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Chou replaces Chow in Bruce Lee action flick

(chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2009-08-14 10:59

Jay Chou has been picked to play Kato, the Green Hornet's sidekick, in a remake of the movie that originally co-starred Bruce Lee.

The "King of Mandopop" will partner up with Seth Rogen in the title role, while Cameron Diaz is the love interest. Michel Gondry will direct.

Chou replaces Stephen Chow, who walked away from the project in April citing "artistic differences". Though critics claim Chou can't act or perform martial arts, Gondry went on record saying: "Jay is incredibly unique and charming and fights like a wild dog!"

Also keen to step into Lee's slippers is Korean singer Rain, who has been picked to play the legend in a remake of his 1973 calling card Enter the Dragon. Provisionally re-titled Awaken the Dragon, Rain will play a Shaolin monk chased by FBI officers.

While some say Rain can't act or fight, studio heads were convinced he can by his role in the upcoming Ninja Assassin.

So, will it be Chou or Rain who breaks the glass ceiling and becomes the first (with apologies to Jackie Chan) Asian male lead in Tinseltown?

It's about time, as there have been many snubs. Most famous, perhaps, was the substitution of Lee with David Carradine for the hit '70s show Kungfu.

More recently, Leonardo DiCaprio and Joseph Gordon-Levitt have been cast in cult Japan anime Akira. And Asian-American MIT students were recast as white students in last year's movie 21.

But Asian actresses seem to have less trouble getting work in Hollywood, given the examples of Gong Li and Zhang Ziyi - who obviously gets a little help from her friend, billionaire film financier Vivi Nevo.

Fan Bingbing would appear to be headed the same way and has hired a full-time English coach. At a recent press conference to announce filming for Three Smiles: The Wit and Beauty, Bingbing towered over the film's star and director, Guo Degang.

When asked how they intended to act together given their differences in height, Guo responded: "Most of the filming will be done horizontally."

About the broadcaster:

Nancy Matos is a foreign expert at China Daily Website. Born and raised in Vancouver, Canada, Nancy is a graduate of the Broadcast Journalism and Media program at the British Columbia Institute of Technology. Her journalism career in broadcast and print has taken her around the world from New York to Portugal and now Beijing. Nancy is happy to make the move to China and join the China Daily team.