Tale of 3 Cities Update

Many news sources are reporting this film as 'based on' or 'loosely based on' certain events in 'Traces of a Dragon'. To what extent it is a dramatization of Jackie's parents' story remains to be seen.

5 Dec – Sean Lau and Tang Wei's new film, "The Tale of Three Cities" has just recently begin its production and rumours are rife that the movie is based on the true story of Jackie Chan's parents, the late Charles and Lee-Lee Chan.

According to website Sina, the movie, produced by Shi Nansun and is currently filming in Anhui, is a story of a relationship that began during the turbulent era of 1930s China.

It was alleged that Jackie was approached by the people behind the movie production about working on a film together in 2003, when Jackie himself stated in 2008 that he wanted to write his parents' story into film. Jackie also expressed his interest in casting Chinese stars Jiang Wen and Gong Li in the leading role while also revealing that director Mabel Cheung has signed on to direct.

In a previous interview, Jackie also revealed that his father used to be from Anhui, and moved to several cities in mainland China before he decided to settle in Hong Kong and worked as a customs officer. The two met when his mother, who smuggled opium for a living, was caught at the customs gate. However, his father decided to release her for the sake of her two young children she was carrying.

Although Mabel has neither denied nor admitted to the rumours, in a press conference that was held previously, she stated, "The main character is from Shandong who escaped to Anhui. He later went to Nanjing, Shanghai and finally arrived in Hong Kong. I don't dare to say the movie is like "Gone with the Wind", but I hope to achieve the same quality."

Meanwhile, the movie, which is also co-directed by Alex Law, stars Sean Lau, Tang Wei, Qin Hailu, and Jing Boran.

SOURCE: YAHOO.COM

A Tale of Three Cities

A Tale of Three Cities is a story of undying love set in WW2. Produced by Huayi Brothers and co-starring Tang Wei and Lau Ching Wan, the film is co-directed by Mabel Cheung and Alex Law. It has been in development for three years and is an adaption of the true story of Jackie's parents. It has just started filming in Anhui, China.

SOURCE: WEIBO

A Brief News Round Up

Assorted small bits of recent news:

Stanley Tong flew in from Paris to Beijing yesterday to attend the launch of Yue Fei TV series which will start filming in August. It will star Huang Xiaoming.

Source: NEWS.163.COM

As Stanley Tong is producing/co-directing/assisting Jackie with Zodiac does this mean that they expect to be finished filming Zodiac by August? Seems quick considering the size of the production for Zodiac.

---

The Boy Scouts of Hong Kong recently showed 'Traces of a Dragon' at a fundraiser with the assistance of JCCF.

As the source article focused on some less appealing things I am not sharing the link.

---

Ajia, New Seven Little Fortunes, Miss World, The Tibetan Children's Choir and others gathered in Beijing yesterday for a charity auction to raise funds for poor children in Tibet. The Tibetan children's choir contributed a folio of their art for the auction as well as singing some traditional Tibetan songs. Ajia also sang. The New Seven Little Fortunes spoke about following Jackie's example and their 'Join us, Help others' campaign. The auction was sponsored by the China Next Generation Education Foundation.

SOURCE: SOHU.COM and ENT.YNET.COM

Time Asia Articles about Jackie

King of America 
For Hong Kong action star Jackie Chan, his new hit
Rush Hour is a real-life Hollywood success story

He has battled many a superhuman villain, jumped off mountain tops and skyscraper roofs, taken beatings that would have left Muhammad Ali on the canvas--and emerged a winner in scores of movies that have entranced viewers around the world. But the one foe Jackie Chan could never conquer was that tawdry patch of real estate, that font of fantasy and violence, that beckoning, forbidding state of mind called Hollywood. He made U.S. films in 1980, '81, '83, '85; he sidekicked the famous (Burt Reynolds in The Cannonball Run and its sequel), was directed by the anonymous (James Glickenhaus in The Protector), played the preposterous (a '30s Chicago gangster in The Big Brawl). And each time he would return to Hong Kong to make juicier action movies than the studio guys could dream of. Still, ambition gnawed at Jackie like a pack of piranha. Why couldn't Asia's biggest star become America's?

To read more....TIMEasia

Interview with Jackie 

Chan: "If I Break My Ankle, Click, I Just Snap It Back"

TIME: You've waited a long time for a hit like this in the U.S.
Chan: Am I surprised? Yes and no. People say I should stay in Hollywood. But Rush Hour's success lets me come back to Hong Kong and make an Asian film. In America, there is no way I can make the kind of movie I like: love stories, dramas.

To read more .... TIMEasia

A Family Lost and Found

As an inspiring fable, the story of Jackie Chan's youth is up there with Abraham Lincoln's or Harry Potter's. Boy is born in Hong Kong to poor refugees from the mainland. Boy enters opera school, where he trembles and thrives under his master's whip hand. Boy puts these hard lessons to use in films, becoming a would-be successor to Bruce Lee and finally his own man: an international star and, quite possibly, the most famous living Asian.

The story is true, as far as it goes. But even stranger is the "prequel": the lives of Chan's parents, Charles and Lily, on their perilous journeys to Hong Kong. The absorbing documentary Traces of the Dragon: Jackie Chan & His Lost Family, which premiered at last month's Berlin Film Festival, reveals the extended Chan clan as a microcosm of China's turbulent 20th century history. It's a riveting yarn, too, replete with guns, gore, drugs, thugs and romance.

To read more .... TIMEasia