Jay Chou (周杰倫) will make his Hollywood debut, starring alongside Nicolas Cage and Cameron Diaz in the movie version of the once-popular US television series The Green Hornet, his company said on Saturday.
“I am very delighted to have such a chance to act in a film made by international producer, and I will do my best,” said the star said in a brief statement issued by the JVR Music Company.
Columbia Pictures also confirmed in a statement that after a worldwide search, Chou, 30, had joined the cast of Michel Gondry’s The Green Hornet in the iconic role of Kato.
The film was adapted from the 1960s popular TV series starring Van Williams as the crime fighter Britt Reid or the Green Hornet, and the late Chinese-American martial arts icon Bruce Lee as his sidekick, Kato.
While things keep getting better for The Chairman, Michael Douglas’ son is headed firmly in the opposite direction. According to a criminal complaint made public last week in the US, Cameron Douglas traveled coast to coast dealing large quantities of methamphetamine before his arrest last month.
The complaint in federal court in Manhattan alleges that the younger Douglas was paid tens of thousands of US dollars trafficking the drug — referred to in transactions by the code words “pastry” or “bath salts” — since 2006. Cash and drugs were routinely exchanged through shippers like FedEx, the court papers said.
The 30-year-old son of the Oscar-winning actor was arrested July 28 at the trendy Hotel Gansevoort in Manhattan. His attorney, Nicholas DeFeis, declined to comment on Thursday.
The complaint drawn up by a Drug Enforcement Administration agent details allegations based on information provided by three unnamed crystal meth users and dealers. The users — including someone who once worked for Cameron Douglas — have pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with the investigation.
The complaint said that in one deal in 2006, a cooperator shipped cash under a fake name to Douglas at a California hotel. A few days later, it said, Douglas delivered a pound (roughly half a kilogram) of methamphetamine to the cooperator at a Manhattan hotel.
In 2007, according to another cooperator, Douglas was paid US$48,000 at a Manhattan apartment. The cooperator later received a pound of crystal meth through FedEx from Santa Barbara, California.
In June and July, negotiations for more drugs were secretly recorded on wiretaps of cell phones and a cooperator’s hotel room in Manhattan.
Cameron Douglas, in one recording at the hotel, “acknowledged his prior history selling crystal meth” and “indicated that he continued to sell crystal meth.” In a separate recorded phone conversation, investigators said he spoke of “sending out a pastry” to a cooperator, and also asked, “Did you get a chance to ... smell any of the salts or anything like that?” Cameron Douglas has acted in movies including 2003’s It Runs in the Family, starring his father and grandfather Kirk Douglas.
He was previously arrested in California in 2007 on cocaine possession charges. His attorney then said the arresting officer didn’t do his job properly.
Also busted on drug charges is Japanese actress Noriko Sakai, who turned herself in to Tokyo police and was arrested on Saturday evening, reports local broadcaster NHK.
The 38-year-old actress had been missing since her husband was arrested earlier this week for alleged drug possession.
Sakai, whose disappearance sparked a media frenzy in Japan and other Asian countries, was well-known throughout the region, especially in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, because of her songs and TV dramas during the 1990s.
Tokyo police said on Saturday night they could not immediately confirm the report.
Sakai’s husband, Yuichi Takaso, 41, was stopped in central Tokyo earlier in the week by police, who allegedly found drugs when they searched him, according to reports.
Questions concerning Sakai’s whereabouts have dominated headlines since Takaso’s arrest, with her mother-in-law asking police to search for her, and the president of her management agency holding a news conference and urging her not to go through the difficult time by herself.
Another thespian with drug issues, actor Tom Sizemore, has been arrested in Los Angeles for alleged domestic violence. Police spokesman Richard French says the 47-year-old, best known for his appearances in Black Hawk Down and Saving Private Ryan, was arrested on Wednesday night in downtown Los Angeles. French did not have details of the incident.
Jail records show Sizemore was released on Thursday morning. His bail had been set at US$20,000.
Representatives for two agencies listed as representing Sizemore said they no longer did so.
Sizemore was convicted in 2003 of domestic violence involving his ex-girlfriend, former “Hollywood Madam” Heidi Fleiss. He’s also had a string of drug-related arrests in recent years.
“Anyone, Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?”
American TV personality Ben Stein has been stripped of his Sunday New York Times business column because of his work as a pitchman for a credit monitoring company.
Stein famously played the part of a monotone economics teacher in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.
New York Times spokeswoman Catherine Mathis released a statement on Friday that said the newspaper decided it would not be appropriate for Stein to pitch for FreeScore.com while writing his column.
An e-mail requesting comment from the former host of Comedy Central’s Win Ben Stein’s Money quiz show was not immediately returned.
Earlier this year, Stein withdrew as the University of Vermont’s commencement speaker over complaints about his critical views of evolution in favor of “intelligent design.”
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