Michelle *will* kick your ass

Odd headline, given she's actually plugging her own film, but I guess the copyeditor (scum) thought the ref would catch readers' attention better. . .

Michelle Yeoh has no regrets about turning down 'Matrix' role

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) - Malaysian-born actress Michelle Yeoh said Wednesday she has no regrets about rejecting a major role in the "Matrix'' sequels to film her new movie, which she hopes will thrill audiences as much as her last hit, "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.''

Filmed in Tibet and China, "The Touch'' cost dlrs 20 million to produce _ dlrs 5 million more than the Oscar-winning "Crouching Tiger'' _ and opens Thursday throughout Asia, where the action star's massive fan base ensures rousing box-office returns.

Technically, that should be Tibet Autonomous Region. That's what the people with the nuclear weapons call it, anyway. Then again, they can't hold on to Taiwan, either.

Taiwanese president backs independence referendum
By Benjamin Kang Lim

TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian said on Saturday he backed legislation for a referendum to decide whether the island should formally declare independence from China, a move certain to anger Beijing.

Holding a "referendum is a basic human right that cannot be deprived or restricted", Chen told a gathering of pro-independence activists in Tokyo during a video conference.

"I want to sincerely urge and encourage everybody to seriously consider the importance and urgency of passing legislation on a referendum," Chen said.

Although Chen did not give a timetable, his comments were likely to stoke tensions with Beijing, which considers Taiwan a renegade province and has threatened to attack if the democratic island of 23 million declares independence.

Beijing had no immediate comment. But Taiwan cable news network TVBS quoted a spokesman for the Taiwan Affairs Office of China's cabinet as saying unification was the island's only political future.

[. . .] When Chen took office in May 2000, he promised not to declare statehood or push for an independence referendum in what was seen then as a gesture to Beijing.

[. . .] Repeated surveys show most Taiwan residents prefer a political relationship with China and fear the consequences of any declaration of independence.

Chen's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is the largest party in parliament but it does not have an outright majority and it would be difficult to get any referendum bill passed.

Beijing has said closer U.S. military and political support for Taiwan encourages pro-independence sentiment on Taiwan. Chen's comments were likely to raise tensions between China and Taiwan and could draw in the United States, analysts said.

"This negates the goodwill he has expressed," said Liu Bih-rong, political scientist at Taipei's Soochow University. "But he's said different things to different people on different occasions. I expect him to mellow his stance in two weeks."

As usual, the best line is at the end of the article. Who do you think is pushing for closer ties with China?

Taiwan's government faces increasing pressure from business leaders to embrace closer commercial links with the mainland as the island recovers from its worst ever recession.

Emphasis added. Because the notion amuses me.

Back to the important news, though, Michelle Yeoh has a new movie.

But the movie, which enjoyed a sold-out premiere Tuesday in Malaysia, is no retread of director Ang Lee's Chinese-language epic. Yeoh, known for her Asian martial arts prowess, transforms herself into a contemporary heroine reminiscent of Indiana Jones and Lara Croft of "Tomb Raider.''

Insert breast implant joke here.

The movie, directed by Peter Pau, who won an Oscar for his cinematography in "Crouching Tiger,'' features Yeoh as a trapeze acrobat who gets tangled in a quest for a mystical Buddhist artifact.

This line worried me, since when cinematrographers direct. . . well, who saw Juice? Looked pretty, right? But, um, somewhat lacking?

(See Ernest R. Dickerson's credits at IMDB if you're confused at this point. And try reading the credits some time.)

The script is a hackneyed blend of romance, humor and swashbuckling, but the movie soars during Yeoh's limb-twisting action sequences and panoramic views of Tibet's Namtso Lake.

Miramax Films has bought the U.S. distribution rights for "The Touch,'' which is the first movie from Yeoh's new production firm, Mythical Films. It is expected to be released in the United States later this year.

To complete "The Touch,'' Yeoh surprised fans early last year when she turned down an offer by the Wachowski brothers, who courted her to star in their sequels to the science-fiction blockbuster, "The Matrix.''

But Yeoh, whose biggest role so far was in "Tomorrow Never Dies'' in the James Bond franchise, says she doesn't mind not appearing with Keanu Reeves when "The Matrix Reloaded'' _ the first of two planned sequels _ hits screens in May 2003.

"I don't have any regrets,'' Yeoh said. "Not doing 'The Matrix' wasn't a difficult choice, to be honest. 'The Touch' was the easy No. 1 choice.''

Yeoh, who turns 40 next week, says she has no plans to retire from the adrenaline-pumping movies that have been her staple for 15 years, which have seen her kickfighting alongside Asia's top male action stars, including Jackie Chan and Jet Li.

"I'm blessed with the fact that I have physical abilities, so while I can, why do I have to turn around and say I only want to do movies where I'm only sitting down, walking and standing still,'' she said.

I mention this because usually 'mercans get movies weeks or months before everyone else, and it's cool that Ms. Yeoh opened hers in Malaysia.

Think I posted something about how, like a lot of the CTHD cast, she doesn't actually speak Mandarin:

[Co-screenwriter James] Schamus wasn't the only one on set wrestling with multiple languages. The film's dialogue was written in Mandarin Chinese, the language spoken throughout most of China, but not the Hong Kong region, where Cantonese is widely spoken. Since many of the film's actors and actresses came from the Hong Kong martial arts film tradition, they found themselves delivering lines in what was essentially a foreign tongue.

"Chow (Yun Fat) and Michelle (Yeoh, who shares top billing on the film with Chow), in particular, had a very tough time," Schamus said. "Michelle's first language is actually English.

"They both struggled very hard, but Ang succeeded in keeping their voices. They're not dubbed. Though [Mandarin-speaking audiences] can hear the accent, [they] still took to the film."

From Eric Wittmershaus interview with James Schamus in the indispensible Flak Magazine.

Not that I actually know anything about any of this -- Tibet, Taiwan, Chinese linguistics -- but I find it interesting.

And post about it here.

Which is why I no more deserve the Uppity-Negro.com domain than some guy in Amsterdam deserves House Negro.com.

He's got a better soundtrack, though.

Research assistance by George Kelly and our statistician Marge N. O'Error. Our producer is Blue Chevigny. WBEZ management oversight by Torey Malatia, who always forgets that this is a web site, not a film, and says:

The essence of this film looks at how East meets West. We have all these different elements, which I'm very, very confident will transcend whatever language, whatever culture, wherever the place.