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ETA: Headline video I can't dl this video. A more detailed video whereby Steven relates how he was first contacted by Stephen Shiu on wechat (not phone as initially reported)
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source 粤夜粤娱乐20151111 The hosts admire Steven's graciousness at attending the premiere to show support despite that inevitable twinge of disappointment at being left out in the movie.
source: HotTV@Bastille Post
So, per this latest appledaily report, looks like Steven was actually invited by producer Stephen Shiu last year on his birthday (not this year birthday) to photoshoot a funeral and a wedding portrait. Given this extra, defining information, "my last year birthday" (上年我生日) Steven was not an afterthought after all, so I gladly take back what I said about the whole matter about him being slighted, used and discarded. Just two omitted words, "上年", can so effectively change the whole picture and perspective for me. So Helen Ma's 2014 Dec weibo happily declaring that Lai Shun was in the cast is true after all. Now, I'm all right with Steven agreeing to a cameo in the series.
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Appledaily
《十月初五》慈善首映】開拍前撞正馬浚偉生日蕭定一叫佢影「遺照」？
噚晚電影《十月初五的月光》搞慈善首映，張智霖、佘詩曼、薛家燕、商天娥及唐文龍等亦現身銅鑼灣時代廣場，由勞工及福利局局長張建宗做主禮嘉賓，而喺電視中演「司徒禮信」嘅馬浚偉，就以特別嘉賓到場。
會場有一大班張智霖、佘詩曼及薛家燕嘅fans圍觀，張智霖喺台上表示：「好感動，好緊張，好似返番去15年前咁。」佘詩曼就話有少少緊張，剛才謝票時，見到啲觀眾反應喊晒唔開心，反而自己好開心，因為角色感動到佢哋。
張智霖喺台上拎住電話錄低同現場嘅人一齊大叫「十月初五的月光」，當馬浚偉上台時，見馬浚偉塊面好白，佢話：「當大家見到我一黑一白，以為我咩事，其實當開拍電影版，籌備嘅時候，蕭定一打畀我，話想搵我幫忙，當日係我生日，佢就話想我影張『遺照』，佢冇直接咁講呢兩個字，個故事一開始，我已經死咗，如果我唔死，文初點同君好呢!」
馬浚偉又喺台上笑言：「撞正我生日就同我講啲咁嘅嘢，今日就可以報仇，因為過咗12點，就係蕭定一生日，決定要佢影『遺照』，唔係，係影一張合照。」
馬浚偉其後接受訪問，問佢今次喺片中影「遺照」，有冇收利是，佢講：「冇呀!因為唔係怕我死，只不過係阿一打嚟同我講，撞正上年我生日出發去台灣慶祝，阿一wechat叫我幫手，當時我喺機場，阿一話之前冇搵你，係因為你喺片中一開始已經死咗，乜我生日流流講啲咁嘅嘢，阿一話想你喺片中死前影一輯結婚相，之後返嚟冇咗件事，後嚟葉念琛搵我，自己聽到個劇情好感動。」
馬浚偉又話司徒禮信死咗，君好幻想又好、係靈魂出竅又好，畀君好一個鼓勵，解決咗君好嘅心魔，馬仔話出場都過一分鐘，唔係「秒殺」，係「分殺」，唔係計錢，因為同蕭定一識咗好耐。
@tamaya: Thanks for the updated info! LOL, ironic that Apple Daily’s news report is actually more accurate than Oriental Daily’s (on.cc) this time around.
ReplyDeleteIn any case, glad to know that Steven wasn’t an afterthought after all , though I’m still not too happy with the premise of the movie being made solely to satisfy Chor Gor Gor and Kwan Ho shippers and Lai Shun having to be ‘sacrificed’ in order for that to happen. If they really wanted to, I’m sure they could’ve incorporated Steven’s character into the script somehow and given him a significant role in the movie instead of making him ‘die’ even before the even movie begins (especially if they were trying to stay true to the ‘original cast’ thing, which is what they kept claiming). True, inviting Steven to do a cameo in the movie may not have been an afterthought per se from a timing perspective, but writing him out of the script when all the other leads got included, then calling him up later and asking him to take some funeral portraits to ‘help them out’ still doesn't sit well with me.
By the way – one of the other reasons I’m so ‘concerned’ with the casting / production process for this movie is because supposedly, Stephen Shiu’s company will also be producing the movie version of The Menu – of course, the production team will be completely different than ROTC and there will be the advantage of the original director and scriptwriter for the original series being involved, but not sure what role Stephen Shiu will play in terms of influencing casting decisions and story/plot. One thing that’s for sure is that Stephen Shiu isn’t Ricky Wong and so he might not give the scriptwriter/director/producer the ‘complete freedom’ that was a hallmark of HKTV’s production process. I'm going they don't butcher that movie like they're doing with this one.
"the movie being made solely to satisfy Chor Gor Gor and Kwan Ho shippers and Lai Shun having to be ‘sacrificed’ in order for that to happen"
DeleteLess messy that way not having to reprise the 'competition' between 2 equally charismatic leading men. Honestly, I prefer Steven not to participate in this movie at all given the undeserved hostility shown towards La i Shun and him by shippers and other fans at that time, I don't relish having that hostility spilled over to movie.goers. B'cos if Lai Shun were in the movie, the scriptwriters would make him a very flawed even detestable foil against Man Chor so as not to have him a threat to Man Chor. So, I'm ok with Lai Shun's death, that way I can totally ignore that movie. Just hope that Lai Shun's character is not besmirched by infidelity.
@tamaya: All good points! Of course, the ideal would be for the movie not to be made in the first place, but of course that’s too much to ask. And regarding the infidelity angle, that part still baffles me – if they are going to make Lai Shun die, why put in the “suspicion of infidelity” piece? Why not just say that he (and it looks like the kids too based on the plot summary) died in a tragic accident and leave the infidelity piece out of it? I don’t know about you, but it just seems so unnecessary to me – not to mention ironic given Kwan Ho’s continued feelings for Chor Gor Gor (like she has the audacity to accuse Lai Shun of infidelity when technically she’s the one not being faithful to him). Not like the story / plot isn’t going to be sappy enough – they certainly didn’t need to pile on melodrama after melodrama to attract viewers, especially since, like I said earlier, fans of the series and Chor Gor Gor/Kwan Ho shippers are going to watch anyway regardless of how the plot turns out.
DeleteI totally detest this movie and it's plot. Hellava of lame. Hope it'll be a Flop.
ReplyDeleteWah! Such strong emotion! Anyway, I'm totally neutral to this movie, whatever will be will be.
DeleteLOL…on the one hand, I can understand the emotional reaction, but probably not worth getting too upset over since, to be honest, it’s not like the director or the production company or Stephen Shiu for that matter will care how we feel, since the majority of audiences seem to support the movie. The box office numbers for the first day are out and as anticipated, ticket sales were strong, with first day sales figures already in the millions (HKD of course). Regardless of how crappy the plot may or may not be, it’s pretty much a fact that the movie is going to rake in tons of dough…who knows, if Patrick Kong keeps this up, maybe he can go the Wong Jing route where he doesn’t have to give a crap what audiences think or how dumb his movies are because he’s a “billion dollar director and until you are able to achieve the same astronomical box office figures, you have no right to speak” (Wong Jing’s words, not mine…lol).
DeleteYou guys might be happy to know this. ROTC might be doing well at the box office, but the reviews haven’t been that great. People are complaining that the movie version of ROTC follows the same pattern as the movie version of TITS – pretty much an extended MV that has illogical plot and silly story. Essentially, both movies are trying to rely on nostalgia and good reception of the original series to attract audiences into the theater – based on ticket sales, of course this strategy worked, as both movies scored big at the box office due to all the fans of the original series clamoring to watch….but from a quality perspective, neither movie has depth and is pretty much not worth watching unless you're a fan of the original series.
ReplyDeleteThe above is the exact reason why I hate it when TVB or anyone else for that matter try to turn classic TV series into movies….but then again, as I said earlier, I guess the fact that the movie is being panned and criticized doesn't matter as long as it does well at the box office and brings in money for those involved...
I really don't care either way - nothing to do with me anyway. Anyway, from start to finish, money has always been the motivator for the producers and the actors, so good for them for achieving that at least. Anyway, I've decided not to watch the movie even if it is available online just like I didn't for TITS. I've enjoyed TITS 1 (enjoyed the trainees) up to Joe Ma's death and then gave up - couldn't stand the tear-jerky melodrama. As for TITS2 I think I managed to watch up to ep 5, I think.
DeleteProbably a good idea not to watch the movie. After reading this review, I will probably do the same thing: http://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/film-tv/article/1878455/film-review-return-cuckoo-patrick-kongs-sequel-treads-your-love
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