Asian cinema

This hotel room in West Hollywood, dimly lit with the curtains drawn, shows no signs of film-star excess. No half-full bottles of flat champagne, no overflowing ashtrays. No powder-flecked mirrors on the countertops. No cracks in the plasma television.  Just some fresh clothes folded neatly over a chair and, on the table in front of us, a Nintendo Switch and a big bag of sour candies. And anyway, its occupant isn’t exactly a film star. At least not yet. Thirty-year-old Simu Liu clears off a spot on the couch and apologizes for the mess.  This room – what a TripAdvisor review might deem “perfectly adequate” – has been his home for the past few months. The only clues Liu has spent that time in

A Chinese television network has pulled a reality show and apologized after the sudden death on-set of Taiwanese-Canadian actor and model Godfrey Gao. Zhejiang Television offered an apology in an interview with the show’s director, Lin Yong. It was posted online on Thursday, about a week after the performer, known as Gao Yixiang in Chinese, collapsed while shooting an episode of Chase Me. In the post titled “Sorry, we didn’t protect Yixiang in his prime,” Lin said the network had been “immersed in grief and remorse since the accident happened.” “We feel we owe an apology to Godfrey Gao, to his parents and to all who loved him,” he said. Gao, 35, was a contestant on the show and collapsed aft

Things are changing fast in Hollywood for Asian actors, and it’s about time, says Michelle Yeoh. The Malaysian-born actress, who made her name as a Hong Kong action heroine in the mid-1980s, stepped back into the international spotlight with her performance in Crazy Rich Asians, the hit romantic movie she credits for Asian performers’ increased opportunities in American film and television. “It’s been a long time coming, so let’s not make it a one-hit wonder,” Yeoh says in New York ahead of the release of her latest film, Last Christmas, a light romance inspired by the Wham! hit of the same name. “There have been changes in Hollywood, and you can definitely see more Asian faces on the screen

When Indian director R. Balki first came to Beijing in 2002, it was to shoot an ad for an LG television at the Great Wall. But when he was back in the Chinese capital last month, it was to promote his latest movie, Pad Man. With Chinese audiences increasingly waking up to – and spending money on – Indian cinema, a stop in Beijing is increasingly important for Bollywood’s filmmakers. Balki says that Indian movies, which often pack a powerful emotional punch, appeal to Chinese audiences – the world’s largest. “The culture of India and China is similar in a lot of ways,” he tells the South China Morning Post. “The emotions of Indians and Chinese are similar. They connect with the Indian charact

Watching the same movie six times, traveling to attend promotional events and learning a new language are among the things Zhao Jiacheng has done to get close to his favorite film star. But instead of local celebrities or Hollywood superstars, Zhao has become an ardent fan of Indian actor and filmmaker Aamir Khan. To the 22-year-old, apart from superb acting skills, Khan’s social conscience and activism are his most appealing qualities. “India is lucky to have Aamir Khan. Not every country has personalities like him who are influential and unafraid of the rich and powerful,” says Zhao. He is just one of the many Khan’s fans in China. It is difficult to put a number on how many he has: but K