Jakarta – While Keluarga Cemara (a popular Indonesian series) emphasizes that the most valuable asset is family, this doesn’t seem to apply to Stephen Chow. The legendary actor, director, and producer is said to prioritize money over loyalty to friends and family.
This revelation came from Wong Jing, a director who admitted to being a close friend of Stephen Chow. During his YouTube show, Wong Jing Laughs at the Martial Arts World, on August 11, Wong shared the conflict that occurred between him, Stephen Chow, and another director.
Wong acknowledged that from the 1990s to the 2000s, Chow was dubbed the Comedy King in Hong Kong and made significant contributions to Asian cinema, particularly Mandarin-language films. One of his most successful projects was Shaolin Soccer, a film that Wong Jing acknowledged he was aware of during its development process.
Wong revealed that during the project’s development, he learned how Lin Xiaoming managed to secure some investors. However, his efforts were rendered pointless once Stephen Chow started filming. In fact, Stephen Chow registered the project under his own name and did not include the investors as producers.
The dispute between the two started when Lin proposed a title change for the film, as the name Shaolin was already registered by the Shaolin Temple in Henan, making the film banned in China. However, Stephen Chow rejected the title change, which led to significant losses for them in the project.
Not only was Lin Xiaoming’s name excluded from the film’s credits, but he was also forced to handle all the losses, especially when dealing with angry investors. Meanwhile, Stephen Chow remained calm as he had already received a large sum of money from the agreement before the project was released.
“Aside from the losses amounting to hundreds of millions, the biggest issue was the injustice faced by the investors,” said Wong.
Wong also mentioned that after this incident, Lin Xiaoming and his wife decided to sever ties with Stephen Chow, considering him to be heartless, selfish, stubborn, and someone who only cared about profit.
Wong ended by wishing Chow success, saying: “He is an unmatched actor and a hardworking director, but just not someone suited to be a friend.”
