Hong Kong director Wong Kar-wai fell from grace unexpectedly with his Chinese drama Blossoms Shanghai. As his assistant Gu Er continues to leak group audio recordings, it was revealed that Wong Kar-wai told screenwriter Qin Wen, “Tang Yan is pretentious (meaning affected)”, and since she is used to arriving early, he asked his assistant to make sure the financial instructor arrived even earlier than she did for her preparation, seemingly to embarrass her. He also described Chen Daoming as “both masculine and feminine”, showing a gossipy side that tarnished Wong Kar-wai's past artistic image. During a livestream, Tiffany Chen (Xiang Tai) commented on this matter, bluntly criticizing Wong Kar-wai: “He’s nothing! Which producer doesn’t lose money investing in him? He’s uncontrollable! Without William Chang (well-known art director), he’s nothing, or he just relies on burning through money.”
Tiffany Chen further revealed that Wong Kar-wai “mistreated employees”, saying he never paid actors a high fee despite being rich, and she didn't know where the money went. She stood up for the actors, saying they were all willing to work for him at low pay and that he shouldn’t criticize actors in private: “Ms. Wang (Tang Yan) acted very well, very immersed in her role. What she’s like in private is irrelevant—you shouldn’t comment on that, nor do you have the standing to.”
Wong Kar-wai’s past behavior—wasting actors’ time and then cutting their scenes down to nothing—was also unearthed online for discussion, including how Tony Leung’s role in The Grandmaster ultimately became what netizens joked was actually “The Palace Two Story” instead. Li Liqun then commented under Tiffany Chen’s post, saying “I was also approached for The Grandmaster, but the pay was too low so I didn’t do it. Wong Kar-wai doesn’t know what a grandmaster is at all. After watching the movie, you can’t find any grandmaster in it, because he can’t see it himself.”
Source: Apple News Network