A UK newspaper on Tuesday referred to Taiwan as “Taipei, China” in its report of famed French director Luc Besson’s filming of his action thriller Lucy in downtown Taipei.
The UK daily newspaper Daily Mail on Tuesday ran an article covering the filming of the action movie in which Hollywood star Scarlett Johansson reportedly plays a Taiwan-based drug mule who later becomes imbued with superpowers and turns into a fighting machine.
At the heart of the controversy is the caption of a photograph in the Daily Mail article showing Johansson filming for the movie outside the Regent Taipei Hotel, which reads: “Feline good! Scarlett Johansson, 28, looked every inch the blonde bombshell, wearing a leopard-print jacket to shoot her latest flick Lucy in Taipei, China on Monday.”
Johansson was “filming an action thriller in China” and that “while the attire might be far from what someone living in the conservative country of China might usually wear, it seemed the perfect choice for Scarlett’s character Lucy,” the Daily Mail reported.
Not a word of “Taiwan” was mentioned in the whole article.
Upon learning of the Daily Mail’s report that referred to “Taipei, China,” some critics have directed their criticism at the Taipei Film Commission, with some saying that the commission has forsaken its duties.
The commission is a semi-government organization established in 2007 with the stated goals of providing assistance for film productions in Taipei and promoting the nation’s international profile.
In response, commission director Jennifer Jao (饒紫娟) said it is public knowledge that the movie is being filmed in Taiwan and that there is no need to make comments on the reports of a single news outlet.
“The commission will clarify the matter with [Besson’s] production crew and will wait until the French director wraps up filming in Taiwan to give local media more complete information [regarding the film shoot],” she said.
Lucy is the biggest Hollywood film to be shot in Taiwan since two-time Oscar-winning Taiwanese director Ang Lee’s (李安) 3D epic adventure film Life of Pi, which was filmed in Greater Taichung.
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