TVB Entertainment News

Mr. and Mrs. Albert Yeung led EEG artists Nicholas Tse, Joey Yung, Leo Ku, Charlene Choi, Raymond Lam, Sherman Chung, etc. on a brand name car to attend the [b]70th Emperor Group Anniversary Celebration[/i]. Kevin Cheng and Gillian Chung were absent because of work. Nicholas and Joey stood on either side of their boss, clearly conveying their big brother and sister status. EEG also sent out over a 1,000 employees to create a '70' sign. Mr. Yeung and his wife (Luk Siu Man) hosted the opening ceremony and announced that they have donated HK$10 million to charity.

Nicholas, who has already established his own production company 'Post Production Office Limited (PO朝霆)', expressed his company is planning to be listed on the stock market. He said: "Still considering it. I heard it's GEM Listing, but I hope to be on the Main Board Listing." He also reveals that he'll be heading to Beijing late-May to open another branch of his company. When asked if he'll teach his two sons how to do business? He said: "That's a good suggestion, my youngest son (Quintus) is better because he's not as naughty as his older brother (Lucas)."

Asked if there are often female stars knocking on his door or pursuing him while he's working in Mainland? He denied that he's a 'suen poon' (best deal) and stressed once again, the rumor that Mainland actress Yang Mi knocked on his door is not true. As if he'll open up and start a new relationship? He said: "Work comes first, no one comes to me, I'm a boring person." He also expressed he hasn't thought about finding a girlfriend.

When mentioning the rumors that TVB plans to make a celebrity version of Bride Wannabes, pop queen Joey Yung claimed she's not a 'sing lui': "Won't be me for a long time, I'm not first on the list. Ah Gil (Gillian Chung) isn't dating, why isn't she one? And I have to be one (a sing lui)?" Joey said with interest that she has a lot of pursuers besides her: "Counting to the letter Z! I have upright looks, my personality isn't naggy and I'm pretty fit too. I'm not going to worry too much, if I have a worry look, then that wouldn't be good!"

Also, Raymond Lam responds to the criticisms on Kevin Cheng's poor performance in new series Gloves Come Off. Raymond strongly supported: "In terms of the ethics of a professional actor, he is way exceeding. He did everything he could to maintain the best state, I admire him greatly. (He was said that he's disrespectful?) I collaborated with him in several series and it has been fine, we are great friends in private!" Raymond expressed he has not heard of the rumors that because Kevin is trying avoid him, he switched to another label under EEG.

Back then when Lawrene Ng played Dr. Paul Ching Chi Mei in the classic TVB series Healing Hands, he touched many girls heart. Yesterday he revealed on Weibo that he'll be making a comeback for a TVB doctor series in February 2013. The series he's referring to should be The Hippocratic Crush sequel. Fans are looking forward to see Dr. Ching again and wonders what type of sparks he'll have with 'Yat Kin Tau' Kenneth Ma? The Hippocratic Crush got ideal TV ratings and public response, so TVB quickly announces that a sequel will start at the end of the year with the original cast. However, facing the competition and poaching crisis with other future free-to-air stations, TVB must strengthen their 'troops' and generate refreshing feelings. The company is actively searching for external help and Lawrence Ng is one of the chosen ones. Lawrence once expressed his chances of going back to TVB is not high, but TVB finally touched him and he has decided to make a comeback. He reveals the previous night he met with the TVB executives, it was understood one of the executives was Virgina Lok. He discloses the discussions of his comeback went smoothly, and he was sincerely invited back to participate in a doctor series and TVB is willing to accommodate his schedule. Initially, THC sequel was scheduled to start in November, but now it has been delayed to February 2013. Lawrence is extremely moved by the accommodation and told everyone to stop asking if he's going to be Dr. Ching again, because at this point he is not sure.

Raymond Lam, Michael Miu and Ben Wong were shooting for TVB new series Highs and Lows at a Dai Pai Dong. In the last few years, Raymond primarily portrays professional and gentleman roles, but Raymond reveals his role this time has a very extreme personality and he can let viewers see a bolder side of him. However, to maintain the 'fire' within him, he often speaks loudly and this caused his voice to become slight hoarse.

Earlier ex-rumored girlfriend Linda Chung talked about her 'past relationship' with Raymond in an interview and disclosed back then when they were filming, she was influenced by the public view and had a moment of thought, wondering if she really could date Raymond. In regards to this, Raymond laughed: "That silly girl! This is called being into character! (Did you have the same feeling when you were filming with her?) Yeah, I was thinking to myself, do we really match that much? But we do indeed match quite well! I hope to collaborate with her again soon!"

Raymond expressed without hiding that the on-screen partnership with Linda has left deep impressions on viewers and also the public accepts them. Although in his personal life, he rarely keeps in touch with Linda, but they still have chemistry when acting together. He laughed and said after being in the industry for so many years, he can quickly get out of character and 'forget' Linda.

Also, Michael Miu is involved in many action scenes, but he claimed that he's still young and it is not necessary for him to save up his physical strength for the future shooting of large-scale scenes. He said: "I'm a young man! (The other young men aren't as amazing as you?) It's just Raymond Lam works too hard!"

Ben Wong plays a senior inspector in the series and reveals that there will be a large gun fight scene soon, so he is starting to save up his physical strength. In the series, Ben is often wearing leather clothing, he claims that it's hot: "We are the hot police officers! (Raymond and Ella Koon both were injured during filming?) For this series, we are always wearing suits and leather clothing, and there are so many action scenes. I ran so much that my legs and back got an infection. At first I thought it was just a sprain, but luckily I had antibiotics and it's nothing serious." When speaking of good buddy Kevin Cheng injured during filming? Ben immediately teased that he's just too weak: "So that's why he's shooting literature and art series in Mainland. Leave the action series for me, I am still young and can still handle it."

Since Kevin Cheng became TVB's TV King, he has been surrounded by more and more gossips. Aside from the rumors that he is madly pursuing Annie Liu, recently his new series Gloves Come Off (GCO) has been getting positive feedback, but there are just as much negative news. Following the speculations that GCO plagiarized the filmA Fighter's Blues, lately it has been said that the action director for GCO, Master Sin Ho Ying publicly criticized Kevin, describing him as a good actor, but he's too self-centered and does not know how to respect others.

It was understood that when the two were filming GCO, they already had conflicts. Off-cameras, Kevin didn't talk to Master Sin's two apprentices Raymond Wong and Brian Wong at all. Up until Master Sin's recent switch over to Ricky Wong's CTI, he had no more apprehensions and freely exposed his previous grudge. Also, Netizens criticized Kevin's performance in GCO, that he was only able to 'chok' and even crowned him as 'Rubber Wing' (Kevin Cheng Ka Wing).

A few days ago, Kevin was back in HK for promotions, but after work he didn't go home to rest, instead he headed to Causeway Bay for a dental cleaning. Perhaps its because of the abundance of negative news lately that he has to wash them all away with a dental cleaning. Kevin said: "After so many years in the industry, must have some maintenance, same goes for the teeth." The day before, he went for a haircut, it looks like the most important is to maintain his handsome looks. As to publicly criticizing Sin Ho Ying, yesterday Kevin was back in Mainland for work and responded over the phone: "Different people have different views. People that don't know me will misunderstand me, I won't comment too much. After all, it's enough that people who know me well, knows the situation."

GCO's producer (Law Wing Yin) expressed he has seen the reports. Regarding Kevin's words being too over and severe, Producer Law said: "Sin Ho Ying voluntarily helped us by being our boxing adviser, of course there will be different opinions among us, but the shooting process went smoothly. Master Sin has his own principle that he has to express his opinions, while Kevin can get very tense towards his work. Towards filming he won't go easy and gets very tense. This type of personality, you can't say it's good or bad, but after discussing as a group, Kevin still does it. This time, I can see where Master Sin is coming from, Kevin's words were a little too severe. I will talk to Kevin about it!"

As Master Sin's apprentice, Raymond Wong, strongly supported his teacher and said Kevin has an ego: "When we were filming, I didn't hear any arguments between them. (What do you think of Kevin as a person?) We usually just nod as a greeting! He is self-centered! We don't come into contact much, and when we do, its at the boxing stage because we are opponents in the series!"

Kevin is one of TVB executive Virgina Lok's favorites. Yesterday in regards to Master Sin madly scolding Kevin, she said: "Martial artists are just that direct!" Then Virgina expressed that Raymond has been learning martial arts with Master Sin, but its new to Kevin, so having to box like a pro in a short period of time is not easy: "Kevin has been injured after all, so he wants a clear understanding of all action scenes. He's not like Raymond Wong, who has such good chemistry with Master Sin!"

Female Co-Stars Support Kevin

Kevin's female co-stars Selena Li, Natalie Tong and Kate Tsui strongly supported Kevin's character. Kevin's girlfriend from the series, Selena actually praised him instead: "I didn't see any arguments between them. It's just for the good of the series that they all have opinions. The Kevin I know is not like that, actually his personality is very real and direct. We can actually become true friends. (Master Sin was madly scolding him?) I don't believe he would say that!"

Natalie expressed there are several boxing scenes in the series and they all are feeling exhausted and just don't have the strength to argue. As for Kevin described as being self-centered and arrogant, Natalie said: "I haven't heard of that. Each artist has their own views and attitudes. Artists need to have some self-centeredness. I don't think Kevin would take out his bad moods on other people." As for guest star Kate Tsui, yesterday she said over the phone: "Is there some sort of misunderstanding? I have known Kevin for so long, I know what type of personality he has, he's just rather frank."

Many TVB artists have started developing up north (Mainland) like Charmaine Sheh, Myolie Wu, Ada Choi, Kevin Cheng, Roger Kwok, Joe Ma and more. Also with Ricky Wong coming in the picture and poaching artists, TVB is lacking artists to be in their series. The second and third line artists are repeatedly seen in series after series. It was said because TVB wanted to make up for the lack of artists, the company has been actively searching for external help, hoping to add refreshing feelings along the way. [Mingpao] discovered that Sammy Leung secretly did costume tryouts for new series Justice Pursue Attack 法網狙擊. He will be the second lead actor in the series alongside Michael Tse.

Sammy has once participated in several films such as My Sweetie 甜絲絲 and Love Undercover 新紮師妹 and has developed the Sammy and Kitty Drama Show for nearly 10 years. He has rich experiences on-screen and he has been working closely with TVB. No wonder he gets to play a lead role in his first series. It was understood that Sammy will be playing a police officer and is Michael Tse's younger brother, who plays a lawyer. The two 'brothers' Sammy and Michael will be involved in a relationship with Sharon Chan and Tavia Yeung respectively. Sammy excitedly expressed: "For my first official series, I get to be the second lead actor, the lead actor is Michael Tse. I play a true police officer and won't be the comedic type seen in Love Undercover. I feel pretty rusty in my acting, so I will have to put some time into practicing."

Sammy is not shooting a TVB series because of wanting to 'enter the house' or for awards. He and Kitty Yuen are already in the house (TVB) from hosting on TVB shows. He has never thought about awards. He just hopes to try something new. He wants to do a new version of Man of Wisdom 金牙大狀 the most, or maybe have his own works like Lawrence Cheng and Cheung Tat Ming. As for signing a contract with TVB and become a biological child? Sammy said: "Let's just shoot this one series first. I am very different from others, I came out of CRHK and I don't want to develop in Mainland." Asked if he's just being external aid for TVB this time? He said: "Not related, just coincidentally I have this opportunity. Thank you Tommy Leung and Virgina Lok for asking me."

Alice Chan is also participating in this series, but she is considered part of the supporting cast. Alice said she does not mind: "I have never appeared on TVB before, don't know what the power is." In the series, she will be playing a strong businesswoman and a villain that will do all kinds of bad things. Of course in the end, she'll get punished by the law, but the role has lots of room for development. Her role will have romance and family love in between. Because she treats and loves her brother dearly, even if he did a lot of bad things, she does everything to help him. Her evilness won't be clearly displayed, but rather more on the inside.

In other news, Patrick Tam was said to have join the cast of Beauty at War (aka War and Beauty II). He plays an imperial doctor, clearly substituting Bowie Lam's 'Suen Pak Yeung' role. Joey Meng replaces Maggie Cheung's role.

Soon to be bride, Sherming Yiu has less than 10 days left before she ties the knot with her boyfriend (Alan Ng). For the big day, the couple went to Kyoto, Japan for their wedding photo shoot. This year the delay of the cherry blossom blooming had once worried Sherming as she had to postpone the photo shoot to early April. She said: "First, we had to wait until Japan announces the date of the cherry blossoms bloom before we can book our flight. Second, its hard to book air tickets during the Easter holiday, so we just had to go to Japan a few days earlier and enjoy ourselves before taking the photos on the very last day of the trip!"

Sherming revealed the next day after they arrived in Japan, they encountered the strongest rainstorm in that area since 1959. She recalls: "I have never seen such a strong rainstorm, we were being pushed by the storm on the streets, so we always stayed indoors, didn't dare to go out!" She also reveals that at the time she was very worried the photo shoot couldn't happen, but fortunately a beautiful day was given to the couple on the day of their shoot: "However, when we were shooting by the seaside, the temperatures were nearly 0 degrees, very cold!"

It is the nature of women to love beauty. To look her best, Sherming set herself a goal to lose 13 pounds before the photo shoot, but in the end she was only able to lose 7 pounds. She laughed: "I could have reached my goal, but because of the delay and all the food I ate in Japan, it all backfired. Luckily, I didn't look too fat in the photos." Sherming disclosed the reason why the wedding photos were done in Japan, aside from the romantic feeling of cherry blossoms, Alan also proposed to her in Japan. So, it is very meaningful to the couple: "The wedding photos are once in a lifetime, must capture the beautiful memory."

He is a well known Hong Kong TV actor, and has acted brilliantly in TVB series such as DOMD1998, Healing Hands, and Gentle Crackdown 2. He is also a talented scholar ( 才子) amongst actors, who periodically shares his own thoughts and feelings in his own column, One Pen Ma, published in the Clear Newspaper. He is the 4th Brother in many people's hearts; he is Steven Ma.

Steven Ma, whose contract with TVB has just recently ended, is currently in Hengdian filming his new series, "Yuan Yang Pei"《鸳鸯佩》. In his column, Steven uses "New series, New knowledge, New Challenge" (新剧新知新挑战) as a topic sentence to succinctly describe this new series. Yesterday during Yuan Yang Pei's first day of filming, this reporter did an exclusive interview with Steven.

Both Good and Evil; Two Kinds of Characters Perfectly Interpreted

First time filming a pre-modern series in mainland and already Steven faces a new challenge that has him playing two characters with a completely different personality from each other, namely: Li Lai Fu and Tang Ting Xuan.

Steven expresses that he likes this challenge very much: "Li Lai Fu is a very simple, very honest person. My makeover right now is for his character. Very grassroot. His feelings for Yong En (female lead) is very pure, his love comes straight from the heart. And Tang Ting Xuan is the young master of the Tang family. Since young he has been greatly influenced by his father. His forte is doing business. Sometimes very ruthless can even say evil. And he also engages in an ongoing power struggle with his older brother, Tang Ting Liang. He is a very complex person but he wasn't born that way, the environment he is in has molded him to be that way. Later, like Lai Fu, he too, falls in love with Yong En. So, the entangled relationship of Lai Fu, Tang Ting Xuan, Yong En makes this series quite challenging."

Attentive to Details; Props and Make-up both very Important

"I consider myself an understanding person, but at the same time, also a person who adheres to his principles", this statement Steven once said in his column. And at Hengdian on-location filming, the reporter observed certain details that fully supported Steven's own self-evaluation.

Detail #1: Analyze the script, remember own props.
"Blooper" scenes often appeared in the series because of inappropriate usage of props. During the interview, Steven had just finished his first scene: Lai Fu, an outsider who just came into town, upon seeing the job hiring notice on the Golden Jade Restaurant happily tears it off and enters the restaurant. Prior to filming, the crew member handed Steven a bag imprinted with diagonal lines. When Steven saw it he laughed and said: "Isn't this the bag that Lai Fu would use in the later scenes when he delivers take-outs? My scene now is a job interview. So should be carrying my own luggage ba." Sure enough, checking against the props list, the crew immediately made the switch.

Detail #2: Portraying a grassroot, should have a grassroot look.
It is well known that Steven's skin is inordinately good. When filming in Hengdian, the make-up artists praised his good skin for making their work easier. But because Lai Fu is from the countryside his skin is naturally on the tan side. The troupe had already considered this aspect so the make-up artist dully applied the skin darkening power onto Steven's face for a tan look. Nevertheless, Steven still spotted a problem: For the scene, Lai Fu's clothes have both his sleeves and pants rolled up, thus, the exposed flesh contrasted starkly with his face. After communicating his observation to the make-up artist, two make-up artists simultaneously remedied the earlier oversight of exposed flesh with darkening powder. Steven said contritely: "Sorry to have troubled so many people to help with my make-up. Maybe for next time I should go get a natural tan under the sun." But in later scenes, Steven will portray a rich young master of a wealthy family so of course this sun tanning method will not work. So for now, Steven will just have to bear with an overall body make-up.

Detail #3 Understanding his co-star will promote more tacit collaborating
Steven, who has mostly filmed tv series in Hong Kong seldom collaborated with mainland actresses, so when he heard that this series required him to collaborate with mainland actress, Zhang Meng, he proceeded to understand who Zhang Meng (张檬) is. "I found out that this person, Zhang Meng, will be paired with me. So I checked. First, very young. Second, very pretty. Third, I heard that her performances are pretty good too." Although on the acting aspect both parties still have to adapt to each other, Steven is not worried about their collaboration: "Earlier in Beijing, we were already introduced to each other. With this initial acquaintance I believe we now have a better understanding of each other."

Temporary Leaving TVB; Look Forward to Having a Tailor-Made Role

March this year, Steven officially terminated his TVB contract, and left his 'maternal home' where he had worked for 18 years. Furthermore, his last TVB series, Daddy Good Deeds, has just finished broadcasting, with good ratings, to boot.

Talking about his future without TVB, Steven came across very mature:" For now, I've temporary left TVB. Also, recently, Hong Kong has just finished airing my series, Daddy Good Deeds. My jobs in mainland for the next two years are currently under negotiation. Conversely, on Hong Kong side, I'm still undecided because many of the tv stations in Hong Kong are all very good, including my own maternal home, TVB. For now, I welcome all kinds of collaborations. But mainly it will depend on fate and the script.

"As for the role, this Tang Ting Xuan though has deep sentiments can be considered an antagonist. For me, it has already realized my first challenge. In the future, there are still many more characters I would like to attempt. Actually, I really hope the scriptwriters would tailor-made a role for me that is challenging to me, that would be awesome."

Even though for various reasons Steven did not renew his TVB contract, toward his "maternal home" he has only gratitude, like what he once wrote: " Actually, worldly affairs change, human affairs may not necessarily change; the people and things in TVB, the gratitude and sentiment, I remember them all clearly."

Love Hengdian, Enjoying Life

Taiwan's Iset tv station once said this of Hengdian: "If you are an artist and have yet to visit Hengdian, then you must work even harder." Truly, since 1996 Hengdian constructed its first Guangzhou streets scene zone and Hong Kong streets zone until today with its many other scene zones, lots of artists from outside mainland have visited Hengdian and many have even become regulars here. Steven, who has trained his focus onto mainland, has also gradually become one of Hengdian's regulars. In his One Pen Ma column he has mentioned Hengdian numerous times: "Say Hengdian is very flourishing and prosperous? In film production aspect, definitely.""Food, drink, entertainment, Hengdian basically has them all. ""Looking at Hengdian's sky..this kind of chilly and gray atmosphere imbued in me a kind of solitary clear-headedness."

In this interview, Steven has obviously become familiar with us, as he spontaneously addressed us as "Little Heng Heng", (tn: Hengdian's affectionate nickname) and has even become a tour guide to his new colleagues."In my troupe, there are many who came here for the first time. Many of them came from Beijing so seldom came here. Anyway, I'm very familiar with this place. In Hengdian where to eat or whatnots, they all ask me. Especially that restaurant 状元烤蹄, I really like. "Beside dining, Steven, who greatly enjoys physical fitness and sports, even find such places in Hengdian. He says: "I love to go to the badminton court in Hengdian. Yesterday I just finished a set. And had even made many new friends there. Also the gym, I like it a lot too."

4th Brother is so called 4th Brother because besides being 4th in his family, it is even more so because many people consider him a friend they can interact socially and also view him as a big brother. I believe this attentive and earnest, considerate and kind-hearted 4th Brother will travel far on the road of success.