4 Oct – International superstar, Datuk Michelle Yeoh ("Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon," "Memoirs of a Geisha") together with highly-acclaimed directors, John Woo ("Face Off," "Red Cliff") and Su Chao-Pin ("Silk," "Double Vision") were in Singapore recently to promote their latest action martial arts flick, "Reign of Assassins." The trio expressed their feelings of excitement and hope for the movie during the 45-minute press conference at The Fullerton Hotel Singapore, which was deemed one of the longest movie press conferences in Singapore. The occasion was as lively as ever as Datuk Michelle Yeoh broke into her animated self answering scores of questions from reporters, however swiftly avoided a query on her relationship with husband, ex-Ferrari boss Jean Todt. However, the 48-year-old former Bond girl, failed to show up for the roundtable interview after and was rumoured to be avoiding questions surrounding her personal life.
During the conference, Yeoh, who was earlier love-struck by her co-star Jung Woo-Sung ("The Warrior," "A Moment to Remember") said that "the chemistry between us on film was really good. I can feel for my character and Jung's as well. We had a great time playing couple on-screen." Yeoh added that she's happy that the crew found someone as great as Jung as her co-star. Yeoh, who played an assassin Drizzle, told reporters that she did 95% of the stunts her own self. "I always believe in putting my very best in whatever I do. The result always surprises me at the end of every take. Sometimes I couldn't help but wondered if it was really me, who did those stunts. I always get the feeling of fulfilment after that."
Taiwanese director, Su Chao-Pin, who appeared to be less talkative among the three, said that the theme behind "Reign of Assassins" is "forgiving is better than revenge." "When compared to older wuxia films, you will always get the same plot like father A got killed by assassin B, then A's son grew up to avenge his father's death and then assassin B's daughter grew up doing the same thing over and over again. I want to make something different where my audiences can relate to themselves at the end of the day," said Chao-Pin.
"Red Cliff" director, John Woo who insisted with a hearty laugh that "Reign of Assassins" is way better that Ang Lee's "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon", said that the Chinese film industry is very passionate about movie-making nowadays. "There are a lot of areas to explore, which is why I want to come back to Asia and make more Chinese films. I want to incorporate what I had learnt in Hollywood to Asia," said Woo. When asked whether Yeoh will ever perform her own "sexy stunts" like Barbie Hsu in "Reign of Assassins", she replied: "I have not tried even once in the past, and I shall NEVER attempt them in the future either!" "Reign of Assassins" will slash into Singapore on 7 October, while in Malaysia on 14 October 2010!