Source: The Electric New Paper
Credit: noreen (www.jay-chou.net)
Jay Chou may play sidekick in The Green Hornet, but his director says the Mandopop star is the main attraction at the film's Asian promo tour
IT WAS in Los Angeles' Chinatown that Hollywood comic Seth Rogen finally got a taste of just how famous Taiwanese pop sensation Jay Chou is.
The co-stars of the new superhero movie The Green Hornet were filming a scene in an apartment there.
The 28-year-old Canadian actor-writer told The New Paper: 'Though we've heard of Jay's massive popularity among the Chinese community, we didn't know how big he really was...(until we) witnessed it for ourselves.'
'There was a huge crowd forming outside, including a bunch of Asian girls who were freaking out like they had just seen the Beatles.
'At one point, they even scrambled to retrieve a used water bottle Jay had flung into the trash can!'
Rogen - who plays the titular character in the big-screen adaptation of the 60s TV series The Green Hornet - was in town on Monday to promote the film alongside Chou and director Michel Gondry.
Chou makes his Hollywood debut as Kato, the Green Hornet's agile sidekick.
The action comedy - which opens here on Thursday - also stars Cameron Diaz and Christoph Waltz.
During roundtable interviews with the media at StRegis Hotel, Rogen continued with a loud guffaw: 'Ihave met a lot of famous people in my life, but I've never seen anything like that before (referring to the Chinatown incident)...It was pretty amazing.'
The megawatt stardom of 32-year-old Chou was affirmed by Gondry, who gamely revealed that throughout the Asian promotional tour of The Green Hornet, Chou never failed to become 'the main attraction'.
'When we were in Japan and Beijing, no one showed interest in talking to me or Seth,' said the 47-year-old Frenchman best known for the critically acclaimed Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind (2004).
'Even if they did, it was just to find out what it was like working with Jay.'
With a smile, Gondry added that among Rogen, Chou and himself, Chou 'also gets the most number of female fans'.
'It's kind of like The Rolling Stones,' he deadpanned, making a reference to the legendary English rock band.
'All the girls love (frontman vocalist) Mick Jagger and (guitarist) Keith Richards and I am bassist BillWyman.'
Rogen doesn't seem to mind the fact that Chou constantly overshadows him.
'Well, turns out he wasn't lying at all back in America,' quipped the star of Hollywood comedies like Knocked Up, Pineapple Express and Funny People.
'He is indeed extremely famous!'
Chou landed the part of Kato after plans to get Hong Kong veteran actor Stephen Chow (who was slated to play Kato and take on directing duties) on board fellthrough.
According to Rogen, the first reading with Chou was done over Skype, and the film-makers instantly found him 'very cool'.
Despite Chou's popularity in the Asian leg of the film's promotional tour, there was nary a trace of rivalry between the pair.
Chou told TNP in Mandarin: 'On this trip to Asia, I've been teaching Seth some basic Mandarin.'
'Just the other day, I taught him 'chao diao', a colloquial term used in Taiwan that means awesome,' said the Mandopop superstar, whose much-loved rap hit Nunchuks was made The Green Hornet's official end credits theme.
Learning English
In return, Rogen taught him English phrases - the kind Chou had better not show off in public.
'Yes, I'm a very bad influence. I taught him the swear words, the stuff you'd consider slightly dirty,' confessed Rogen sheepishly.
The language barrier between Chou and his Hollywood counterparts has not stopped them from falling in love with his distinctive R&B musical style.
Chou held a concert at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and Sports Arena last month, one that saw the attendance of Gondry, Rogen and Diaz.
'I passed them my CDs as well,' he said.
Well-known in Taiwan for his deftness in performing magic tricks, Chou recalled how he found it 'awkward' showing off his skills in front of Rogen or Gondry as 'it's not a very guy thing'.
He added: 'With Cameron, it's okay, she knows plenty of tricks herself, so I did promise her I'll learn some new ones to show her next time.'
In response to a journalist's question about his concerns over being stereotyped as an Asian actor in Hollywood, Chou laughed and said: 'If you've caught the movie, you'd know it definitely doesn't put Asians in a bad light.
'In fact, it shows Asians aren't to be bullied.'
Chou's version of Kato, who was played by the late Bruce Lee on the small screen, isn't simply a sidekick of Rogen's Green Hornet, but a buddy and an equal.
'It's something we set out to achieve right from the beginning,' said Rogen, who is also a co-writer for thefilm.
'To us, it's ridiculously insulting how Asians have always been relegated to the sidekick supporting role.
'If you look at the television series, you can't help but marvel how Bruce Lee was really iconic, yet subjugated as Kato.'
Fan who gets to hug Chou says: He smells of awesomeness
IF YOU had been in love with Jay Chou for 10 years and won a contest to meet him, you wouldn't listen even if the organisers told you that you couldn't touch him.
Ms Sandra Ho, 24, a teacher, was the only contest winner who got to hug the Taiwanese superstar at Bugis Junction on Monday and drove the 3,500-strong crowd ballistic with her passionate embrace.
Ms Ho told TNP: 'When I went on stage to shake Jay's hand, I thought it was now or never. So I asked him in Mandarin 'Can I hug you?'. And he said yes and just opened his arms to me. He smelled really good and felt all lean and muscular.'
Despite her happiness, she admitted she felt guilty afterwards.
'Jay is the kind of celebrity who'd say yes even if he doesn't want to do something, so I do feel a little bit bad that I may have invaded his personal space because he was just so sweet and obliging about it.'
Won't wash shirt
Ms Ho added that she will dry clean only the back of the shirt that she had on when she hugged Chou and 'the front of the shirt will never be washed'.
So what does Chou smell like? According to MsHo, he smells of 'awesomeness'.
'He also had a clean, warm and soapy smell,' she said with laugh.
Chou and his Green Hornet co-star, Hollywood actor Seth Rogen, were in town on Monday to meet their fans at Bugis Junction. They also presented prizes to the top six teams in the The Green Hornet Me And My Sidekick contest.
Each team consisted of a pair of buddies. They had to make a video on why they were inseparable and send it to the contest's organisers.
Ms Ho and her friend, Mr Abhishek Radhakrishnan, dressed up as Batman and Iron Man respectively for the video. They were among the 10 teams picked to enter the semi-finals.
Last weekend, they competed in games like Pictionary and made it to the finals on Monday which was held just before Chou's appearance.
After having to do things like transport water with their hands tied together in the finals, Ms Ho's team came in runners-up.
Ms Ho said they lost to the top team because they didn't do well in the Mandarin orange peeling challenge on Monday.
Apart from the opportunity to meet Chou and Rogen and take pictures with them, the winning teams also won F&N Seasons products.
Having spent six years studying in Australia, MsHo came back here two years ago when she accepted her teaching job with local thinking-skills school LogicMills.
And her choice of job paid off - but not in the way you would typically expect.
Ms Ho found out only on Sunday evening that she had to compete in the contest's finals on Monday, which was a work day for her.
Her 'amazing' boss not only agreed for her to meet Chou, he even took over her classes for her.
Said Ms Ho: 'My obsession with Jay started 10 years ago only because I saw a picture of him and fell in love with his cheekbones.'
EVERYTHING SUPERNATURAL
