JAPAN: "Mummy" sequel star Michelle Yeoh celebrates her birthday with co-stars Brendan Fraser and Isabella Leong

Record ID: 463714

  • Title: JAPAN: "Mummy" sequel star Michelle Yeoh celebrates her birthday with co-stars Brendan Fraser and Isabella Leong
  • Date: 7th August 2008
  • Summary: PRESS SITTING DOWN YEOH, FRASER AND LEONG SITTING DOWN ON STAGE FOR NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTOR BRENDAN FRASER, STAR OF "THE MUMMY" SERIES, SAYING: "I am the luckiest man in Japan to be sitting between the two most beautiful women existent. Thank you!" PRESS LISTENING (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTRESS MICHELLE YEOH SAYING: "We were very happy when we first heard that the 'Mummy' franchise." FRASER INTERRUPT YEOH'S SPEECH (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTRESS MICHELLE YEOH SAYING: "We love you too. I know you are waiting for a long time...um that it was going to China. I think through this franchise is a wonderful way for more audiences to get a glimpse of the history of China and to get to understand and enjoy more and see that we have a great sense of humor. We don't have mummies, but in this movie, there's a lot of them running around." LEONG, FRASER AND YEOH SITTING DOWN
  • Embargoed: 22nd August 2008 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Japan
  • Country: Japan
  • Topics: Entertainment
  • Reuters ID: LVACYSO5855YPLY5Y1V03PNNFIEY
  • Story Text: "The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor" film star Michelle Yeoh celebrated her 46th birthday with costars Brendan Fraser and Isabella Leong on Tuesday (Aug 5) at a film promotion event in Tokyo, Japan.
    Star of the "Mummy" series, Fraser escorted Yeoh on to a stage while a Japanese singer serenaded the veteran actress with a birthday song.
    Fraser jokingly licked parts of Yeoh's birthday cake and was immediately stopped by his costar beauties. He also
    "I am the luckiest man in Japan to be sitting between the two most beautiful women existent. Thank you!" said Fraser as Yeoh and Leong looked at each other.
    The cast members of the latest "Mummy" sequel also greeted over a hundred excited fans on Monday (Aug 4) at the film's Japan premiere event in Tokyo.
    The third entry in the Universal series starring Fraser ups the ante in terms of special effects and action, but there's an undeniably tired air to the enterprise.
    The film arrived in North American theaters on Friday (Aug 1) - seven years after the last installment.
    The China setting -- both ancient and 1946 -- might prove beneficial thanks to the publicity generated by the Summer Olympics, and the presence of Asian superstars Jet Li and Yeoh certainly won't hurt.
    Strangely enough, in this installment there isn't a mummy in sight.
    Instead, intrepid adventurers Rick (Fraser) and wife Evelyn (Maria Bello, replacing Rachel Weisz, whose absence might be explained by her winning an Oscar since the last one) are battling a massive army of terra cotta soldiers led by the reanimated evil Dragon Emperor (a wasted Li), who was cursed into suspended animation centuries ago by a beautiful sorceress (a similarly wasted Yeoh) whom he made the mistake of trying to kill.
    Also figuring prominently in the rudimentary story line are the couple's now-grown-up son Alex (played in vapid fashion by Luke Ford), an archaeologist following in his parents' footsteps; a tomb guardian (Leong) who tries to prevent the emperor and his minions from being disturbed; and Jonathan (John Hannah), the loyal sidekick assigned with the task of making sardonic wisecracks: "I hate mummies, they never play fair," he whines.
    Fraser still looks athletically youthful and displays the same engaging presence he exhibited in the recent "Journey to the Center of the Earth," but he can't entirely hide the fact that he's cashing a paycheck amid a divorce.
    46-year-old Yeoh portrays a Chinese sorceress, Zi Yuan, who puts a curse on an ancient emperor only to see him rise from the dead after 2,000 years to seek vengeance.
    Zi is one of a group of people, including O'Connell, who must put the emperor back in his grave, and she uses not only her fists, but her wits and poise, as well.
    In the world of martial arts movies, there are few actresses who let fists fly as well as Yeoh, and even fewer who have earned respect in Hollywood as a top actress.
    Yeoh rose to prominence in Hong Kong action flicks, and she gained wide recognition from U.S. audiences as a Bond girl in 1997's 007 spy flick, "Tomorrow Never Dies."
    She then displayed both her acting and her fighting skills in Ang Lee's Oscar winner "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon." In recent years, she has taken straight acting roles in dramas "Memoirs of a Geisha" and science fiction flick "Sunshine."
    Yeoh has also taken on more challenging roles and plumbed ever deeper parts. In "Memoirs," she played an older geisha who mentors a younger woman in a role that required a great sense of understanding of human nature.
    Her ability to move beyond roles as an action heroine seems to have paid off because while this third "Mummy" movie has failed to win over many critics -- it scores a poor 11 percent positive on film review Web site rottentomatoes.com -- Yeoh's performance has been seen as one of its few bright spots.
    ENDS.
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