Fri, Jul 20, 2012 page11

• Pop Stop

  • Compiled by Noah Buchan / Staff reporter
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  How does one turn around matrimonial money squabbles, jealousy and internal family conflicts? Divorce, if you are Cecilia Cheung (張柏芝) and Nicholas Tse (謝霆鋒). Since the couple ended their marriage last month, their relationship has improved, leading to speculation that the former couple might be reuniting.

  Following comments by Tse’s mother, Deborah Lee (狄波拉), a few weeks back that the pair had reunited, the Apple Daily this week reported that Cheung has taken to calling Tse “husband” (老公).

  The gossip rag alleges that Cheung spoke those words to Tse when he turned up at the hospital where their son is being treated for fever, and suspects that the two will eventually get back together.

  

  The Chairman ... of a sweatshop movie set.

  Photo courtesy of PHANTCI

  Whereas Cheung and Tse are stepping back into the limelight as a possible couple, “multi-talented” singer, actor, producer, director, writer, restaurateur and, increasingly, enfant terrible, Jay Chou (周杰倫) continues to keep his relationship with teenybopper Hannah Quinlivan (昆淩) hush-hush.

  Or at least as much as that’s possible.

  Eagle-eyed Netizens spotted the pair on Sunday at Kaohsiung’s Rueifeng Night Market (瑞豐夜市), according to the Apple Daily. Quinlivan, attempting to disguise herself under a hat and facemask, trailed a few paces behind Chou, who was similarly disguised, and singer/producer Will Liu.

  When the paparazzi asked if they were together, Liu, for his part, feigned ignorance and said, “I don’t know.” But this is the age of digital cameras and Netizens had already posted pictures of the threesome on the Internet.

  Chou, however, has bigger concerns than avoiding the paparazzi, according to our sister paper the Liberty Times. The Chairman (周董), as he’s also known, has received flak from the public over the past week for the filming of Rooftop (天台), the tentatively titled movie that he acts in, writes and directs.

  Problems began when the film crew allegedly cordoned off a section of Tainan’s Hu Tou Pi Scenic Area (虎頭埤風景區), where some of the film is being shot, and refused to allow the paying public inside. Then, there were rumors that the crew vandalized the park’s garbage bins and railings.

  Liu, the movie’s producer, rebutted the allegations and stated that park officials have yet to complain or get in touch.

  But damage to the park and visitor annoyance might be the least of Chou’s worries. According to the Liberty Times and United Daily News, the movie’s extras are being paid what basically amounts to sweatshop wages.

  The kerfuffle began when a company contracted to find extras posted ads offering to pay them NT$500 a day for 10 hours work. That’s right, you calculated it properly: NT$50 per hour — less than half the legally mandated minimum wage of NT$103. When contacted by the media, an employee with the company contracted to hire the extras said that paying them such a low rate was standard industry practice — a sentiment echoed by Liu.

  “It’s definitely legal. The [salary] offered is the going rate,” Liu said. He added that the daily wage was in fact NT$800, but NT$300 was deducted due to other fees. Still, that’s only NT$80 an hour, adding fuel to the fire that fans are getting shafted.

  “It’s only because it’s a Jay Chou film that people give a damn,” Liu said.

  That might be true, but it doesn’t lessen the likelihood that labor officials will now start scrutinizing the way in which extras are paid in Taiwan’s movie industry.

  Though Chou has yet to comment, Pop Stop speculates that all this added pressure might lead to the kind of erratic behavior that has recently seen Chou attack reporters and demand that they call him Emperor Jay (杰倫皇).

  In other celebrity legal news, disgraced starlet Mayiko was hauled into the High Court last week. The singer, who along with alleged boyfriend Takateru Tomoyori, was filmed earlier this year assaulting a taxi driver, Lin Yu-chun (林余駿), after a alcohol-fueled night in Taipei, is facing stiffer penalties than the three years probation and 10-month jail sentence that was handed down by Taipei’s district court. Many complained that punishment was too light.

  Mayiko has also promised to quit drinking — though Pop Stop wonders why she hasn’t done so already. The High Court is scheduled to deliver its verdict on Aug. 1.

  And finally, are actress Shu Qi (舒淇) and actor/singer Stephen Fung (馮德倫) going steady? The couple, who have been a rumored item since they worked on the 1998 movie Bishonen (美少年之戀), ignited speculation in April that they were a couple when they were seen sharing a late-night dinner.

  Then, last week, the couple was seen separately boarding a plane in Hong Kong for Japan, according to the Apple Daily. The fact that they were on the same flight was enough for reporters to conclude that they were vacationing together.

  When the newspaper asked Shu’s mother for comment, she threw it back in their faces. “If taking the same flight means that they’re dating, then the entire flight is made up of couples,” she said.

  Naturally reporters were at the airport four days later when they returned and spotted Fung going through customs.

  But Shu fled the airport before they could ask for comment, leaving Fung to retrieve their luggage and face reporters.

  “We’ve been close friends for over 10 years,” he said. “And as I’ve told you, I went [to Japan] to do the music for Taichi (太極) and Shu Qi went there for vacation with her mother,” he said.
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