Asia's silver screen lost a favorite actor yesterday, when Lung Sihung (
Lung gained worldwide renown for his father-figure roles in both Taiwanese and Japanese films, especially Oscar-winning director Ang Lee's (
Lung won Best Actor at the Golden Horse Awards for Pushing Hands and Best Supporting Actor for The Wedding Banquet. He also acted in Lee's Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon.
PHOTO: CMPC
News of Lung's death shocked and saddened many in Taiwan's film circles, including Lee.
"Ang Lee was tremendously sad. He was crying over the phone while talking to Lung's wife, Pao Chia (包珈)," said film producer Hsu Li-kong (徐立功), a long-time movie-making partner of Lee's.
Busy shooting his new film, The Incredible Hulk, in the US, Lee was unable to return to Taiwan to see his favorite actor after Lung became seriously ill. But he called Pao as soon as he learned from the Internet of the actor' death, Hsu said.
"Before he [Lung] died, he asked me to tell Ang Lee please don't be so sad and distracted by his illness. He said Lee should concentrate on making more and more good films," Hsu quoted Pao as telling the director.
Hsu said Lung was an excellent actor and called him a "rare find in the history of Chinese filmmaking."
Hsu first worked with Lung on Pushing Hands in 1992.
"He had a face that both the Asian and Western worlds could easily identify with, Hsu said.
Hsu praised Lung's dedication in preparing for his film roles.
"I remember he went to tai chi [太極] class everyday from 5am in order to interpret the father with tai chi kung fu in the film," he said, recalling Lung in Pushing Hands.
In order to work on what became his final movie -- Michelle Yeoh's (
Filming on The Touch finished at the end of last year and Lung fell ill shortly afterwards.
In Japan, Lung was labeled the best on-screen father figure since film master Yasujiro Ozu's films. One of his more famous roles was in the 1988 Japanese film Sleepless Town.
He had also been asked to act in some French films but those plans fell through because of his deteriorating health.
Lung was also remembered for being a devout Catholic.
According to Hsu, when filming overseas, Lung's first priority was to find a Catholic church to attend.
"One of his great regrets as an actor was not having a chance to play Father Vincent Lebbe, who was a Belgian missionary to China in the 19th century," Hsu said.
Prosecutors in New Taipei City yesterday indicted 31 individuals affiliated with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) for allegedly forging thousands of signatures in recall campaigns targeting three Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers. The indictments stem from investigations launched earlier this year after DPP lawmakers Su Chiao-hui (蘇巧慧) and Lee Kuen-cheng (李坤城) filed criminal complaints accusing campaign organizers of submitting false signatures in recall petitions against them. According to the New Taipei District Prosecutors Office, a total of 2,566 forged recall proposal forms in the initial proposer petition were found during the probe. Among those
ECHOVIRUS 11: The rate of enterovirus infections in northern Taiwan increased last week, with a four-year-old girl developing acute flaccid paralysis, the CDC said Two imported cases of chikungunya fever were reported last week, raising the total this year to 13 cases — the most for the same period in 18 years, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. The two cases were a Taiwanese and a foreign national who both arrived from Indonesia, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said. The 13 cases reported this year are the most for the same period since chikungunya was added to the list of notifiable communicable diseases in October 2007, she said, adding that all the cases this year were imported, including 11 from
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) today condemned the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) after the Czech officials confirmed that Chinese agents had surveilled Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) during her visit to Prague in March last year. Czech Military Intelligence director Petr Bartovsky yesterday said that Chinese operatives had attempted to create the conditions to carry out a demonstrative incident involving Hsiao, going as far as to plan a collision with her car. Hsiao was vice president-elect at the time. The MAC said that it has requested an explanation and demanded a public apology from Beijing. The CCP has repeatedly ignored the desires
RSS