Two Epics for Asian Superstar

The man the Los Angeles Times declared "The Coolest Actor in the World," and whom People magazine voted one of "50 Most Beautiful People," Asian superstar Chow Yun-Fat ("Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon") stars in two highly anticipated films of the year - Buena Vista International's "Curse of the Golden Flower" and Walt Disney Pictures' "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End."

Helmed by acclaimed Chinese director Zhang Yimou, "Curse" is a Mandarin epic period drama about estranged ties in a royal family, which also stars Chinese actress Gong Li as the empress and Taiwanese singer-actor Jay Chou as one of the emperor's three sons. In the film, the volatile balance of power between the emperor (Chow) and the empress (Gong) and his three sons, leads to betrayal, deceit and passion, pitting the emperor against empress and father against sons. This new epic promises to be Zhang's most colorful and biggest film to date, fusing high drama and romantic intrigue with the best of contemporary martial arts.

For Chow, a native Cantonese speaker, the most difficult part of his role was to speak Mandarin. Besides getting help from teachers, he also had help from Gong who gave him tape recordings of his script.

"I felt like a primary school student," he said with a laugh. Grinning, he joked, "I hated Gong. She once scolded me, 'You have such a bad command of Mandarin, and you still dare to come to Beijing to film?' I hope she makes a film in Cantonese soon, and I'll return the favor."

For their first collaboration, Zhang Yimou had endless praises for Chow. "Each of his scenes exceeds expectation!"

"Every minute on the set has been a joy," Chow says of shooting "Curse." Every minute on the set I am with Gong, it's truly a pleasure. If actors can't be happy on the set, how can they play the role well with such great stress?"

Meanwhile, Chow was impressed with his "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" co-star Johnny Depp and wants more opportunities to work with him. "I only had one scene with Johnny, but he strikes me as a very good actor," said Chow who plays a notorious Chinese pirate, Captain Sao Feng, in the third installment of the blockbuster Disney series. "If they make more sequels and invite me to be in them too, I definitely want more scenes with him."

In "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End," our heroes Will Turner (Orlando Bloom), Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley) allied with Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) are in a desperate quest to free Captain Jack Sparrow (Depp) from his mind-bending trap in Davy Jones' locker. Navigating through wild waters, they must forge their way to exotic Singapore and confront the cunning Chinese Pirate Sao Feng (Chow).

Both distributed by Buena Vista International through Columbia Pictures, "Curse of the Golden Flower" opens across the Philippines on Feb. 7, to be followed by "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" in May.