Celebs take sides as Donnie Yen, Vincent Zhao feud escalates

The ongoing feud between Hong Kong action star Donnie Yen and Chinese martial arts actor Vincent Chiu has escalated recently, with Yen suing Chiu for making false claims about his conduct on the set of Yen's new action film "Special Identity".

As things heat up, celebrities in Hong Kong and China have also begun taking sides in the conflict.

Stars like Hong Kong actresses Shu Qi and Kara Hui expressed their support for Yen, while others like Hong Kong veteran action star Yuen Wah and Chinese actress Xu Jiao spoke out in support of Chiu, reported Hong Kong media.

"Donnie Yen is very serious in whatever he does and thinks of ways to make sure every single frame is perfect.

"Even when the weather is cold and he is shivering, cramping up, when he hears 'Action', Donnie Yen will immediately perform without a single word of complaint," said Shu Qi, who had worked with Yen in 2011's "Legend of the Fist", over her micro blog.

"Donnie, I have known you since you were young, I know you are passionate about film and have high expectations of yourself.

"I hope you won't be affected by all these controversies. Keep going!" said Hui, who had worked with Yen in 2011's "Wu Xia" in a micro blog post.

Hong Kong actor Chapman Toh and director Wong Jing have expressed their support for Yen as well, but Chiu too has his supporters.

"I worked with Vincent Chiu on 'Wu Dang' and feel that he is very enthusiastic about his work, personable … I believe Instructor Chiu, strongly support him!" said "CJ7" star, Chinese actress Xu Jiao.

Yuen Wah, who had appeared in countless Hong Kong action films, echoed Xu's sentiments and backed Chiu.

Chiu himself has since dug in his heels and declared that he is ready to fight it out with Yen in court, even if this spat causes irreparable damage to his acting career.

"All ten properties I bought at a low price in Beijing are now worth six times more.

"Even if I stop working, I won't have any difficulty getting by," Chiu told the media recently, in response to Yen's announcement that he would take Chiu to court.

"This issue affects my reputation. I must get justice, because they have insulted my professionalism."

Read More

Donnie Yen takes legal action

Power of Film Gala charity event took place last night. Attending guests included Keanu Reeves, Donnie Yen Chin Tan and Cissy Wang, Karen Mok Man Wai, Josie Ho Chiu Yi, Daniel Wu (Ng Yin Cho) and his wife and Japanese singer Gackt. The always friendly Keanu stopped as soon as he arrived for everyone to take pictures. As he was able to leave, reporters asked him again for a few more and he complied. He even stopped to speak briefly with reporters. Speaking of his new film MAN OF TAI CHI, although it was shooting in Beijing but the snow has not hindered the production; as for whether it will shoot in Hong Kong, he still did not know yet. He met Yen Chi Tan for the first time and they chatted. He also praised Mok Man Wai as a good actress. Will he make a movie that will shoot in Hong Kong? He would like to, then the event dragged him away. Later reporters asked him to pose with Chi Tan, and they complied. Later Chi Tan even introduced his family to Keanu.

Recently Chi Tan and Vincent Zhao Wenzhou have diverged over their new film DUT SHU SUN FUN (SPECIAL IDENTITY) and began a war of words online. Yesterday Chi Tan through his assistant issued a solemn statement that clarified that he was not pulling the strings behind the scenes to force Zhao Wenzhou's resignation and reserved all rights to take legal action again various comments that Zhao Wenzhou has made. The statement pointed out that the DUT production on February 29 announced the termination of collaboration with Zhao Wenzhou, which was a decision that the investors made. Chi Tan did not force Zhao Wenzhou to leave. The statement also accused Zhao Wenzhou of twisting the reasons behind his resignation during interviews and pointed the arrows at him, promoting himself through slander against him. After the reports were published, his microblog was slammed with messages, the space that he, his family and fans shared was polluted and the account has already been frozen. The statement alos pointed out five untrue comments that Zhao Wenzhou made during the interview, including "the dark hand behind the resignation, changing scripts without authorization, causing a production halt that cost over 10 million, revelations to the media". Because those accusations have already become defamation that damaged his 30 years of reputation and image in show business, he has decided to take legal action for justice for himself and reserved all rights to seek compensation.

Chi Tan last night said that he did not want to steal the spotlight, so he only wanted to make three comments. The untrue reports disappointed him very much; he even said that at first he cast Zhao Wenzhou despite many objections, then he tried his best to mediate and retain him. His mistake was he wanted to work with him; he also pointed out that Zhao Wenzhou twisted the truth and made it sound like real. Thus he would give the matter to the law. Would he "fight one on one" with him? Chi Tan said that everyone were adults and lately he was very busy. As for Zhao Wenzhou's character going to Andy On Chi Kit, Chi Tan said that the production was not affected but it had to be shot all over again. Will he work with Zhao Wenzhou again? Chi Tan said that he would not eliminate the possibility. Yesterday was Chi Tan's first meeting with Keanu. They even chatted but did not discuss kung fu. They only talked about work. Ch iT an said that during their chat Keanu moved around like he was practicing Tai Chi and had a very solid footing.

Ho Chiu Yi yesterday met Keanu for the second time. The first time was during her audition. Speaking of him choosing Mok Man Wai over her, she joked, "He doesn't know what he is missing. (Are you mad?) I was!" She revealed that earlier she worked on a foreign film with Mickey Rourke. Later she will invest in a commercial comedy with two Best Actors, but for now she was reluctant to reveal who they will be. Some said that this time two Best Actors are with her a Best Actress, she joked that she was "Spanish fly". Will she save Keanu Reeves a role? She said, "That's good too, get him to stand and walk around, just there like a wax figure!" Mok Man Wai currently is working on the film pre production and will not officially start work until April. She will stay in Beijing for several months. Because her husband is a Keanu fan, he will make time to visit the set; however she will not have many scenes with Keanu. She was not disappointed though because he was the director and would communicate more with actors.

Read More

Vincent Zhao calls Donnie Yen "scene hog"

Vincent Zhao says that he originally signed on to make the Jackie Chan produced JUNG GIK MUK MA due to the fight scene with Donnie Yen. When the film fell through and turned into the Donnie Yen produced, Clarenece Ford directed DUT SHU SUN FUN the scene disappeared and he planned to turn it down. The production promised him that the scene would be added back in.

The Donnie Yen Chi Tan produced and action directed film DUT SHU SUN FUN (SPECIAL IDENTITY) has fallen into a dispute with one of the leads Vincent Zhao Wenzhou since its production start. Both sides recently kept issuing statements, which led to continuous outside speculations. Two days ago Zhao Wenzhou in a Mainland newspaper interview spoke for the first time about the real reason of leaving the production. He said that Yen Chi Tan without his permission changed the script, forcing him to leave. He called Yen a "scene hog" and urged Chinese film productions to strengthen script change specifications.

Zhao Wen Zhou said, "I want to say that the real arrogant one wasn't me but Yen Chi Tan. Because I could fight with Yen Chi Tan in the film, I was especially excited. This was also the point that drove me to agree to perform, I even included this scene in the contract. If the script was changed, it must have my permission." Yet the new script removed many scenes.

His part was moved from the main story to a secondary plot and his position went from lead to supporting role. "They violated the contract. On February 27th I asked for a meeting with the director, the production supervisor and Yen Chi Tan to discuss the script change directions. Because a Hong Kong newspaper claimed that I was upset, at the meeting I asked the production to issue a statement the next day.

Everyone on hand agreed, only Yen chi Tan did not say anything." The next day, Zhao Wenzhou received the production notice that the statement was scrapped due to Yen Chi Tan not giving permission. "On the 29th, the production terminated its contract with me."

DUT SHU SUN FUN on the 4th issued a statement through its microblog and criticized Zhao Wenzhou for a variety of arrogant behavior, his one day room and board called 50,000 yuan and he demanded the production to be responsible for his wife, two children, nanny, English instructor and other expenses.

Zhao Wenzhou said that this was only the production's smoke screen to cover it real conflict focus of script changes. "Earlier I heard people said that Yen Chi Tan was a 'scene hog', I now suspect he was in control of that report." As for the reason, he said that he had no idea.

Yen Chi Tan's spokesperson responded, "It isn't the truth, Chi Tan doesn't need to respond. At first Chi Tan highly recommended Zhao Wenzhou to the film company. After learning that he did not accept any work order, Chi Tan even took the initiative to investigate. If Zhao Wenzhou truly said that, Chi Tan felt extremely disappointed."

Read More