Fala Chen Films Horror Movie With Gordon Lam
Although promoted to fadan status merely five years since after joining TVB, Fala Chen (陳法拉) has confirmed that she will not be renewing her management contract with TVB. Though she cited her plan to head to New York to further her studies, some speculated that she may be heading to China for better pay and a more relaxed work schedule while others surmised she may be jumping ship to join Ricky Wong’s ( 王維基) HKTV station. In reality, Fala has chosen to focus on the film industry and is currently busy filming new horror movie, Tales from the Dark < 李碧華鬼魅系列>.
Just before dawn yesterday, Fala appeared at Sheung Wan to start filming for the movie. With her hair flowing freely around her shoulders, Fala seemed to be playing the part of a possessed woman. With her almost bare face and lifeless eyes, she wandered around the streets aimlessly before proceeding into a grocery shop. After choosing a long time, she finally walked out of the shop with a large pillow. In between filming, Fala listened intently to director Gordan Chan’s (陳嘉上) instructions, casting aside her fadan affectations.
While Fala’s spokesperson told the press that she wants to focus on filming movies and will let the movie company handle all interviews, Gordon Lam (林家棟), Fala’s co-star in the movie shared, “The movie is a challenge for her and me because both of us have to express two extreme kinds of emotions. I feel not only is Fala able to do it, she will do it well.”
Two-part Horror Film
Movie Addict Productions is a new film production company that will act as a platform for nurturing new Hong Kong talent. One of its investors include Cold War’s <寒戰> producer, Mathew Tang (鄧漢強). For its debut production, Movie Addict Productions will partner with Edko Films to produce a two-part horror Tales from the Dark comprising of six segments adapted from stories written by best-selling Hong Kong author Lilian Lee. Five parts will respectively be directed by established directors such as Gordon Chan, Fruit Chan (陳果), Lawrence Lau (劉國昌), Teddy Robin (泰迪羅賓) and Lee Chi Ngai (李志毅). Simon Yam (任達華) who will make his directorial debut, will direct one of the segments.
Aside from Fala, the cast includes Kelly Chen (陳慧琳), Tony Leung Ka Fai (梁家輝), Maggie Shiu (邵美琪), and Dada Chen (陳靜). The two parts of the movie are scheduled to be released on July 4 and August 1, to coincide with the Chinese Hungry Ghost month.
Source: Oriental Daily
This article is written by Karen for JayneStars.com.
I thought she was going to rest!
Don’t ever believe anything a celeb tells you since they are lying through their teeth at least 90% of the time.
Absolutely correct………in her case, she just wanted to use an excuse to exit TVB knowing that her status there is never gonna get any higher………
A nice photo of Fala 🙂
Whoa, there are so many heavyweights in this movie. With her mediocre and sometimes bad acting skills, I’ve doubts on whether she’ll make it big in the movie industry. time will tell…
Now with fala’s departure and aimee’s indefinite leave from tvb, who will be promoted as the next fadan?
Might be Mandy Wong which many, including myself, wouldn’t mind too much.
Mandy Wong is a much better actress and dancer than Fala.
I’m not sure what fala chen is thinking .. if she wants to be the next michelle yip, she’s got a long way to go.
michelle yip left tvb with the recognition from the viewers. fala chen, not so much!
anyway – she’s got a hubby made of gold, she’ll be fine.
Agreed! Despite Michelle Yip’s rumors, I really like her acting. So looking forward to her series with Raymond Lam!
It is better to rely on yourself since you never know if your husband will leave or dump you. Also, just because you marry someone rich does not mean that the money is yours, it is still his and will always be his and his family’s, not yours!
I can’t imagine her being like Michelle since they are 2 different people. She does have a long way to go and I highly doubt she can be like Michelle.
I actually think Michelle earn the recognition when she was at ATV from filming Central Affairs installments.
It is up for debate if Michelle is considered a ‘good’ actress or not, but no one can deny she is a successful business woman. She absolutely KNOWS how to make money. I guess, when you’re intelligent AND ambitious, success is around the corner. It’s all about the courage to take actions.
Michelle Ye is easy to surpass. Frankly she still overacts all these years. Never ever change. Fala is a competent actress but I feel if she is allowed to speak mandarin, perhaps even better. I don’t see Fala having any difficulty in being the next Michelle Ye.
And so she has a rich husband that allows her freedom to do whatever she wants. But don’t forget, her husband is not in the production business so that in itself is of little help to her. He can help by having her be carefree on the issues of money or maybe buy an award or two but the recognition itself has to be from Fala herself. I always see Fala as being very driven. I am not sure if she will go a long way but at least she seems to know where she is heading.
she never admitted that she was married though..
It is true that it is up to debate whether she is a good actress or not, but doesn’t that go for all actresses and actors?? Acting is subjective which is how artists survive in this tough circle.
I would not say Michelle is not hard to surpass because how many can be as successful as Michelle is? Not many actors and actresses are able to have their own production studio and become a producer. I can’t really imagine Fala reaching that goal unless she got help from her hubby financially.
agree with HeTieShou!=D
michelle ye isn’t hard to surpass because after 10 years of leaving tvb she’s still a nobody in hk film industry. she doesn’t have a movie she can carry and neither representative works. she might made a fortune but that’s from working in mainland where even tvb artistes can go to dig gold.
fala’s husband has friends and connection funn. don’t you know most of the time these directors do casting and fill up roles by asking around their ‘friends’? 😛
Doesn’t hurt to have connections. Look at Jayden Smith. But what you do with the opportunity is a different matter. Entertainment world is like the new royalty now; fathers to sons, sons to sons sort of thing. But some sons do have talent and do surpass their dads. Look, Fala is undeniably having it easier by not having to worry about money. But to have a successful career is more than having a rich well connected husband. The viewers aren’t blind or death or mute. She still has to prove herself at the end of the day, but yes meanwhile, she is having it easier not having to worry about paying rent, getting food and getting that casting call.
Doesn’t mean she is not talented though. Look at the picture above. She has movie star looks based on that picture. She can act, decently. If her accent is a problem, well film in another language then. She is just waiting for the right film. I wouldn’t be surprised she will star in some small budget art film and ended up getting recognition from a movie we probably will doze off watching. If Shu Qi can become respectable and mind you that woman until now can’t speak properly and isn’t that good an actress and with a much interesting past, anyone can.
Agree. Fala Chen has the potential to be a good movie star. She is very pretty and still young. Her only problem is her accent. If she can improve more in her Cantonese, she will excel in acting. At least she is the best Mandarin-speaking actress in TVB drama series.
I was thinking along the lines of either Sharon or Nancy. It might be too early for Mandy to be the next fadan, having just won the best newcomer award last year.
@pandamao, you mean Michelle ye? I admire fala for her ambitions and courage to leave the “safe nest” at tvb. But I’m pretty sure that her decision to leave was also due to sit sai hang being her ‘security’. My admiration towards her decision is halved because of that.
I don’t think Sharon & Nancy will ever rise to fadan status. Sharon, although 1st lead in awfully lawful but was quickly rolled back to 2nd lead in her new series.
Nancy at most she has a chance in co-leading. 1st lead is pretty much very slim chances for her.
Mandy Wong may have a win in this year’s supporting actress so I think she’s the likely one to succeed the fadans.
But with fala’s departure and the lack of artistes in tvb, Sharon and Nancy might rise to the top. I personally feel that sharon has the fadan vibe. Perhaps Mandy has a chance as well, but to win Best supporting actress is one matter, and to be promoted to the top is another matter. We have, after all, witnessed so many instances whereby past winners in the best supporting categories were not promoted to fadan/siu sang status
Oh I’ve left out Selina Li. She also has a huge chance of being promoted. Crossing my fingers that tvb wouldn’t choose Christine kuo, Eliza or Priscilla Wong to replace Aimee and fala
Priscilla Wong’ s acting is sucks in “The Reality Check”. She also is not beautiful as Elisa or Christine to compensate for her so bad acting. Hope Nancy and Mandy will be promoted to leading rolls as soon as possible.
Ahahaha! This is exactly what I waned to write about Priscilla! Agreed 100%
Fala Chen is very beautiful and attractive so that she may be suitable to be a movies star. Let’s wait and see.
Does Fala own real estate? I think she left TVB for the movie industry to make more money. Secondly it would be a new challenge.
She comes off as someone with greater desire in recognition and fame than money …
Money seems to be secondary for her.
I think she wants it all, money,fame,recognition,etc.. besides who ever complained that money was too much??
she once said her dream is to win an oscar. she has high ambitions.
she once tried to release an album but it flopped and she got negative reviews all over for her attitude and album, while linda chung who was from the same parent company got all around glowing reviews for her hardworking obedience and album sales.
Oscar maybe not but any award at Cannes is a possibility. Now she just needs a very dramatic role in a very dramatic movie, maybe one which involves 15 minutes of lesbian sex as indicated by the top winner at Cannes. Doesn’t make good taste but well, that’s a way to go. I will bet if she stars in a role similar to the one she did in No Regrets but in movies, less white washed, add in a few rape scenes (yes those dreaded ones) with some violence and some big budget war scenes, I bet she will win at least the HK Film awards. Ricky Gervais once said to Kate Winslet to win an oscar she needs to act in a holocaust film. Joke in bad taste but it turned out to be very true. Same goes for Chinese films, more so in Chinese films.
@Funn: Sorry but that was a joke said by Ricky Gervais (2009). So I don’t see how his statement is relevant. Also, Kate Winslet holds the record of being the youngest person to accrue six Academy Award nominations. By the time he had said that, Kate Winslet had already won her first Oscar for her role in The Reader (2008).
@Chloe: “It tells the story of Michael Berg, a German lawyer who as a mid-teenager in 1958 had an affair with an older woman, Hanna Schmitz, who then disappeared only to resurface years later as one of the defendants in a war crimes trial stemming from her actions as a guard at a Nazi concentration camp. Michael realizes that Hanna is keeping a personal secret she believes is worse than her Nazi past—a secret which, if revealed, could help her at the trial.”
In a way, Funn is correct about Kate Winslet winning an oscar for portraying a holocaust-related role. however, not all Holocaust-related movies received an Oscar and holocaust is nothing to be joke about.
@chloe: The episode of Extras she appeared in – where the joke was first made – was back in 2005/06. There was a behind-the-scenes with Ricky and Stephen Merchant where they hoped (in jest) that she wouldn’t win (as she was nominated at the time for another role) so that the joke would remain relevant.
———
Btw, I don’t think it was an insensitive joke towards the Holocaust. Some people take Ricky Gervais’ brand of humour (and British humour, in general) to be quite harsh and callous, but I think he’s one of the least offensive comedians out there. I think we just appreciate more bluntness and a keen eye for observation. People – and Hollywood, in particular – do like to play up the tragedy…
Chloe, The Reader is a movie about the holocaust.
Yes it is not funny but what Ricky Gervais said is about the awards’ preference and not really making a joke about the holocaust but rather holding the mirror at the Oscars and awards in Hollywood and laughing at them. I thought it was funny when he said it. Even HK Film awards seem to prefer some sort of tragedy or disability in the past. These days I suppose more on dilemmas.
Same goes for Cannes. Same goes for any award for that matter. Which is why comedy never wins or a comedian never win except to my memory Life Is Beautiful and even that comedy is about the holocaust.
Point is if Fala wants to win awards, international ones, aim for something dramatic or overly sexual wrapped in the name of artistry. Now, since husband is rich, he can finance the production of one.
Oh I remember that episode now. Kate was a nun during the holocaust right? A funny episode.
Schindler’s List/Sarah’s Key is more powerful than The Reader from what I am hearing.
And with all regards to awards, awards isn’t that important since it’s judged by a group of people and every year people have different tastes on what they prefer to watch on screens.
Yep, Kate dressed up as a nun and talking dirty. 🙂
Anyone seen Life Is Beautiful? Am I just a miserable sod or is the ending far too… happy? I prefer a more bittersweet ending like Grave of the Fireflies.
The ending was beautiful and yet heart wrenching. If the boy dies, the to what purpose the father acted the clown and protected him from the evils around him? I like the ending.
I’m glad the boy survived too – I prefer it that way. I know it should be a celebration of life and love, but the energy at the end seemed almost a bit too much. (For me, anyway.) I just liked how much quieter the ending for Grave of the Fireflies was, where the two siblings were looking over a rebuilt country.
Anyway, I really don’t understand how some people can accuse this film of being disrespectful towards the Holocaust victims. It’s PRECISELY because the father understands the true horror behind it all and that is why he has to go to such lengths to protect his son. I think it’s absolute genius.
I agree with you. Beautiful film and deserving win. Graves of Fireflies is just too depressing. Both sibling died and their spirits linger. That’s terrible.
Chloe – you missed the point completely. The fact is that the Oscars mean nothing any more… there are roles and movies that are written specifically in an attempt to win Oscars – they are called “oscar vehicles” – the movie might be terrible, or plot bad… but the role is written with angst and enough titillating bits to push the actress/actor towards an Oscar nomination.
IMHO, the Oscars stopped being significant decades ago… they now mean only a bit more than TVB’s anniversary awards…
@TVBFanatic: I agree with your last part of your comment. Most awards means nothing these days.
add oil…whatever you decide…wish you the best
agree.
…….i thought she was going to new york?????????????
Why isn’t she going over to the Mainland market? But if she wants more than money, I can understand why she’d prefer to stay in HK.
I think she craves award and recognition and in HK there is the film awards.
“Why isn’t she going over to the Mainland market?”
LOL!I dnon’t think it is simply a question of personal choice. Just try to name one HK act.
If she just stay with the dying HK film industry, then I don’t know how much better it would be than staying with TVB.
Maybe it’s just about doing something different, trying something new, leaving her comfort zone, challenging herself a bit while she’s still young. It doesn’t always have to be about fame or money or success. It could just be about doing something that makes her happier.
Also she can stay close to her boyfriend/husband if she films movies in Hong Kong. Long-time separation is no good to each other.