind who thinks that loving glances would suffice …" said Li. As a result, his co-star Song ended up doing many repeated takes for a scene in which she hugged him from behind, simply because she "didn't dare to do it".

Li recalled with a laugh: "I told her to just do it, saying, 'I can't see you from behind'. Still, when she hugged me, I went stiff for a second and my hair just stood up."

Cards, cars, babes and love scenes – they all seem like the right ingredients for a box office success.

"The box office performance is not my concern as my job is to make sure that shooting is completed on time," said Li, adding that they will later promote the movie in Taiwan, China and Hong Kong.

It appears that he has also spent some time thinking of a second movie. "I'm still thinking and looking at different subject matters. We might shoot it a film Malaysia and work with the local actors," he said.

The Ultimate Winner is showing in cinemas nationwide.

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Everyman Hanks

Posted: 11 Jul 2011 12:41 AM PDT

Tom Hanks heads back to school with Larry Crowne.

LET'S say in some alternate reality, Tom Hanks winds up working at a Wal-Mart-style retail chain. Here is how his day goes: He bounds out of his car with a beaming grin, stooping to pick up stray trash in the parking lot.

From afar, he notices a breakable item in danger of falling and strides over to nudge it back to safety on the shelf. Amid giddily greeting customers, he rallies co-workers into a laughing bucket brigade to restock items, turning what should be a dreary job into a game to be savoured.

That is our first glimpse of the title character Hanks plays in Larry Crowne, a timely tale about a man who makes the best of his lot, even when he is downsized out of a job during these hard times and must head back to school to build a new future.

It is all about attitude, says Hanks, getting up each day with the thought that there is action to be had and a party to join into. Hanks, the movie's star, director, producer and co-writer, thinks that is how he would approach life if he were in Larry's place rather than being one of the biggest stars in the world.

"I'd be the gang leader of the common break area. I'd be the guy organising the pinata parties, stuff like that. Absolutely," Hanks, 54, says in an interview for Larry Crowne, (which opens this Thursday in Malaysia) and reunites him with his Charlie Wilson's War co-star, Julia Roberts.

"The concept of putting on a show begins as soon as you wake up in the day," Hanks says. "And Larry, the theatre of his life starts when he goes through those doors, and it's like, 'I'm a team leader, and I'm wearing the red Polo"' – the store employees' uniform.

"When Larry picks up trash in the parking lot, that's the first thing he does, because you've got to have a little pride. And I'm a trash picker-upper. What can I tell you?"

A former US Navy cook who never went to college, Hanks' Larry is a model worker at U-Mart, the retailer where he is a perpetual employee of the month. Fifty-something, divorced, with a house worth less than he owes on it, Larry tumbles into an abyss familiar to millions after management lets him go.

Larry is forced to downsize his life, selling things off, struggling to resolve his mortgage mess, and switching over from a gas-guzzling SUV to a fuel-sipping scooter.

He lands part-time work at a diner while taking classes at a community college as he seeks to boost his employment prospects. Along the way, he fashions a new life for himself, making friends with a circle of oddball classmates and finding romance with his boozy, disillusioned public-speaking teacher (Roberts).

That's a rosy outcome for a middle-aged back-to-schooler, but Larry Crowne co-writer Nia Vardalos says it is the outlook Hanks brings to life.

"This is a very Tom Hanks movie. This is really how the world should work," Vardalos says of Hanks, who was a producer on her unexpected romantic blockbuster My Big Fat Greek Wedding, another story of boundless optimism.

"A man should get to go to school and get a second chance and get to bag Julia Roberts, in a world according to Tom Hanks."

Larry's situation certainly is not one that Hanks has to worry about. He started out at community college himself – "because of lack of money and drive and wherewithal," Hanks says – but the two-time Academy Award winner has been rich and famous for most of his adult life.

Yet he has built a career as an Everyman who inhabits roles with absolute authenticity, whether it is a lawyer dying of AIDS in Philadelphia, a wry, war-weary soldier in Saving Private Ryan, a taciturn hit man in Road To Perdition or a Federal Express worker stranded alone on an island in Cast Away.

Sliding into the skin of a workaday guy down on his luck is just another day at the office for Hanks.

"Granted, yes, I am a well-known, cheesehead celebrity that has been in front of the cameras for a while, so people do know me," Hanks says.

"But part of it is definitely remembering what it was like to be terrified. If you've had any time in your life where the phone didn't ring, and you had two kids and you didn't know if you were going to be able to make your house payment or not, and you had no B Plan of escape, well, you remember what those 3 o'clock in the morning sessions were in the mirror of your living room or bathroom, saying, 'What is happening?' ...

"It's not hard for anyone to empathise, I don't think, with a guy who walks in to work one day thinking everything is hunky-dory and then finding out, 'Sorry, no hard feelings, but you're fired.' I think that's part of the human condition that transcends more than just your station in life."

Hanks has written, produced and directed for television with such miniseries as Band Of Brothers and From The Earth To The Moon. Larry Crowne is only his second time writing and directing for the big-screen, after 1996's That Thing You Do!.

The idea for Larry Crowne came to him long before our current economic mess, though it gained resonance as Hanks shaped the story and Larry's plight began to reflect what was happening to millions of real people.

Larry's eager approach to classes and the easy, hopeful way he glides into his new routine have their roots in Tom Hanks' school days.

"I loved going to school, which is the antithesis of a lot of people. I loved junior high, I loved high school, because there was action there. I never cut a single class of any school I ever went to, because I couldn't imagine that something better was going on somewhere else as opposed to here." – AP

Larry Crowne opens in cinemas nationwide this Thursday.

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Island of doom

Posted: 11 Jul 2011 12:32 AM PDT

A survival competition turns deadly for its participants.

HERE'S the Chinese version of Survivor with a horrific twist. A bunch of adventurous youths are given maps and put on a deserted island for a competition which offers a multi-million dollar cash prize.

Mysterious Island starts off under seemingly fine conditions with eight participants from South-East Asia and the greater China region, who are divided into four groups. Counting the TV host and a videographer, there are 10 people in the entourage.

As the boat nears the island, an accident occurs and all their maps are lost except for one piece. Taking refuge in a dilapidated building, they are shocked to discover that it was once a leprosy settlement.

Then, one by one, the contestants are found dead. The survivors begin to panic as they suspect that the killer is among them.

The 95-minute horror thriller is directed by Chung Kai Cheung (A Decade Of Love and A-1 Headline), who said in the production notes that he took his inspiration from movies like Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Evil Dead. Chung's youthful cast include eye-candy from China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan and America.

The nubile lasses are portrayed by China's Yang Mi, Hong Kong's Maggie Lee, Taiwan's Janel Tsai and Anya, and US-born Jessica Xu. Also starring Hong Kong actors Jordan Chan, Chui Tien You, Wong Yau Nam and Shaun Tam plus Japanese-born Hong Kong-based Hayama Hiro (also known as Hayama Go).

Various trailers have been released for the movie, most of which do not reveal much of the storyline but lean heavily towards its female lead Yang Mi, who looks perpetually in fear and sounds like quite the screamer.

However, the Chinese media appear more interested in Hong Kong's current hottest headliner Hayama. The dashing Japanese model-turned-actor is the male lead of the stereoscopic softcore sizzler 3D Sex And Zen: Extreme Ecstasy, an adaptation of the classical novel The Carnal Prayer Mat, which details the sexual exploits of a Ming Dynasty scholar.

Taking on a role considered too daring for the current crop of Hong Kong actors, Hayama, who speaks English, Cantonese, Mandarin, Japanese and Hokkien, shot to fame in the erotic comedy, which took the Hong Kong box office by storm.

He has previously featured in several Jacky Chan blockbusters such as The Medallion (2003), New Police Story (2004), The Myth (2005), Robin-B-Hood (2006) and Shinjuku Incident (2009).

The characters

> Shen Yi Lin (played by Yang Mi): From inner China, Yi Lin is an office worker who is a dreamer. She is also quite the coward and always gets bullied due to her soft personality.

> Tina (Maggie Lee): Hailing from Hawaii, she is a self-centered and arrogant mixed-blood beauty whose only goal is to win the game.

> Guan Zhi Chun (Janel Tsai): Charming and fascinating, this confident lass is a professional model who will do anything to get what she wants.

> Chen Liang Liang (Anya): A Singaporean doctor who loves outdoor activities and knows martial arts, her main strength lies in her skills of observation and logical reasoning ability.

> Peng Fei (Jordan Chan): Neither lofty nor handsome, this is one guy who likes to surprise the others with bad jokes.

> Shi Nan (Chui Tien You): This Taiwan lad is one fashionable young man with an impetuous and curious personality, which gets him into trouble.

> Masahiro Kato (Hayama Hiro): A robust Japanese with tattoos all over his body and acts like a gangster.

> Zhang Xiao Long (Wong Yau Nam): A muscular rock climber from China who is brave and kind, but sometimes acts recklessly.

> Stanley (Jessica Xu): A dedicated TV emcee, she is open-minded and good at decision making.

> Ken (Shaun Tam): One responsible videographer who is always around to record the primary scene of events with his videocamera.

> Chen Jia Dong (Philip Keung): Owner of the island who is also the organiser of the survival game. – Seto Kit Yan

Mysterious Island opens in local cinemas this Thursday.

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Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

Isnin, 11 Julai 2011

The Star Online: Entertainment: Movies

The Star Online: Entertainment: Movies

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