Actress Yeoh meets Myanmar's Suu Kyi to discuss film

[metalslug]

http://www.asiaone.com/News/Latest+News/Showbiz/Story/A1Story20101207-251365.html

Tue, Dec 07, 2010
Reuters

Actress Yeoh meets Myanmar's Suu Kyi to discuss film

Photos: The New Paper, AFP, Reuters, Golden Village Pictures, UIP

YANGON, Myanmar - Malaysian actress Michelle Yeoh visited Myanmar at the weekend to discuss her plans to play the lead role in a new film about recently released pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Yeoh, who is best known for playing Chinese spy Wai Lin alongside Pierce Brosnan in the 1997 James Bond film "Tomorrow Never Dies" spent Sunday with the Nobel Peace Prize winner to discuss the possibility of playing her in a movie.

The charismatic Suu Kyi, daughter of late independence hero Aung San and adored by many in Myanmar, spent 15 of the past 21 years in detention because of her fight against military dictatorship. She was released on Nov 13 after her latest period of house arrest expired.

"(Suu Kyi) saw her off at the airport this morning," said Nyan Win, Suu Kyi's lawyer and spokesman.

"Yeoh spent the whole day at Daw Suu's residence," he added, referring to Suu Kyi. "I understand she is planning to play her in a film in the near future."

Yeoh, 48, is also a dancer and is well known for performing her own stunts in action movies.

She has starred mostly in Asian films and was nominated for a BAFTA award for best actress for her role in Ang Lee's 2000 box office hit "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" which won four Academy Awards.

 

[youth123]

So, is she making a kungfu version of Mein Kempf (my struggle)?

 

[tonychat]

Any actress wanna show the world how sinkie behaves, that will be very enlightening.

 

[silverfox@]

Seriously I wonder will such a movie showing Aung San Suu Kyi be commercially viable?

 

[Rogue Trader]

Seriously I wonder will such a movie showing Aung San Suu Kyi be commercially viable?

Production budget should be cheap. All they need is a studio set of Ms Aung San's home, where she was for the years.

 

[exSINgaporean]

So, is she making a kungfu version of Mein Kempf (my struggle)?

The title of the film will be "Flying Tigeress".

It is a good move and they have some resemblence. This could be a Oscar Winner. The west like to give Oscar and Noble to these type of characters to undermine the communists and military rulers, who are not friendly towards them.

 

[eatshitndie]

better to have a movie title that is tacky and catchy such as 'suu kyi yankee western yangon spaghetti jango'.

 

[rodent2005]

Seriously I wonder will such a movie showing Aung San Suu Kyi be commercially viable?

Make it "Kung Fu Aung Suu Kyi" where the heroine single handedly fought off a division of Burmese commados.

 

[singveld]

who want to spend money and watch old woman sit at home for decade?

what have she achieve for her people other than stubborness?

 

[lovesamleong]

Michele Yeoh does looks like Suu Kyi.

 

[johnny333]

Make it "Kung Fu Aung Suu Kyi" where the heroine single handedly fought off a division of Burmese commados.

I think they've already done that in Rambo IV

 

[Liquigas]

Think veteran HK actress Josephine Siao is more suitable for the role in terms of age and facial feature.

 

[johnny333]

Think veteran HK actress Josephine Siao is more suitable for the role in terms of age and facial feature.

As a Sporean I vote for the unemployed Zoe Tay

 

[giggity_shit]

Michele Yeoh does looks like Suu Kyi.

Yes! THats my first thought too!

 

[eQuipment]

cate blanchett acted as queen elizabeth

chow yun fatt acted as king mongkut

so now, michelle yeoh aims to play an historical character too...

 

[huahero]

Who will act as the evil Myanmar Junta General Than Shwe?

 

[postnew]

 

[Rogue Trader]

I remember US director Wayne Wang (Joy luck club) was commissioned to make a movie on Singapore's independence.

Wonder what happen to it?

------------------------------------
Hollywood director Wayne Wang to lend credibility to local film "1965"
Posted: 17 October 2008 1516 hrs
SINGAPORE: Hollywood director Wayne Wang will be lending his credibility to a local film, “1965”, which has been in the works for two years.

Managing Director of MediaCorp Raintree Pictures Daniel Yun said that they wanted “someone with the status and standing to bring it to a higher level”.

Yun, who credits Wang for introducing him to indie films, said, “He (Wang) is really more East-West, and I think we need someone with an external view of something internal, so you can make it (the movie) very universal.”

The movie combines facts and fiction, and Yun hopes that the movie will be done in a “in a fair, but not in a bland way”.

“1965” will be based on the title year - the year that Singapore gained independence. The movie will revolve around ordinary characters in their lives during this time, which is “not going to span a wide period”.

“It’s a very difficult period, a very important period, but most importantly, it’s a very interesting background for real characters to show, during a time when it’s not like this (now), their stories, their aspirations, and their struggles. We want to make it very real, and the most important thing is to make a movie like this connect with contemporary audiences,” Yun said.

Hong Kong-born Wang explained his interest in “1965”: “I don’t know a lot about it, but I’m sure that period is so complicated, full of conflicts and it’s so interesting. And I’d love to learn more about it and try to do a very honest film about all the people involved during that time.”

Wang, whose film credits include “The Joy Luck Club” and “Maid in Manhattan”, thinks that getting the facts right in a movie fusing facts and fiction is more important than providing a fictional account.

He said, “I don’t think you can fictionalise it too much because after a while, people will say, ‘This is all unreal. This is fake.’ I think it has to come from a fact, and we have to fictionalise it to make it more of a movie, but that (getting the facts right) has to be the key.”

Wang’s latest movies, “The Princess of Nebraska” and “A Thousand Years of Good Prayers” are currently showing at Golden Village Cinemas in Singapore.

- CNA/sl