LAU CHING-WAN, SIMON YAM, JOHNNIE TO NEWS

Simon Yam was supposedly taking a role in Olivier Assayas' new movie, BOARDING GATE, but he has just turned it down. Assayas had thought he could shoot BG in Hong Kong so Yam could work on two movies at once, but he couldn't find the right kind of river in the HKSAR and so he'll have to shoot elsewhere and Yam said "bye bye" to the project.

What could keep Yam out of Western arthouses? A role in the JIGSAW project, the three-part film directed by Johnnie To, Ringo Lam and Tsui Hark which looks like it's set to roll into production soon.

And he's not the only one eager to work with To. Lau Ching-wan has started coughing up the info about his new Johnnie To movie, which is supposedly his first serious movie with Milkyway in a long time. He says that he'll have some kind of mental illness in the movie, and he'll have a "normal" and a "fat" look in the film, but less like Andy Lau in LOVE ON A DIET and more like Tom Hanks in CASTAWAY.

And, finally, you can head over here to see pics from the ELECTION 2 premiere at Cannes. Look at all them penguin suits!

(Thanks to a sharp-eyed reader for the translations and info)