Jackie Chan walks "The Forbidden Kingdom."

The kingdom of Hollywood was a bit warmer yesterday and so was the conference room at Four Season's Hotel. As the press waited patiently for Jackie Chan, Crytal Liu, Collin Chou, writer John Fusco, director Rob Minkoff and producer Casey Silver, we tried to keep our cool with ice tea, sodas and water.


Jackie Chan signs autographs.

As soon as the cast and crew strolled into the conference, there was a mad rush of journalists in putting their digital recorders onto the table where the talent sat at. First question to Jackie Chan was about this movie and what he thought of it. It was a bit funny because he said he hated doing these types of Hollywood movies because they are different than Chinese made movies. However, if his movies like the "Rush Hour" and "Shanghai" movies has an audience and that young kid emulates the martial arts in a positive way that he gets from the movie, then he'll do more even if he doesn't car for them.

We all laughed but saw the writer, director and producer cringe a bit.


Writer John Fusco of "The Forbidden Kingdom."

As for his take on the protests against the Beijing Olympics. His answer was plain and simple to the point that the Olympics shouldn't be about politics and should be more about sportsmanship and goodwill on the field.


Collin Chou and Crystal Liu


Crystal Liu and Jackie Chan.

I think Jackie Chan loves to organize things. While doing the press conference/junket for the movie, he was arranging the digital and cassette recorders in rows and when a tape would get to the end of its reel, he would turn it over and press record.

Another weird thing of Chan and I guess that's his hospitality kicking in, every time each talent member would finish their water, he would have his assistant give him a bottle of water and refill each person's glass.


Crystal Liu may or may not be back for a sequel if there is one.

I felt a bit bad for Crystal Liu when a journalsit asked if there may be a sequel. Jackie, producer and director said it depends on the audience. Then Jackie turns to Crystal and said, "We'll you're not going to back." Then he revised his thoughts and said, "She may be depending on the audience."

I was a bit freaked out though, when out of a dozen of journalists he looked straight at me and at least I thought he mouthed "I remember you." I kind of brushed it off. Maybe he did remember me. In one of my first junkets, I did "The Tuxedo" junket in which he starred opposite Jennifer Love Hewitt. He asked the question, "How many of you liked this movie." No body responded. However, I didn't realize I had my hand on the table and doing a "so-so" movement. All of sudden, he points at me and says, "You are my friend. You are honest and truthful about the movie." So who knows, maybe he did remember me.

Anyways, "Forbidden Kingdom" opens April 18, 2008 nationwide.

Heigl only likes 1 of the 27 Dresses

It was a cold Monday evening this past January 7, 2008 at The Mann's Village Theater in Westwood, CA. Waiting for the premiere for "27 Dresses" to commence, had my fingers slightly frozen. Imagine the actresses in their opulent dresses, they'd definitely be cold. The first on the carpet was Maria Menounos who at first was not about to take off her coat. With a little coaxing from the event photographers, she finally relented and showed us her beautiful red colored dress. There was a bit of a draft that caused her dress to ride up a bit but she was able to grab hold of her dress before she had a Marilyn Monroe accident.






From then on, we thought that this event would live up to the expectation of a wedding reception. To no avail, for the next half hour, lesser known talent paraded their way on the red carpet. Finally, we had the lovely Judy Greer make her appearance.




Jennifer Love Hewitt made a surprise appearance with her man. No matter what the tabloids say about her figure, she definitely looked faboo.





After much anticipation, 27 women came waltzing down the carpet dresses in the specially made bridesmaid dresses adorned with the movie credits and became the backdrop of the red carpet. For video that was great but for us event photographers, it created a bit of a blur for our background. Once these lovely ladies staked their spots, Miss Heigl or shall I say Mrs. Kelley along with her new husband waltzed on down the carpet with the smiles of a newlywed couple. Dressed in a silver dress adorned with what looked like crystals, Heigl braved the cold weather and smiled the whole time. As for the 27 bridesmaid dresses she wore for the movie, she mentioned that their was only one she enjoyed wearing. Believe it or not, it was a Gone With The Wind inspired dress. She just loved feeling like a southern belle.






Click here to read my Katherine Heigl Q&A