Four saved by seductive scene

Four saved by seductive scene

There is one scene in the new movie The Four 2 that has everyone talking - the sexy bathing scene featuring two of China's hottest actresses.

In the movie by Hong Kong film- maker Gordon Chan, buxom host-turned-actress Ada Liu Yan, 33, shares a bath with sultry actress Jiang Yiyan, 30, in a pool filled with rose petals.

After the film opened in China last month, stills of that scene, in which Liu sends pulses racing in a barely-there swimming suit, have been widely shared among netizens.

Ask the director about it, however, and he quickly says that viewers should not focus all their attention on it when watching the film.

"Obviously, I can see why people would be so fixated on it, but it's not everything that the film has to offer. It's just one of many highlights in the movie," the 54-year-old Chan says in a Skype interview from his home in Hong Kong.

The film, which opens in cinemas here tomorrow, is a direct follow-up to The Four (2012), the fantasy action movie about four crimebusters with super- hero-like abilities, starring Liu Yifei, Ronald Cheng, Deng Chao and Collin Chou.

As much as he wants to turn the spotlight away from the scene, Chan readily agrees that actress Liu, who is known for her 32E chest, looks "very seductive".

But he adds: "Yes, she looks very seductive physically, but she's actually a very smart and intelligent girl.

"When I talk to her, we're more like brothers. I always call her a female warrior."

Chan was, in fact, the one who had given Liu her movie debut, when he cast her in a minor role in his fantasy action Painted Skin (2008).

He says of the actress, who had previously been a TV show host: "She had interviewed me for something and I just asked her if she wanted to try acting. Although she has never trained as an actor, there is an aura about her and she has screen presence.

"She agreed to act in Painted Skin and now see how far she's come."

Since her debut, Liu has appeared in more than 10 films and a dozen television series, including the movie Badges Of Fury (2013) starring Jet Li, and TV drama Women On The Breadfruit Tree (2012) starring Sonia Sui and Chris Wang.

Chan adds: "Actually, getting to know her and working with her - it was all fate."

He uses the exact same words - "it's all fate" - to describe the chance to work with another hot actress recently - Hong Kong's Fala Chen in his short film Pillow, which was featured in horror anthology Tales From The Dark 2 (2013).

Getting Chen, 31, on board the film "was totally surprising", he says, given that the actress would be required to perform sex scenes for the role.

He says: "It was author Lillian Li Pik Wah (who wrote Tales From The Dark) who suggested Fala's name to me, but I was like, 'There's no way she would do it'.

"Lillian then said to just try and so I did, and shockingly, she accepted the role almost immediately. I was very lucky. I guess fate works in mysterious ways."

Talk of the short film reminds him that it had taken only seven days to film - a far cry from the three years that it has taken him to work on The Four movies, which is a trilogy. The third part of the film is slated for release later this year.

He says: "For a director, obviously it would be great if we can get things done very quickly so that we can shoot a lot more different things.


Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.

This website is best viewed using the latest versions of web browsers.