How can anyone not love pandas? With the earthquake in Sichuan last year and the sending of two pandas to Taiwan, pandas again rose to the spotlight. A salut to all the panda tributes, including those from Jay Chou, Disney, Yang Lei and Huang Xiaoming, coming out recently.
Jay Chou held the press conference for a drama series tentatively named “Panda Men” on the 16th. Jay says that he “loves watching Super Hero movies, but Chinese people don’t have a modern day hero. All Chinese heroes are from the ancient times, so I want to do something that no one else has yet done.” Jay says he came up with the idea long before Kungfu Panda, but never had the time to do it.
“Panda Men” will be set in 2030 and stars two righteous males, dubbed “熊猫侠/Panda Hero” and “熊猫超人/Panda Superman,” who will protect “光明市/Bright City.”
Other than being the director, Jay will also play the mayor/ex-chief of the police of the city. Jay says that the Taiwanese lead actress has already been chosen, but not the mainland one. Jay wants a new actress with “big eyes, long hair and good acting. Zhou Xun would be perfect, but it’ll be weird for famous actresses to be in a TV series. Newbies are easier to control.”
source: Sina
Panda Come cover
Meanwhile, Disney is releasing a Chinese movie about a boy returning a lost panda home (I swear I’ve seen a movie like that before). Super Girl Yang Lei is also releasing her new EP called “Panda Come.”
In the midst of filming what was suppose to be his last drama, “An Xiang,” Huang Xiaoming made a note to check on his two adopted pandas, Pingping and An’an (pingpinganana=safe and healthy). Huang Xiaoming is the official ambassador for Panda Loving and will soon join in a series of love relays dedicated to the pandas.
@idarklight: That’s what I thought, too. I just wanted to see if anyone else agreed without me saying outright that Jay is aiming this series towards the Mainland audience as well as the Taiwanese audience.
Oh, I forgot that it’s in Chinese! Completely Chinese? No way they’ll show that in the theaters! >< I guess I’ll have to wait for the DVD release, then.
well, since it’s a cross-strait coproduction, it would make since to call it “熊猫” since mainland has a bigger market.
I don’t know…the last (and only) Disney Chinese movie, the Magic Gourd, was okay, but not great.
@Billy: I hope he does speak Mandarin well enough. I knew his name was Japanese, but I couldn’t tell he was mixed by looking at him because I have trouble telling the difference between Chinese people and Japanese and couldn’t find a good English source of info on him. Yes, he was in “Lost in Time.” That’s almost all I could find on him.
If it’s a Disney movie, chances are I’m going to watch it. It’s been a while since I’ve actually gone to a movie theater! If I like what I see, maybe I’ll take my brother to see it. :)
@idarklight: LOL! I’m not too sure about the heroes, either, but at least Jay dressed normal for a change. The plot sounds cute, though. Interesting, too, that he went with “熊猫,” not “猫熊” which is used in Taiwan. Is that also to make it more international?
so far, I’m not overly fond of the pictures he released for the panda superman and panda hero…they lack the cuteness of a panda (lol)…but Jay said he wanted it to be more international. He thought that since the panda part is blatantly Chinese, there’s no need for the rest of it to be so Chinese.
@hobielover – yeah, i think it is. I recall him being in a Hong Kong movie with Lau Ching Wan. I think its Lost in Time. Im just wondering if he can speak Mandarin well enough to play the role. I mean, he is half Japanese – half Chinese but I think he speaks mainly Cantonese so I guess we will just have to see
@Billy: He’s adorable!!!! What a little cutie! Is the picture in the background him in the movie?
Daichi Harashima? He is the little boy in the movie that is returning the panda home. He is playing the protagonist in the movie. Here is a pic of him in this new movie
http://i1.sinaimg.cn/ent/m/c/2008-06-17/U996P28T3D2063305F326DT20080617103837.jpg
Did police officer Jay ever use nunchucks to thwart the baddies? If this turns out as good as “Secret,” I’ll definitely watch it. A sci-fi series directed by Jay sounds neat, but I hope he doesn’t overdo it.
Is the movie you’re thinking of “The Amazing Panda Adventure”?
btw…who’s daichi harashima?
okee thanks billy!
Julie, I think its called “Touch of The Panda” but I dont know when it releases. The lead actor(the kid) is played by child actor Daichi Harashima.
im going to sichuan this summer and im gonna hold pandas!!!!
wats the disney movie called?
not sure about Jay’s Panda idea…when does the Disney movie release?
wow. they look so cute<3
panda phase :D