Stephen Chow Still Wants to Act in Movies

Since starring in CJ7 <長江7號> in 2008, Stephen Chow (周星馳) has not acted in any films. While many fans began speculating that he has transitioned into solely being a director, Stephen clarified that he still possesses the desire to act in movies.

Stephen revealed that he originally planned to guest star as the Octopus in his upcoming movie The Mermaid <美人魚>. Stephen disclosed, “I actually wanted to film – for example, I created the

Octopus character for myself in the movie. I thought I could make the character more special by filming without clothes. Everyone thought it would be good and thought it was quite a challenging role. But who knew that Show Luo (羅志祥) would end up with the role. I asked if he could do it and he said yes. And that’s how I lost my role to him!”

Cold Weather Hits Cast and Crew

With a time travelling element to The Mermaid, the production incurred many problems along the way. Besides changing filming locations and ensuring the scenes are realistic – the cast and crew had to endure long hours working in the harsh cold weather.

After filming a particular underwater scene, many artistes became fairly sick. Feeling responsible, Stephen sighed, “A lot of the actors fell sick but thankfully, Show was strong enough and he was okay. But we still had to solve this problem. In the end, we bought a water heater so the water could stay warm during filming. This resulted in us going over the budget.”

Directed by Stephen Chow and starring Deng Chao (鄧超), Show Luo, Kitty Zhang (張雨綺), and newcomer Lin Yun (林允), The Mermaid will open on February 8. The Mermaid will face competition from The Monkey King 2 <西遊記之孫悟空三打白骨精>, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon 2<臥虎藏龍：青冥寶劍>, and From Vegas to Macau 3 <賭城風雲III>, which will also open during the Lunar New Year holiday.

Source: Oriental Daily

This article is written by Su for JayneStars.com.