Taiwan's Jay Chou goes to Hollywood: report

AFP

TAIPEI (AFP) - - Taiwan's pop singer Jay Chou will star alongside Nicolas Cage and Cameron Diaz in the movie remake of popular US television series "The Green Hornet," reports here said Saturday.

Chou, 30, has been cast as the superhero's sidekick Kato, a role played by the late Chinese-American martial arts icon Bruce Lee about 40 years ago, said the United Daily News.

"I am very happy to act in an international film. I will do my best," the paper quoted Chou as saying in a statement issued by his company JVR Music.

Chou won the role after a video-link audition a month ago with the movie's director Michel Gondry and writer Seth Rogen, who will play the lead role Britt Reid, or The Green Hornet, the report said.

Chou will start shooting for the film, scheduled to be released on July 9 2010, after wrapping up his directorial work for a television series and two concerts in China, it said.

The Apple Daily said Chou replaced Hong Kong star Stephen Chow, who was originally set to direct and act in the film, but had pulled out due to differences with Columbia Pictures.

Chou, also famous in China, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia for his pop music, has expanded into filmmaking in recent years, starring in a number of box-office hits including "Initial D," "The Curse of the Golden Flower" and "Secret."

Victoria Beckham to judge on 'Idol' after Abdul exit

LOS ANGELES (AFP) - - Former Spice Girl Victoria Beckham is to serve as a guest judge on hit US television show "American Idol" following the departure of Paula Abdul, network executives said Thursday.

Former Spice Girl Victoria Beckham, seen here in May 2009, is to serve as a guest judge on hit US television show "American Idol" following the departure of Paula Abdul, network executives said Thursday.

Pop star Beckham would join the panel of judges along with singer-songwriter Katy Perry during the audition phase of the show, the Fox Broadcasting production that is the highest-rating program on US television.

Other pop stars would join the four member panel, Fox Broadcasting Entertainment chairman Peter Rice said, without identifying them.

"Between now and January we'll come up with a more permanent solution," Rice told journalists. Guest judges would serve alongside regulars Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson and Kara DioGuardi, he said.

Rice said the departure of Abdul, confirmed on Tuesday as the show prepared for its ninth season, would bring a "different dynamic" to the programme.

"There will be a different element, a different energy," Rice said, revealing that Abdul had been offered an improved contract after a previous agreement which expired in May.

"We have been talking to her for most of the season," Rice said. "We very much wanted her to return. In the past few weeks, the negotiations have come to a conclusion.

"We made an offer that we feel was very fair to Paula. It was a substantial raise on the money she's been paid in the past and Paula has decided not return. It is something that was not our choice."

"American Idol" was exported to the United States from Britain in 2002, rapidly establishing itself as the most watched show on US television and a pop-culture phenomenon.

The program aims to unearth the next big singing talent and past contestants such as Carrie Underwood and Oscar-winning actress Jennifer Hudson have gone on to forge successful careers in the entertainment industry.

Abdul meanwhile is being tipped to resurface as a judge on another US television hit "So You Think You Can Dance."

"I don't know anyone who has the experience she has -- dancer, performer, choreographer and judge," the show's executive producer Nigel Lythgoe said.

"I have been trying to get her since season one."