HOUSE OF LYING DAGGERS

[TickTake]

Falling under the category of why DVDs are the greatest thing since sliced bread.....

I'm watching HOFD with Zhang Yimou and Zhan Ziyi's commentary playing. It's a bit repetitive, but there is some interesting information that can be picked up.

Ziyi explained at one point that when she told TK he was riding well, he said he didn't really know where the horse was taking him. He also told the director that he didn't have control of the horse and wasn't providing it a direction to go in.

Now, I know TK has a tendency to downplay his own ability, so I'm not sure how much of his assessment on his riding is truth and how much is him just being humble. Probably a little of both.

Nonetheless, his riding was quite impressive in the film. I'm just thankful he didn't meet with fate worse than a broken leg!!

[Veronica]

TickTake said:

Falling under the category of why DVDs are the greatest thing since sliced bread.....

I'm watching HOFD with Zhang Yimou and Zhan Ziyi's commentary playing. It's a bit repetitive, but there is some interesting information that can be picked up.

Ziyi explained at one point that when she told TK he was riding well, he said he didn't really know where the horse was taking him. He also told the director that he didn't have control of the horse and wasn't providing it a direction to go in.

Now, I know TK has a tendency to downplay his own ability, so I'm not sure how much of his assessment on his riding is truth and how much is him just being humble. Probably a little of both.

Nonetheless, his riding was quite impressive in the film. I'm just thankful he didn't meet with fate worse than a broken leg!!

OMG, i rented this and tried to watch the commentary but ZZ was bothering me soooooooo much, i finally gave up. i decided after that why so many people don't like her. it's all about *HER*. she's really shallow, too, didn't have anything to offer from an artistic perspective--that as all the director--. anyway, for anyone interested, the creme d'asie forum has a pretty detailed description of the TK parts of the commentary. one of the fans took the time to type it all out and it's good. the fans over there are fed up with ZZ, too! if you all want to read more about TK in the commentary, just go to the Takeshi forum over there, then click movies, then click HOFD.

of course, i am more impressed with cutie pie than ever. is that possible?? to be MORE impressed? oh, he is sooooo impressive.

[TickTake]

OMG, i rented this and tried to watch the commentary but ZZ was bothering me soooooooo much, i finally gave up. i decided after that why so many people don't like her. it's all about *HER*.

I know what you mean Veronica! I was struck by something she did during her commentary. It was during the scene in the Peony Pavilion when she and ZY were discussing how she spent a couple of months with a blind girl to prepare for her role. Well, after discussing this for a good amount of time, ZY went on to talk about how TK did a really good job of acting drunk. Then ZZ shifted the conversation back to her preparation for the role. I felt like saying, "Ok, we get it already!"

[Veronica]

TickTake said:

I know what you mean Veronica! I was struck by something she did during her commentary. It was during the scene in the Peony Pavilion when she and ZY were discussing how she spent a couple of months with a blind girl to prepare for her role. Well, after discussing this for a good amount of time, ZY went on to talk about how TK did a really good job of acting drunk. Then ZZ shifted the conversation back to her preparation for the role. I felt like saying, "Ok, we get it already!"

yes, you understand precisely. that was exactly one of the comments that made me stop listening to the commentary shortly after. everything had to go back to ziyi. everything. i'm sure the next time i rent HOFD i will go ahead and watch the commentary but that day ziyi was taxing my nerves big time.

here is the link to the commentary synopsis one fan posted on creme d'asie. you will enjoy this. thanks to that fan, whose name escapes me now, and to kimurafan.

s2.invisionfree.com/la_creme_d_asie/index.php?showtopic=1283&st=75

[aSeattleFanofTK]

Thanks Veronica!
I will take your advice and read more about each film here. The main problem will be finding them on DVD, where I live. I did rent THE ODD ONE DIES, I found it with the other Hong Kong movies, and liked it alot. It was funny like Pulp Fiction-funny and TK was great.

[Swellboy]

Veronica,

Thanks from me as well for the link to such a good summary of the commentary on the HOFD DVD. Sounds like TK was a gracious, hard-working trooper throughout the making of the film. I didn't know he'd broken his leg. I'm relieved to observe (such as in the video clip of him in a recent Biotherm campaign) that he made a full recovery.

In regards to actress ZZ, on the other hand, well, I'm one of those people who tries (though certainly doesn't always succeed) to live by the saying, "If you don't have anything nice to say, then don't say anything at all." I rest my case about ZZ.

[SamIAm]

Source : Singapore Press Holdings Ltd.

Article : No time to fall in love
Date : 28 July 2004
Author : Sylvia Toh Paik Choo

Article is about all three cast members but here is the part dealing with TK :

Takeshi is every girl's dream hero


THERE is no getting away from his good looks. They are startling.

Tall, thin, cool, cute, actor Takeshi Kaneshiro is every girl's hero.

He settles the genes question as he slides his leanness into his seat: 'Father Japanese, mother Taiwanese.

'Am I Japanese or Taiwanese? I can't answer that, my passport is Japanese.'

In Zhang Yimou's House Of Flying Daggers, showing out of competition in Cannes 2004, Takeshi is Captain Jin, one of the angles in the love triangle.

It is a linear love story played out in the most exquisite scenes of green (bamboo forest), pink (echo drum room), white (snow fields).

He is 30, who'd have guessed.

Ten years, 27 movies. No!

Yes, and not just any old picture, but with esteemed directors like Wong Kar Wai, Sylvia Chang, Johnnie To, Corey Yuen.

This at once invites a comment on the differing styles of Zhang and Wong.

'Everybody just listens to Zhang Yimou,' Takeshi says.

'We all respect him.

'Wong Kar Wai won't tell you what to do, that's difficult.'

Takeshi says it is not acting, what he does for a living. 'It is pretending.'

The injuries sustained from the swordplay was real enough.

'It took me a month to use it, the sword, I hurt myself every day.'

The shoot - in Ukraine - was a daily challenge.

'I was afraid I was making mistakes, but Zhang Yimou explains everything, and listening to him was like listening to a storyteller.

'Suddenly I knew exactly what I had to do.'

He grew up in Taiwan, went to a Japanese school.

And if he had to choose, he prefers to live in Japan - rather than Hongkong or Taiwan - because 'Japan broadband fastest in the world'!

No! You're a Net nerd?

So, how much computer-generated images in House Of Flying Daggers?

'Computers are just a tool. It helps you but doesn't make it easier,' says Takeshi. 'You have to add the imagination.'

He must have a lot, his toughest scenes were the emotional ones.

Those dimples are so distracting.

Note:
Feel free to post this to other fan forums but in addition to citing the original source, can you please include this website as the secondary source if you found it here? Thanks.

[jadedragon]

I think the interviewer or author of this write-up seems totally enamored with Takeshi's beauty--especially his dimples--which are literally to-die-for!!
Regarding the HOFD dvd--I loved the almost 50 minutes documentary showing the 'making of the movie' --and with English subs, too! This shows all the effort the cast and crew underwent to make this one of the most awesome films of 2004!

[TickTake]

I think those dimples should be registered as lethal weapons. OWWWW!

[SamIAm]

Source: newyorkcool.com
Author: Evan Sung
URL: 64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:quExYt7uJugJ:www.newyorkcool.com/archives/2005/January/film_1.html+New+York+Cool,+%22house+of+flying+daggers%22&hl=en&ie=UTF-8


Andy Lau and Takeshi Kaneshiro contrast each other nicely, both believable as friends and comrades, but utterly different in character.

Kaneshiro’s Captain Jin, is the free-spirited, skirt-chaser who tries to seduce Mei to get her to divulge the location of her rebel friends. Lau’s Captain Leo is the by-the-book and responsible, but his single-minded pursuit of the House of Flying Daggers may not be solely motivated by loyalty to the kingdom.

In an amusing plot-development, one can imagine Lau’s identity-conflicted Captain Leo to be the 9th century ancestor to Lau’s role in this year’s “Infernal Affairs.” Lau has already proven himself to be a very subtle actor, excellent in these roles where motivations are multiple and unclear.

Kaneshiro clearly has fun playing drunk in the brothel scene, flashing the Eastern equivalent of the Tom Cruise-patented mega-watt smile. Kaneshiro is charming but also traces the tragic arc of his character nicely, slowly building up layers of gravity and sadness as the film goes on .....

[gal]

TEXTTEXT
Hi, I´m from Brasil and I truly loved HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS. But, the scene i began loving Takeshi was when Jin watched Mei bathing. Great one!

[Windysgirl]

You know I must comment on HOFD - this is where I was struck by lightening, fell head over heels, and in LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT with TK . When I saw Takeshi as Jin (Wind) at the Peony Pavillion laying on the pillow in that beautiful robe with his long shiny black hair in the ponytail and I heard that goose bump raising sexy laugh - that was it for me. But, as I continued to watch the movie he just kept getting better and better! He was so sweet when he gave her a perfect stick to help her in her blindness and picked flowers for her ON HORSEBACK, no less and kept coming back and rescuing her I fell harder and harder. He was so dashing with his bow and arrow and need I refer to his manly, heroic sword fight in the snow. The last scene when he is holding Mei and the last kiss - WOW!!!! I think I"ve watched this movie about 50 times since it came out on DVD and I still get a tear in my eye every single time. Imagine someone loving you so much.

So, since then I have been on a mission to see all of TK's films and have seen about 8 so far. I must say that I am most impressed with the more mature Takeshi. Sure he was cute in his teens and twenties, but he is one sexy man in his thirties.

Always, Windysgirl

PS. Did I mention those darling dimples?

[jadedragon]

You know I must comment on HOFD - this is where I was struck by lightening, fell head over heels, and in LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT with TK

Yes--Windysgirl! I see---Another one bites the dust!! Ha! Ha!

[TickTake]

Posted by: Windysgirl Posted on: Today at 19:44:02

PS. Did I mention those darling dimples?

Oh yeah....you and me are gonna get along JUST fine!
I can't get enough of those darling dimples!!

[tatiana]

Windygirl inspired me to finally post a comment on here!!! I too fell hard for TK in viewing HOFD. I saw the movie at the theatre, then purchased the DVD, and watch my favorite scenes almost very day! Thank god for fast forward. To me. what makes takeshi so beautiful is the whole package- he IS gorgeous,yes, but also very caring and thoughtful with his female leads.... I want that!!!
Any way, Webmaster, thanks for such a great website- you rock!!