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Kal Penn in House.
April 17, 2009: News Bites
Alex Tse battles boy for Brad Pitt, Justin Lin dominates international box offices, and Kal Penn moves to DC on offical business. All this and more in the latest edition of News Bites.
Kal Penn & Obama: Go to White House
Usually when your character on a hit TV show dies, it pretty much means you're either on maternity leave or you're looking for another gig. In Kal Penn's case, replace "hit TV show" with "House: MD" and "another gig" with Associate Director in the Office of Public Liaison for the Obama administration. After publically endorsing Obama back in 2007, Penn now serves as the president's point-person in dealing with Asian American and Pacific Islander communities, and the arts community. But Penn's passion for public service will not mean acting is out forever -- it is reported that Penn wants to return to acting, but not while he's in his new "House" -- the White House. Penn starred in the Harold & Kumar series and The Namesake, and served as visiting lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania in the Asian American Studies Department in 2008. --LiAnn Ishizuka
Screenwriter Alex Tse's new project: Battling Boy
Considering the $177 million success of Watchmen, which Alex Tse co-wrote the adaptation for, Brad Pitt's company, Plan B, and Paramount Pictures have hired Tse to write the adaptation of Battling Boy. A graphic novel written by Paul Pope, Battling Boy is the story of the son of a god who must purge the enormous city of Monstropolis of an infestation of beasts. The comic is to be published in the spring by First Second Books. Not only handling Battling Boy, Alex Tse has also been given the assignment of writing adaptations for Ninja Scroll, The Illustrated Man, and Frankie Machine, making him the movie industry's go-to guy for comic book adaptations. --Megan Chun
Obama's sister will author children's book
Maya Soetoro-Ng, a teacher in Honolulu who is most famous for being President Obama's half sister, just signed a deal with Candlewick Press to create a children's book inspired by their mother and other family members. The late Ann Dunham gave birth to Barack Obama in Hawaii, before moving him to Indonesia, where Soetoro-Ng was born nine years later. The representative for Castlewick Press says that the book will be an "homage to her mother's tradition of storytelling." --Ada Tseng
Fast and Furious takes over the world
Fast and Furious, directed by Justin Lin, raked in millions from both domestic and foreign markets. Bumping Monsters versus Aliens down to the second, Fast and Furious took the No. 1 spot during the Easter weekend. The film outgrossed all of the previous films in the series in six different markets, including Korea and Mexico. Fast and Furious has made a total of $200 million thus far, including $72.5 million domestically, the biggest since The Dark Knight. Defying critics' skeptical predictions of an unsuccessful opening, Fast and Furious had the biggest opening of the series and continues to thrive at home and abroad. --Megan Chun
Commemorating Sichuan earthquake victims through music
May 12 marks one year since a devastating 7.9 magnitude earthquake shook China's Sichuan Province. It will also mark the release of a seven-track EP collaboration by Dave Liang, producer of the Shanghai Restoration Project, and Abigail Washburn, singer of bluegrass music in Chinese. The EP, Afterquake, is unique not only in bending the boundaries of music genres, but also with the goal of raising awareness and fundraising for Sichuan victims still in need a year later. Fusing the voices and sounds from the Sichuan earthquake zone with folk/electronic influences, the artists also mixed the sounds of those most affected by the quake. The EP includes a traditional dance song from the Qiang minority entitled "Sala," and the sounds of a child missing his mother in "A Song for Mama" with the beats of actual construction for a new home. For more information, click here. --LiAnn Ishizuka
7th Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles invites Anil Kapoor and Sanjay Gupta
The 2009 Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles starts April 21-26 at the Arclight in Hollywood. In addition to new films from India, including The Fakir of Venice, Sikandar, Quick Gun Murugun, and the documentary Yes Madam Sir, there is a tribute to Anil Kapoor, who has been working in Indian cinema for decades but recently gained international attention for his gameshow host role in the Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaire. The festival will honor him at an awards ceremony, as well as play his Virasat, Lamhe, and Gandhi: Our Father. In addition, CNNs Dr. Sanjay Gupta and Suneel Gupta will officially launch the Kahani Movement (a project that encourages second-generation Indian Americans to tell stories about their parents), there will be a "Prime Time: Hollywood's Spotlight on India" seminar, and the IFFLA Rhythm Village will be providing music in the courtyard all festival long. For more information, click here. --Ada Tseng
Bobby Lee in Eminem's music video
Bobby Lee snagged some interesting roles in Eminem music video, "We Made You," directed by Joseph Kahn. The music video features appearances by 50 Cent, Vanilla Ice, porn actress Lisa Ann, and our very own, Mr. Bobby Lee, who plays Sulu from Star Trek, and an Eskimo from Sarah Palin's office. Lee is seen hardly smiling, characterized instead by puking, making grievous faces, and falling out of his seat. In traditional Eminem fashion, the video mocks celebrities including Jessica Simpson, Tony Romo, Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan, Bret Michaels, Sarah Palin, and so on. Eminem's new single and music video is from his forthcoming album Relapse, to be released on May 19th. --Joyce Huang
Asian Films playing at the Newport Beach Festival
The Newport Beach festival takes place April 23-30, 2009, and the Asian film selections include two documentaries from China: Dream Weavers: Beijing 2008 (about the Olympics) and Follow Your Heart: China's New Youth Movement (about hip hop). From Japan, there is Lost & Found and Nobody to Watch Over Me. From India, there's Madhumita Sundararaman. From the Phlilippines, there are the two Adolfo Alix Jr. pictures, Ploning and Adela. And representing Asian Americans there is Dim Sum Funeral, Made In China (which just won at South by Southwest), and the award-winning Dirty Hands: The Life and Crimes of David Choe. For more information, click here. --Ada Tseng
Treeless Mountain to be released theatrically
Kim So Yong's latest film, Treeless Mountain, is set to be released on April 22nd at the Film Forum in New York, followed by a Los Angeles release on May 8th at Laemmle's Music Hall and MPark Theatre in Koreatown. The film originally premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2008, and is a testament to border-crossing filmmaking across South Korea and the United States. The film is set in South Korea featuring Korean actors and Korean dialogue. Kim, however, although having lived in Pusan before immigrating to Los Angeles at age 12, is now based in New York along with her husband, who also helped to produce the film. The story is that of the lives of sisters Jin and Bin as they are dropped off at their alcoholic aunt's home when their mother seeks out her absent husband. The distributor for the American release of the film is Oscilloscope Pictures. --Frederick Stiehl
BoA to Tour U.S.
South Korean and international pop star BoA is planning a concert tour in the United States in June. In a recent MTV interview, BoA revealed that she has selected Miami as her favorite destination for concerts. Despite doubts that her U.S. album would do as well as her previous successs in both Korean and Japanese markets, her album has exceeded expectations. The album contains 11 songs including the single "I Did It For Love," and dance tracks "Energetic," "Eat You Up," and "Look Who's Talking." "I Did It For Love" was written by American producer Sean Garrett, and its video was directed by Joseph Kahn, who has made promos for Britney Spears, Chris Brown, and Eminem, and who won the Best Video of the Year and Best Direction at the 2002 MTV Video Music Awards. BoA's album ranked 127th in the Billboard 200, marking the first time that a Korean singer had entered the Billboard chart. --Kristie Hang
Date Posted: 4/17/2009