One of the nation’s best-selling authors, Giddens Ko (柯景騰), also known as Jiu Ba-dao (九把刀), confirmed yesterday that a major studio in the US has purchased the rights to produce a screenplay based on his work, marking possibly the first time a local author’s story has been adapted into a Hollywood film.
The Killer Who Never Kills, a novel first published in 2005 that sold more than 100,000 copies nationwide, consists of two stories.
One of those stories has been sold to Hollywood, Ko said.
“If I could have a say on who plays the lead role of my novel, I would say Jay Chou (周杰倫), but obviously I am not the one making that decision,” Ko said, referring to the Taiwanese pop singer and actor who plays Seth Rogen’s sidekick in The Green Hornet.
The story sold to Hollywood follows the life of a killer who actually never kills anyone, but instead uses deceit to give the appearance that he has fulfilled his mission.
Ko refused to disclose any details of the deal, citing a confidentiality agreement.
Ko’s noted achievements include writing up to 5,000 words per day and publishing 14 novels in as many months. His prolific career started when he wrote a short story as part of his application to get into a local graduate school. It was then that he discovered his talent for writing.
At the age of 32, Ko has already published 56 novels, many of which have topped the best-seller charts. Some have been adapted for television soap operas, comic books and video games.
He has never experienced “writer’s block,” he said, adding that he thinks writing a novel is a process of talking to himself, a journey he finds “extremely lonely.”
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
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
‘SPEY’ REACTION: Beijing said its Eastern Theater Command ‘organized troops to monitor and guard the entire process’ of a Taiwan Strait transit China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early yesterday, 61 of which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It was not clear why so many planes were scrambled, said the Ministry of National Defense, which tabulated the flights. The aircraft were sent in two separate tranches, the ministry said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday “confirmed and welcomed” a transit by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier. The ship’s transit “once again [reaffirmed the Strait’s] status as international waters,” the foreign ministry said. “Such transits by
Taiwan is doing everything it can to prevent a military conflict with China, including building up asymmetric defense capabilities and fortifying public resilience, Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) said in a recent interview. “Everything we are doing is to prevent a conflict from happening, whether it is 2027 or before that or beyond that,” Hsiao told American podcaster Shawn Ryan of the Shawn Ryan Show. She was referring to a timeline cited by several US military and intelligence officials, who said Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had instructed the Chinese People’s Liberation Army to be ready to take military action against Taiwan
RSS