[Ta Kung Pao & The Sun 11/9/04]

TVB's new series "War and Beauty" has had a good reaction since its airing and a group of cast members including Gigi Lai, Bowie Lam, Moses Chan and Rebecca Chan took part in a radio interview with CRHK. Although the ratings have been good for the show, it is surrounded with gossip and there are indications that there was conflict off camera between some of the female cast members. To this, Moses says simply that he had little time to worry about this, because it was hard work filming for this show. As for Bowie, he says that he is a man of great clarity, but he only noticed a battle of talent and beautiful costumes and no fights for placings.

Gigi says that the positions are choreographed in advance and there is no chance of getting extra airtime just by speaking to the producer. Bowie indicates that each person's screentime is very equal, but he does think that some people should spend more time thinking about their acting. When asked who he was hinting at, he says that he is not just talking about artistes in "War", other people in other shows are the same and should spend more time working on their performance than worrying about fighting for exposure. After saying this, Bowie went on to praise Gigi for putting her heart and strength into the show and Gigi said: "Rumours of conflict is a promotional tactic, after so many years in the business, I will not mind this. I know what I have done and as long as I can justify it to myself, it is okay."

Gigi has been in showbiz for nearly twenty years and has given people the feeling of being a 'vase character' all along. She admits that five years ago, she would not play any characters that were not acceptable, but now she will face it as just an act. "In the past people probably saw Gigi Lai as a pretty face and great figure, a goddess of beauty, so two years ago, I decided to do a good show for everyone and now I have fulfilled an ambition." As for whether she is confident that 'Yuk Ying' will receive an award at the end of the year, she says that she is not a TVB contracted artiste, so she is not eligible for an award, but she feels that for TVB to give her this role, it is already like getting an award.

http://www.takungpao.com/news/2004-9-11/UL-304387.htm
http://the-sun.com.hk/channels/ent/20040911/20040911010112_0003.html



[Ta Kung Pao & The Sun 11/09/04]

Since taking on the role of Olympic host, Michelle Ye has been plagued with much gossip. Taking part earlier in a Porsche event at the Peak, she was once again the centre of attraction for the press. Talking of the Chinese Olympic team's visit to Hong Kong, Michelle was away in Shenzhen at an opening, so she was unable to meet with the athletes, but she indicates that they will keep in touch.

With the love affair between Tian Liang and Guo Jingjing very much in the main topic, Michelle says she is not in a position to comment, but says she is in touch with Tian and Guo. As for whether Tian will be entering the showbiz industry, Michelle says that she asked him in Greece and he says he will not. He says he has to dive in the 2008 games, so he cannot mislead everyone. Michelle says that the interview will be aired shortly, but she feels that Tian has a lot of talent to become an artiste because he is very calm and can deal well with media issues. In her eyes, Tian is not good looking, just that he has a sportsman's appearance and a great personality.

Having been linked romantically with Xiong Ni, who does Michelle think is better of the two? She says she should not compare them but they are both her good friends. Earlier reports suggested that she and Xiong went to watch Andy Lau's concert before giving him a goodbye kiss. Michelle explains that she and Xiong are just friends, but says openly that he is a good man and helped her a lot with her work. Does she feel the Xiong has feelings towards her? Michelle indicates that he did mention he is not dating, but whether he was interested in her, she feels that the best thing to do is to ask him.

http://www.takungpao.com/news/2004-9-11/UL-304386.htm
http://the-sun.com.hk/channels/ent/20040911/20040911005540_0003.html

Jessica Hsuan's Diving Encounters

[Ta Kung Pao & Oriental Daily 11/09/04]

Jessica Hsuan and Dave Wang were filming for new series "My Wife, Your Honour" on location yesterday. Jessica indicates that they will finish filming for this show in October and afterwards, she had planned to go with some friends to Indonesia on a diving trip, but with the recent terrorist attacks, they will be choosing another destination. Jessica has already gained her diving licence and often goes out on diving trips with Ray Lui, Alex Fong and a few other artistes. She remembers on one diving trip, they went to a small island in East Malaysia and just the transport took them ten hours because the place was so remote, with just Hong Kong and Japanese tourists there, so they dived without intrusion and she felt very comfortable.

Jessica laughs: "There were no phones in the rooms there and we bathed in salt water. There was not even any need to wear slippers because it was such a close encounter with nature. We had to get up early though because we wanted to see the fish. I even tried swimming with sharks! After learning to dive and finding out that humans cruelly slaughter sharks for their fins, I have started to cut out eating sharks fin now."

When asked whether her boyfriend goes diving with her, she smiles: "No, because he does not know how to dive. (So you don't have common interests?) Our common interest is eating! Anyway, everyone needs their own personal space." Talking of Ray and Monica Chan already gaining their diving instructor licences, Jessica says she has no intentions of applying for it because she says her talents are limited and the sea is another world where there are many dangers even for the very experienced divers.

http://www.takungpao.com/news/2004-9-11/UL-304376.htm
http://orientaldaily.com.hk/ent/ent_a67cnt.html



[Oriental Daily 11/09/04]

Lawrence Ng's part in "Healing Hands" as caring and responsible doctor 'Ching Chi Mei' won many hearts on and off the screen, but recent reports about he filming of "Healing Hands III" have indicated that Lawrence arrives late, often loses his temper and is addicted to sending SMS when he should be rehearsing. These 'three sins' have led to him becoming disliked on the set and he is often receiving complaints as he causes trouble for the crew, who passed the news to the press. The information received indicates that Lawrence's personality is totally different from the past on this occasion as he often hides himself away and does not speak to his colleagues. Even former co-stars Bowie Lam and Moses Chan have little to say to him and the crew are even worse off as they have to fend against his bad temper and fiery remarks.

A couple of days ago, due to some scenes being reshot, Lawrence felt that he was wasting his time and lost his temper in the studios, swearing at the PA and asking why he had to arrive at work so early when they were just reshooting the scenes. He even forced the PA to tell the producer to come and see him in person, causing quite a stir among the crew. When Lawrence was called about this incident, he listened to the accusations carefully and said: "I don't think so, I was just joking and I did not know they were unhappy. Who leaked this information? Tell me and I will go and apologise to them in person, or maybe I should treat everyone once in a while to make them happy. I will look out for this."

Lawrence's co-star in the show Bowie Lam worked together with him in two previous series of "Healing Hands" and when called about this and asked whether Lawrence often scolds people in the studio, he says: "Hmm... how canI put this? Maybe he was in a bad mood at the time. As for being late, then you cannot blame the schedules, you have to deal with it yourself. This is one of the things about television, the periods of filming are long and sometimes it is easy to get grumpy. I lose my temper sometimes, but I just have to try and catch up with my rest. I think this is how Lawrence felt."

Bowie became good friends with Lawrence after filming "Healing Hands" and when asked whether he would try and persuade his friend, he said: "To be very honest, we have had less conversation in this series and become less familiar with each other. Why is this? I have been busy filming non-stop and so have had little time to find out why he has undergone this change, but from my point of view, I do empathise a lot with the PA and directors. Who doesn't want to hurry up and finish filming? So I hope that Lawrence can also feel for them too."

Gigi Lai has a romantic storyline with Lawrence in the series and has worked with him before in "Fate Twisters", so when asked if he often loses his temper at people, she said on the phone: "Everyone has emotions and maybe he was just feeling down that day. When you don't get enough sleep, you will get moody, but I have not heard any complaints from the crew. (Are the scheduled very tight and hard work?) Forty episode series have a lot of subplots, so for me it it quite comfortable."

As for the allegations that Lawrence is too busy texting to rehearse, Gigi denies this saying: "How can we film if he does not rehearse. I have seen him sending SMS, but for an artiste to do their own thing when they are waiting to go on is a very normal thing. (Do you get on?) Maybe he has been in China for too long and is not too clear on the happenings in Hong Kong, so we don't really have much to talk about. I see he has a few mobile phones, so I just talk about phones with him."

When the producer Chik Kei Yi was asked about this, he says: "I don't know, no-one has formally complained about Lawrence, but let me find out more about this."

http://orientaldaily.com.hk/ent/ent_a54cnt.html