SHOWDOWN AT THE CHINA CLUB : Action idols collide at launch party for TWC’s Asian Film Fund.
The setting was the exclusive China Club, on a high floor of the Old Bank Of China building. This venue, owned by Anglophile, entrepreneur and bon vivant David Tang, has hosted its fair share of high calibre star power, and, on this particular evening, we were proud to see gathered there the brightest lights of the current generation of Asian action idols. Tony Jaa, Donnie Yen, Nicholas Tse… It felt like a throw down could go down at the drop of a champagne glass.
The occasion was the launch of The Weinstein Company’s new Asian film fund, a major financial resource that allows the company to invest in the region’s entertainment industry at an unprecedented level. The week saw TWC honcho Harvey Weinstein in town for a round of high level meetings, crowned by our China Club gathering.
Guest of honour was undoubtedly Thai action ace Tony Jaa, with whom we enjoyed a huge success, theatrically and on DVD, with The Protector (AKA Tom Yum Goong). We’re eternally grateful to Tony for helping get the label off to a flying start, and we look forward to bringing him back to North American audiences in his directorial debut, Ong Bak 2. Tony was en route from a martial arts award show in the Chinese border town of Shenzen, and made a special detour to celebrate the fund launch with us.
Also on hand was local hero Donnie Yen, whose high impact cop socky Flashpoint we will soon be bringing to you. In his opening remarks, Harvey Weinstein quipped that “the good news is Tony and Donnie are going to fight, the bad news is that they’re going to fight me!” Instead, Jaa and Yen were all smiles, and expressed a keen interest in finding a suitable project on which to cooperate.
We also managed to round up Nicholas Tse and Shawn Yue, two of the stars of another forthcoming Dragon Dynasty release, Invisible Target. (Sadly, the third lead from the film, Jaycee Chan, was away promoting his new film, The Drummer, in Taiwan.) Nic made a rare public appearance with his wife Cecilia Cheung, who Stephen Chiau fans will remember fondly for her debut in his King Of Comedy. (The couple are proud parents of a beautiful baby boy.)
I was happy to see one of my oldest friends in the business, Simon Yam. (I say ‘oldest’, even though he never seems to age, damn him…) Simon starred, alongside Donnie Yen, in our very first Dragon Dynasty release, Kill Zone, and will soon be seen in our forthcoming release of Johnnie To’s PTU. Another old mate, Michael Wong, landed his helicopter on the roof (at least, that’s what he told the ladies…) to join the fun. (Michael had a supporting role in another early Dragon Dynasty hit, Seven Swords.)
There were also some beauties among us beasts, with the lovely ladies present including actress/model Ankie Black, singing stars (and budding actresses) Rosanne and Race Wong (the artists formerly known as 2R), actresses Eugenia Yuan and Josie Ho (with husband Conroy Chan in tow), singer/model Celina Horan (daughter of Snake In The Eagle’s Shadow bad guy Roy Horan) and singer Kelly Fu (looking deadly in red).
Also on hand were some of the uber-producers without whom none of the above would have the chance to shine, including Media Asia honcho Peter Lam, Celestial Pictures chief Andre Morgan, Fortissimo partners Michael Werner and Wouter Barendrecht and one of the true pioneers of international quality Asian entertainment, Andre Morgan. TWC was represented by EVP for Asia David Lee, our head of production Michael Cole and my humble self.
As the event wound down, Harvey Weinstein and various other high flyers decamped for another party being held across town by Michelle Yeoh. Those die hards who remained at China Club engaged in a spontaneous ‘sing off’ between two rival tables, orchestrated by Hong Kong music maestro Howard McCrary. This un-American Idol revealed some hitherto hidden singing (and rapping) talents. The survivors then relocated to the now empty main hall of the China Club, where Howard took to the grand piano to allow the likes of Michael Wong and Celia Horan to bust loose their pipes and work the room.
Though naysayers continually announce the death of Hong Kong cinema, I felt that we had enough star power and good energy in one room to launch a whole new wave of Asian action cinema. If our combined efforts can’t achieve this, it won’t be for want of trying.
(My thanks to David Tang, sadly in absentia on the evening, for his usual extraordinarily generous hospitality. My thanks also to my long-suffering former assistant, Helen Cord, for her efforts in putting the event together.)
Comments
- Gino Rossetti, South Wales, UK | 2007-11-02 20:32:17
- Robbie Ryan, Film Director, Texas, United States | 2007-11-23 14:42:05
- George Ayoub, Everywhere | 2007-11-28 09:11:19
- Kev, Boston, MA | 2007-10-31 19:26:35