Johnnie To’s movie, Blind Detective, is a movie arranged for screening in Cannes F F.

Male lead Andy & female lead Sammi Cheng together with the director will attend the Festival's 6am premiere next Monday May 20, HK time. Close to 80 % tickets were sold.

Due to work, Andy will not follow the set to set off today,. Also, as soon as he arrived in Cannes he will leave for home after staying there 48 hours.

Cannes FF publication, The Hollywood Reporter, allocated a column to introduce another movie by Andy, The Storm.

The 66th Cannes F F kicks off day after tomorrow HK time. One Mandarin film is finally officially in competition this year, Jia Zhangke’s movie, A Touch of sin, competiting with Joel & Ethan Coen’s Inside Llewyn Davis, Takashi Miike’s Straw Shield & 19 others fighting for the highest honor The Palme d'Or.

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Midnight Screening
Blind Detective by Johnnie To

The second HK Salento Film festival was held last night. Andy was honored with Salento Actor Award-City of Tricaseby the Italian Consulate, in recognition of his years of contribution to the movie industry.

The FF was held in HK a second time, Deannie Ip was similarly awarded last year. No wonder quipped Andy, “It was like a family monopolizing the event.”

When asked how he will celebrate, he indicated that this is an award of responsibility, he hope to promote cultural exchange between HK/China & Europe, & local market can continue to flourish, just like A Simple Life is now being screened in Europe on a large scale. But Andy will not go to Europe for local promotion, as he had been interviewed by the local media before.

When asked if he will film an Italian movie, laughed Andy, “I had just said talked to the consular, he gave me three loud laughs.”

He feels that to film Italian movie one has to master its language, just like before when he attended El Sardinero F F, in acceptance sppech, he had wanted to say in French, at the end he still used English. But he has thought of working with Italian filmmakers, he laughed that Deannie is more famous than him in Italy.

Andy admitted that he has no particular preference to act in film movies of any country, he is keener to bring his own movies to a further stage.

Andy will go to Cannes later for Cannes F F to promote Blind Detective.

It was his daughter birthday on the 9th, when asked how he celebrated the day, he said he celebrated it at home with her. Will he miss his daughter in Cannes? He teased that the reporters are too nosey. When asked what present he had given, he replied, “0K OK “

Will he try for a boy? He replied, “Yes, I promise you.”

How is he going to celebrate Mother’s Day? Said, “Ok, in all, we are very happy.”

On John Woo’s movie, Taiping, Andy said he regretted not being able to have a part, he hopes next time he can work with John again. Andy indicated that John is a gentleman, he respects John a lot, John even made an announcement to clarify, this is now trust between human are fostered.”

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There was a news report saying that Hollywood director John Woo upcoming movie, Taiping, (previous name 1949) has put off shooting, changed actors repeatedly. It was even said that because Andy requested ‘editing right’ to the movie, the male lead was later changed to Wu Xiubo who commands a lesser fee.

Together with his producer, Terence Chang, John Woo made an announcement yesterday to clarify that news on the switch from Andy to Wu Xiubo was incorrect. Due to a lot of factors filming was delayed from March to July this year. Andy had fixed his concert tour to be in the next half of this year, & he has to start preparing in June. He was thus unable to act in this movie.

John & Andy has been in circle many years, they have always been looking forward to a collaboration, never thought this time it is again impossible. Both sides regretted it a lot. John & Terrance both hope can have Andy’s participation in the next project.

In conclusion, John stressed that the good relationship with Andy remains, there was no tiff. Andy always has high respects for the director, the rumor collapses on itself.

Andy’s daughter, Hanna, was one-year old yesterday. A very contented Andy always declares that he is very blissful in all open activities. Though refused to have her picture exposed, her daughter growing up healthily makes him very contented & happy.

At his official website yesterday, he posted a picture of birthday cake with her daughter’s name Hanna.

He wrote, ‘Love, and blessings, not only this whole life, wish to thank all the family members for their love and well wishes. Andy Daddy. " It was so very heartwarming.

To get away from the prying eyes of media, other than letting wife & daughter to be at home most of the time, he intensified security protection, installed equipment to thaw secret filming.

To prevent his trail from being noticed, Andy did not get out of the house the whole of yesterday. It is believed that he celebrated the birthday quietly at home with his family, & pre celebrated Mother’s day for Carol.

News had it that Andy had 2 days ago celebrated Hanna’s birthday at The Peninsular Hotel, Michael Mu, Felix Wong, Sammi & others attended.

SOURCE: CHINADAILY.CN
SCREEN SHOTS OF BLIND DETECTIVE

Andy’s wife, Carol, gave birth to a daughter last year on May 9. The baby was named Hanna, or Liu Xiang Hui. At age 50, Andy was obviously very happy to be a father! Today his daughter is one year old! Few days ago he held a birthday party for Hanna at The Penisula Hotel located Tsim Sha Tsui. Other than his family of three, his parents, his good friend Michael Mui, Sammi Cheng, Sandra Ng, Felix wong, George Lam, Sally Yeh were there to celebrate with him.

Though it is no longer a secret that Andy has a daughter, he remains low-keyed. At around 1 pm, he set off with 4 7-seaters which had curtains all up, to send his wife & daughter to The Penisula. The Hotel specially opened the back door for the 4 vehicles to park. Other than his family of three in one car, the other three vehicles were packed with bodyguards. They encircled the family, escorted them upstairs where the feast was held.

Michael Mui: Very Happy.

It's Andy’s daughter birthday, he was all smiles throughout, proud to be a father & satisfied to have a daughter! The feast was over at around 3pm.

When Michael was called the next day to ask about the party, he replied. "For this you have to ask Andy himself, he is always low-keyed. " When asked if it was a happy occasion, he said, "Very happy, but I wont talk much on his matter! "

'So Young', the first directorial debut of Vicky Chao collected 400 million rmb within a couple of days after opening. The result is stunning.

What is to follow is another movie on the young, 'Underage First Love', invested by Andy.

Andy teased that now when he is old he thinks of filming a youthful movie, something he never thought of before.

Said, "This is directed by Liu Juan, a story that took 4 over years to prepare, When I read the script, I felt like I was peeping at someone’s diary. The storyline is based on HK & TW singers & its impact on teh young in mainland China. It is touching. Though the singers that appear in the movie does not include me, the songs were those during my time, it strikes a chord in me. I feel that I have this responsibility to tell everybody, I ever had really influenced other people.”

He thought of singing a song for the movie or playing a cameo role, but he worries that it will spoil the realistic feel, the theme song will be sung by the male & female leads.

The director picked Zhang Han yin as the female lead, the male lead was picked from a country-wide search. Finally Ran Xi was picked. It took 45 days to have scenes taken in Chong Qing.

Andy is very satisfied with the work, he said since after Fruit Chan’s Made In HK he is willing to invest in the movies that other investors viewed as ‘dangerous’, he hopes to get fresh new feel.

Will he take up directorship? He smiled, "I wish, but I'm still afraid, as my temper is bad, I can scold people. "

2 nights ago, Taiwanese boy band, Mayday, completed first of their 8-day concert, “Noah’s Ark” World Tour 2013, in HK. In this HK leg, Andy was invited to appear in a short video clip, fulfilling Mayday's dream of collaborating with Andy. The concert was a success.

....Mayday invited their idol, Andy Lau, to play the role of newsreader, in front of camera Andy read fast & fluently a whole lot of words describing natural phenomena, indeed very impressive.

On this collaboration with Andy, Mayday indicated that they always adore Andy & for years had wanted to invite him. The record company sincerely invited Andy this time, never thought that Andy agreed readily. They had not watched the video beforehand, but are very thankful to Andy for giving such a grand present to them & their fans.

The Giant inflatable Rubber Duck sails into Victoria harbor lately. This 16.5-metre-tall yellow Rubber Duck has become a hot topic in town, attracted many civilians, sneaking around to take pictures of it. Even Andy in the search to reminisce his childhood, made time to meet the Duck. He had changed his work schedule to do so. It can be seen he is truly serious.

Dutch artist and duck creator Florentijn Hofman, with his crew of 10 over people, first pumped up the Duck in the sea. They took a long time as the wind was very strong that day. After the Duck was set up, it was placed on a stone platform.

As soon as it was ready, Andy appeared immediately, he was chummy to Hofman, they chatted on the making of the Duck & the journey it has travelled.

Andy said that he had played with rubber duckie before, it brought back his days when he was young, now the duck becomes bigger & he smaller.

Andy had never thought the Duck can be so big. It is like a big ship, & is very colorful. He feels relaxed on seeing the Duck, He knows the Rubber Duck is a symbol of happiness & goodwill, it has travelled to many countries, visited many cities, to spread the happiness message.

This exhibition is a charity event to help the mentally ill patients, very meaningful indeed.

The movie, Blind Detective, is a re collaboration of the trio, Johnnie To, Andy & Sammi after a lapse of 10 years. A scene of amazing taste was unveiled yesterday.

Sammi who played female cop, He Jia Hong, was seen with bleeding face, she was fighting with a pervert in an old kitchen. The guy's face was dirty, with hair unkempt. He was bare-chested. In the fight, both rolled on the floor. The eerily, scary sight makes one shivers. Andy by the side looked listless , he was blind & unable to lend a hand.

Sammi does not specialized in fighting, she said, “Most important is body must relax, the result is not bad.”

Blind Detective will be screened in Cannes F F as mid night show. The trio has each invited one another to be present in Cannes.

Since after Ling Hao's Crazy Stone, Focus First Cuts pioneered by Andy is again launching a new director's project, Not Yet First Love, directed by liu Juan, starring Zhang Han Yun & others. The movie is based on HK four heavenly kings in the 90's which represented first class HK culture & how it influenced the youngsters in the mainland. As the movie has something to do with he himself , he thus decided to invest.

The movie is slated for release mid June.

After a lapse of 6 years Andy re launches Directors First Cuts, this is because HK movies shows a downturn lately, he had focused his energy on Gallants, A Simple Life & other local HK movies.

When asked if he wishes to be a director, he said,

"If I become a director I want to shoot a movie that has never appeared before, but I have not reached that standard. In Cold war I gave a lot of ideas, but all were not accepted, when I watched the film I too felt that the director had managed it well, so I think I will rather not be a director.

SOURCE: ENT.QQ.COM
ANDY RE LAUNCHES DIRECTORS FIRST CUTS
BEING REBELLIOUS WAS MY CHARACTERISTIC IN YOUTH

.... When asked on his understanding on youth, Andy said that he feels youth does not disappear with time,

“I am still have my youth at age of 50, at 60 I can still retain it, Miss Youth is my idol, I keep chasing her. " He added to be young is to so something for oneself, so one can keeps it in the memory. “The characteristic of youth is rebellious, but that does not mean doing bad thing, every stage of life one can be rebellious.”

When asked to talk about his first love, he avoided the topic, “That was very long ago, the feeling is still there, but first love is only once.”

For the movie to be realistic, he does not played cameo role, his songs will hardly appear too.

“I am afraid that viewers after hearing my songs, will relate the movie is invested by me & will appear. Actually I had wanted to cameo as a teacher, but there is no such need, it will spoil the realistic feel.”

Andy has watched the movie, he gave high remarks, “ Though it has a theme on the youth in the 80s, the director has special capability, not any new director can do, even if I am a director, I may not be able to film it so well.”