The Star Online: Entertainment: Movies
The Star Online: Entertainment: Movies |
| Actors share their experiences working on Chinese animation Posted: 15 Aug 2011 07:28 AM PDT Three actors relate how their voices do the acting in Legend Of A Rabbit. AFTER so many years of watching Hollywood animations, we now have a Chinese competitor in the form of Legend Of A Rabbit (which is quite apt since this is the Year of the Rabbit). The action comedy is helmed by Chinese director Sun Lijun, also the dean of the Animation College of the Beijing Film Academy. Screening in Malaysia is the Hong Kong version featuring a Cantonese voice cast: Singapore-born, Hong Kong-based Tan Han Jin (as the chef rabbit, Tu Er) and Hong Kong stars Ekin Cheng (panda villain, Slash), Kay Tse (cat kung fu expert, Peony) and Teddy Robin (monkey kung fu master, Sifu). In order to properly showcase traditional Chinese martial arts with visual animation, Legend Of A Rabbit features seven fight scenes choreographed by leading tai chi master Jing Jianjun. The story follows Tu Er, who agrees to help the dying Sifu return a Kungfu Academy Tablet to his daughter Peony. When Tu Er makes it to town, despite an encounter with bandits, he discovers that the academy has been taken over by the power-hungry Slash. Having promised Sifu, he stays on as a kitchen helper to find Peony despite being continually bullied by the kitchen crew. In order to take on Slash, Tu Er has to learn the true meaning of Sifu's martial art. In separate phone interviews from Hong Kong, Tan, Tse and Robin, who all have experience doing voice-overs, shared their experiences working on the Chinese animation. "Before Legend Of A Rabbit I'd only done the voice-over for Rio and it was for a supporting role. So, when I was asked to do this, I thought it was also for a supporting character. But, no, I was working with Ekin Cheng, Teddy Robin and Kay Tse," shared Tan, who was last seen as one of the protagonist's buddies in Bruce Lee, My Brother (2010), for which he was nominated as Best Performer at the 2011 Hong Kong Film Awards. Tan also spoke of other challenges doing the voice-over. "The script was written in Mandarin and not properly translated into Cantonese so I had to work with the voice-over coach to make it sound more Cantonese. The whole process was just so much fun. I believe Ekin, Kay and Teddy had to do the same, to make it all sound more natural." When teased about his resemblance to the titular character, Tan laughed, "Ah, yes! We're both on the plump side, love to eat good food and say silly things." It may not be Tse's first time doing a voice-over for a cartoon, but she has always played humans so she let her imagination soar when asked to voice the heroine Peony. "The character's a cat, so I initially imagined that I had to add some feline sounds at appropriate moments," meowed Tse who gave a little demonstration, much to the media's amusement. "But, that was before I watched the film. I discovered that I didn't have to do that as she was really a very cool character and spoke just like a hero would," offered Tse, who is better known as one of Hong Kong's current top four female Cantopop singers (alongside Joey Yung, Miriam Yeung and Denise Ho). As for her biggest challenge, Tse admitted that they came in the form of combat sounds. "Since Peony was a martial arts expert and had several fight scenes, a national-level kung fu expert was invited to choreograph the combat scenes, which were really fun to watch. But, with me not being a fighter, it was quite a challenge using my voice to portray the fight sequences," the bubbly singer-actress explained, complete with another round of fight scene demonstrations. Doing voice-overs is a piece of cake for Robin. "I've been recording for Rediffusion (equivalent to cable radio) since I was about eight. I also did many children's programmes. "But, I haven't done too many cartoon voice-overs because my voice is too easily recognisable. Hence, I only take on roles that are deemed suitable for me," continued the China-born, Hong Kong-based Robin, 66, whose role in Gallants (2010) won him Best Actor kudos at the Hong Kong Film Critics Society Awards as well as Best Supporting Actor at the Hong Kong Film Awards, where he also won for Best Original Score. Completing his voice-overs in less than half a day, the veteran actor-singer said things are much easier these days with the advent of technology. "I'd just have to record my part, and if the mouth or lip movements didn't quite match up, all they had to do was tweak it a bit using some image manipulation software. It was all done very quickly, without any fuss. Hence, it was such an easy and relaxing job for me." As China's first 3D animated feature, the 90-minute film was the result of a team of 500 animators working over 1,000 days and nights. With a small investment of RMB120mil (RM56mil), and a production time of three years, Legend Of A Rabbit is set to rival Hollywood animations as the makers look forward to a US release. Currently, the film has been snapped up by distributors in over 62 countries, including the United States, Canada, Australia, Russia, Britain, Germany, Italy, Spain, India, Indonesia, Egypt, Holland, Turkey, Brazil, South Korea, Singapore, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Disney's animation channel. Legend Of A Rabbit opens in local cinemas on Thursday. Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by Used Car Search. |
| Why the world is ready for 2 'Snow Whites' Posted: 14 Aug 2011 06:50 PM PDT LOS ANGELES: Moviegoers may want to take two bites of the same apple next year: A pair of live-action adventure flicks based on the Snow White fairy tale will come out in theaters just months apart. As it stands, the first, still-unnamed Snow White movie is scheduled for release March 16. That gives moviegoers two and a half months before "Snow White and the Huntsman" on June 1. Executives are confident that both projects can succeed, given their differences in stars, tone and plot. However bizarre the coincidence is, history shows that two similar projects like these can both attract large audiences. In May 1998, viewers turned out for "Deep Impact," a movie about a comet threatening Earth. They showed up again that July when an asteroid did the same in "Armageddon." ''Deep Impact" sold $349 million in tickets worldwide, and "Armageddon" followed with $555 million. Audiences didn't duck for cover either when "Dante's Peak" blew in February 1997 only to have "Volcano" erupt that April. The first made $169 million and the other $120 million at the box office. The latest standoff pits a couple of studios against each other — new studio Relativity Media and its longtime distribution partner, Universal Pictures. Since 2005, Relativity had provided financial backing for most of Universal's new movies in a deal that was to last through 2015. But Relativity has been eager to make money from distributing as well, as it did with the March 8 release of "Limitless," which has sold more than $150 million in tickets worldwide. So in June, Relativity passed its co-financing deal with Universal to Relativity's financial backer, Elliott Management. That paved the way for the two studios to compete head to head — Relativity with the unnamed movie and Universal with "Huntsman." "Everybody kind of goes into this eyes wide open," said Tucker Tooley, Relativity's president of worldwide production. "It's the nature of competition. It's the nature of this business." Universal executives declined to comment. Executives argue that the two Snow White movies are spaced far enough apart so that advertising one won't inadvertently drive people to the other. Most movies make 95 percent of their sales in the first four weeks. On average, people in North America see four movies a year. There's plenty of time to get refreshed and go out again. "Ten weeks in the movie business is a lifetime," said "Huntsman" producer Joe Roth. He should know. Roth was head of Disney's studios when its "Armageddon" opened second but still sold $200 million more in tickets worldwide than "Deep Impact." The casts of both Snow Whites are also distinct enough to merit a return trip to the theater. In Relativity's version, billed as a family comedy, Julia Roberts is in for an intriguing role reversal as the former "Pretty Woman" plays the Evil Queen. "She's a very fun and evil and wicked Evil Queen," said producer Bernie Goldmann, who also produced "300." Nathan Lane is set to add a humorous touch as a bumbling Huntsman. In Universal's epic action adventure, Kristen Stewart of "Twilight" fame gets "Karate Kid"-like fight training from buff Chris Hemsworth of "Thor." Hemsworth plays the mercenary Huntsman, who disobeys orders to kill her. The action-packed movie also involves a love triangle with Prince Charmant, played by Sam Claflin. "At its heart, it becomes a girl's empowerment movie," Roth said. Timing and casting aside, Snow White is a tale that has been told many times with many different plot twists. These versions follow that tradition. In an early Italian retelling, the good guy we know from Disney's 1937 animated classic as Prince Charming rapes Snow White while she's sleeping, according to Tina Boyer, a professor of German at Wake Forest University. She awakes not to a kiss, but to her baby being born. Another tale has Snow White fleeing her father, not her wicked stepmother, because he'd like to make her his incestuous wife. Relativity's movie has Snow White teaming up with the seven dwarves to fight the Evil Queen. In Universal's, she teams up with the Huntsman to fight back. Reading the 20-plus different versions is partly what inspired Melisa Wallack to write her own take in the script that Relativity later bought, said Goldmann, Wallack's husband. "It enabled us to understand that there was a lot of freedom in expanding the story," he said. Evan Daugherty had written the other Snow White script while he was a film student at New York University many years ago. He also takes many liberties with the plot. Universal, now owned by Comcast Corp., bought it following a bidding war. It helped that "Alice in Wonderland" sold $1 billion at the box office last year and revived interest in classic stories that feature young girls and have fallen out of copyright protection. Even if producers of both projects saw success and jumped on the bandwagon, there aren't enough complex roles for young women these days anyway, said Marjorie Rosen, a professor of film and journalism at Lehman College. Having characters as rich as Snow White and the Evil Queen on screen is a blessing, Rosen said, even if there are going to be two versions of them. She said pent-up demand for strong female leads has led to the success of a slew of recent bride movies, from "27 Dresses" and "Bride Wars" to the recent "Bridesmaids." "Women were lining up for the first week or two because they were desperate for movies about them," Rosen said. "Maybe (the studios) are hoping that Snow White is kind of like that but better." And if there's two, why not a third? Word has it that Disney has been working on a live-action remake of its animated classic for the past decade. In that one, Snow White ends up in a forest with seven Shaolin monks. At its core, each iteration is about a dysfunctional family, something that touches everyone at some level. That may be why the story is still relevant today. "They can take the basic themes if they want to and go with it because that's what fairytales and folklore are all about," said Wake Forest's Boyer. "They have to be reinvented. That's how they stay alive." - AP Latest entertainment news from AP-Wire Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by Used Car Search. |
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