[Ta Kung Pao & Oriental Daily]

As spokesperson for the company, Bernice Liu appeared at a promotion for a slimming drink yesterday and having tried the product herself before, she lost 8lbs in 3 weeks and a total of ten inches all over her body. She also reveals that she has made a number of advertisements this year and feels satisfied with her results.

Sam Hui will be adding a few shows onto his series of concerts at the end of June. Will Bernice be appearing again as his guest? She says that she will be filming for "Healing Hands III", so she does not know if she can fit this into her tight schedules. Recently there have been reports in a magazine that Sam has been suffering from anxiety, but Bernice says that she did not find anything wrong with Sam and there is no need to call him as this is a personal matter. As for some reporters pretending to be his friend to try and get into his home to take photos, Bernice feels that this is very wrong and hopes that the press can respect other people in the interview process.

Bernice has considered buying a present for Sam to thank him and there are rumours that she was the most loved out of all the guests at the concerts. Bernice says that there is no such thing and Sam was good to everyone there. When it was mentioned that the budget for Sam's forthcoming movie has been upped from $10.8m to $30m leaving Sam a little short, Bernice says she does not know and adds: "I really don't know. There were rumours that there was a part for me in the film, but this is only news I have heard is from the reports and not from the company. I think they will make all the arrangements for me."

Today is Father's Day, but Bernice has to work on her filming. Luckily her mother has returned to Hong Kong from Canada, so she can spend the time with Bernice's father. She plans to pay for her parents to go on vacation abroad, because she has a lot of work, but has little chance to spend the money she makes, so why not let her parents enjoy themselves. She says: "They can go wherever they want, as my mother is here and I think they will go somewhere romantic."

http://www.takungpao.com/news/2004-6-20/UL-273663.htm
http://orientaldaily.com.hk/ent/ent_a10cnt.html



[Ta Kung Pao Special Report]

Deric Wan hails from a background as a DJ, before he joined TVB and also furthered his career in the music industry. Recently he has spent a rather long time working in the mainland and with his return to TVB to film again now, it marks the start of his twentieth year with the company. In these years, he has found fame and fortune, but there have been sweet times and bitter times, so we listen as he recounts them.

Deric says that his happiest times were when he was working at the radio station because he couldn't do anything, but when he joined the broadcasting industry, he had to learn how to speak, how to control the show and how to edit the tapes. He experienced personally the process from having nothing to gaining the skills and that happiness and satisfaction is difficult to describe. He says: "Although I have left the radio station for so long, I still thank my teachers Ng Ka Lim and Ng Shek Fai, it was them who taught me all the skills and I really did savour those times."

As for the bitter times, these were when he joined TVB, because the crazy filming day and night left him with severe lack of sleep. He says: "I think that the majority of artistes cannot evade the lack of sleep and this is on a long term basis, so now I truly value the importance of having enough sleep."

In the past, Deric has played many a bad guy and this image has been deeply etched in the hearts of the audience, but recently, he has not taken these parts very much in the hope that he can clear his background. However, in his most recent TVB show "Grey Tracks", he has gone back to his old ways as he plays a pair of twin brothers, where the elder brother is evil whereas the younger brother is good. The elder brother kills his younger brother to gain what he wants and even takes over his identity. He believes that this character will be on a par or even worse than his role in the epic "Looking Back in Anger". When asked if he is afraid he will be scolded by the audience, he laughs: "The viewers are very intelligent nowadays and they will not be affected in this way by the role. As an artiste, the most important thing is the script that allows the performer to excel and even if I have to put up with some criticism, it just proves that TVB's script has been successful."

As well as playing the bad guy in this show, Deric has also endured many hardships, such as wearing a suit filming in the heat of summer. He laughs: "Bringing a pack of tissues is no longer enough for me. Each time I have to take two towns and two vests because my back is often covered in sweat, so I can borrow a script if I forget that, but I cannot forget my towels."

Also in the show, there are a number of diving scenes, but Deric has an aversion to water and has had to overcome his fear of entering the sea. He says: "I wasn't afraid of water at first, but when I filmed 'The Blood of Good and Evil', there was a diving scene then as well and when I was wearing the aqualung and going into the water, the valve became loose and I was pulled down deep into the water. Although the crew quickly saw the accident and had pulled me to the surface within seconds, those few seconds of isolation, darkness and cold will stay with me forever. Two or three years after that incident, I was seriously afraid of water and even when water was splashed on my head I would be afraid, so I had to shower in two parts, first washing my hair and then washing my body.

However as time has passed, the fear has started to subside and at least he can shower normally and he can go back to the swimming pool. It was only when he was near the sea that he still had the remnants of the phobia and this will take time before he can totally overcome this.

Reporter: Shan Shan

http://www.takungpao.com/news/2004-6-20/UL-273658.htm



[The Sun & Oriental Daily]

Fiona Sit is still a very fresh newcomer to the industry, but she has a great support from her fans and with popularity comes gossip leading to her recent negative reports in the press, first with the swimsuit incident and not allowing the press to photograph her and then later the disagreements with co-star Sammul Chan when she suspected him of revealing her whereablouts. With all the reports, she has been reprimanded by her record company, telling her to reflect on her behaviour. After this, Fiona has become markedly more obedient as she maintained her polite smile despite having to film under the burning sunshine.

Working in Hung Hom on filming for TVB's "Police Cadet Brave Hearts" with Tavia Yeung yesterday, the crew had already built a human wall to prevent the press from snooping. Fiona was well aware of the press presence, but this time her attitude was very different and not only had she put away her frowns, she kept a smile on her face, even though the sun was so strong that she could barely open her eyes. She did exactly what the director instructed her to before staying around to speak to the press later, answering their every question.

Although she denies that she is at odds with Sammul, Fiona was still very reserved with her answer, saying: "We are not in conflict, people just wrote about it that way." With reports that the producer is taking her side, she forces a smile and says: "He is not taking sides, I really don't know why as I haven't asked him about this. (Do you chat to Sammul? Can you be friends?) If it is necessary then we will talk, but we will not discuss this matter to avoid embarrassment. I am only concerned about my performance, we will not be unfriendly."

As for the swimming scene, there were suggestions that it was Sammul who let the news out and led to all the gossip. Fiona indicated that she is not bothered about the press visiting and taking photos and she has no suspicions about who told the press. As for the remarks about her attitude and constant frowning, she explains that it was all a misunderstanding, firstly with the style of the swimsuit as well as the burning of the soles of her feet by the sun burned ground. She says: "Can you really expect me to smile?" She admits that after this incident, she has had a discussion with her record company who have asked her to learn how to control her emotions and improve her expressions, so she wore a smile throughout the interview and added: "From now on I will be good and stand here for you to take as many photos as you want."

In the afternoon, Fiona took part in Garfield's 26th birthday celebrations and she once again apologised to the press for her behaviour, saying: "I have to say sorry to the reporters, I am not always frowning." She also denied that she is becoming arrogant before she is famous, admitting that she has never been famous and does not feel that she is a star, just a newcomer on the music scene. Although she has had to juggle filming with her promotions, leaving her with a severe lack of sleep, she daren't utter a word of complaint as she smiles: "I am afraid that people will mistake me for being cool and cheeky, so no matter how hard it is, I will still make time to see everyone."

As for Tavia, she headed out to Causeway Bay for another promotion after filming with Fiona and after becoming a spokesperson for a slimming company, she has broken through her usual conservative image, appearing in a strappy top and hot pants as she handed out gifts in the shopping centre. Tavia has a lot of scenes with Fiona in "Police Cadet" and although her opposite seems to be upsetting everyone, Tavia does not find her a problem. She believes that Fiona has a very Western personality and is too direct with her words. As Tavia has known Sammul Chan for a while, she feels very sorry for him getting involved with all this gossip and she believes that he did not leak the information to the press at all.

http://orientaldaily.com.hk/ent/ent_a05cnt.html
http://the-sun.com.hk/channels/ent/20040620/20040620005050_0003.html



[Extract from Oriental Daily]

Shirley Yeung was filming for "Treasure in the Family" earlier and took the opportunity to go and drop by on the Father's Day Special show filming to visit her boyfriend Gregory Lee, posing for a photo with her future in-laws, Lee Ka Ding and Lee Wing Hon who were also there. As today is Father's Day, Shirley says that she hopes to be able to take time out to go for dim sum with her father and when reporters jokingly asked whether she meant her own father or Gregory's, she smiled: "You are giving me another trick question. I have to work, so I have to see if I have the time."

http://orientaldaily.com.hk/ent/ent_a04cnt.html



[Oriental Daily & The Sun]

Rain Li has recently revealed that she received sexually provocative text messages from a male colleague when she first joined TVB and filming a Father's Day special yesterday with former rumoured boyfriend Alex Fong Lik San yesterday, there was immediate suspicion over whether he was the culprit. In order to put things right, Alex immediately pointed out: "The naughty text messages were nothing to do with me!"

Alex points out that he has never sent any or received any: "I daren't send these things because people can easily keep copies. What if I ended up like Beckham? If I had to send them, I would send really sweet messages and they would be okay, of course they wouldn't be over the top, but if this was to chase a girl, it would become a nuisance." As for being pulled innocently into this matter, Alex says that he was rather worried when he saw his name on the report as this may affect his reputation: "When I saw my name mentioned, it was a very big effect on me because I was worried that people would be guessing it was me. (So have you been asking Rain who this person was?) No, but everyone has their ideas."

Rain also returned Alex his innocence: "Alex would not send these things to me. (But Alex suggests we should know who it was?) I haven't said but he is very smart, so if he guesses who it is, then it is him. (With this revelation, will you be scaring off potential romances?) If someone is genuine, they would not send these thing, only the players would do this." As for what would happen if they had to work together and play a couple, what would she do? She immediately responded: "We haven't seen each other for a while now, if we are working, then there will be no embarrassment, I just have to be careful if we are to play lovers and try not to get too close."

Apart from this, Rain indicates that she has already taken her father and family out to dinner for Father's Day, but she did not buy him a present. However she denies that this is to save money: "I usually buy them whatever they want anyway."

http://orientaldaily.com.hk/ent/ent_a03cnt.html
http://the-sun.com.hk/channels/ent/20040620/20040620004824_0003.html



[Additional from Oriental Daily & The Sun]

Jessica Hsuan, Joe Ma, Mimi Lo and Natalie Wong were among the cast members at a promotion for "A Handful of Love" yesterday. As Jessica was both fatigued from the heat and a little hungry, she was feeling unwell and needed to rest in the car. With the 32 degree heat and the event taking place outdoors, the cast members took their turns to introduce their characters in the show before splitting into teams to play games in the lake, however Jessica was unable to take part.

After some rest and having something to eat, Jessica felt a lot better and said: "As I had nothing in my stomach, I was feeling a little weak and dizzy. Also I knew I would have to row the boat with some children and I didn't want to risk it."

http://orientaldaily.com.hk/ent/ent_a02cnt.html
http://the-sun.com.hk/channels/ent/20040620/20040620005903_0003.html