TAIWAN: Local Media Enthralled by Film Shoot in Taipei

BRIAN CANAVE WRITES — CUT! It out local Taiwnese news media! French director Luc Besson has had enough and wrapped up location shooting in Taipei ahead of schedule. This is due to the intrusion of local media on the sets of Besson’s upcoming film, Lucy

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Scarlet Johansson and Luc Besson have been spotted at Taiwan’s Regent Taipei hotel last week. In the film, Johansson plays a woman “forced to become a drug mule. But the drug accidentally goes into her body, granting her superhuman powers.” Lucy was supposed to feature many popular locations around Taipei, including Taipei 101 building and Longshan Temple. But due to the media’s action, some scenes were not allowed to be filmed.

Besson is reportedly not pleased by the local media’s rampant attention on the film in Taipei. Focus Taiwan News Channel reported the latest incident of a “TV crew manag[ing] to shoot footage of Besson, Johansson, and crew members working through various scenes.” This incident followed a near accident of Besson’s crew almost being hit by local media automobile during a segment of the filming.

Scarlet Johansson is starting to have mixed feelings for Taipei herself, as she has been “spooked” by the media attention in Taiwan. “Her impression of the island is said to have soured after paparazzi pounded on the windows of a car she was sitting in at the end of a long shoot several days ago,” reported Want China Times.

Taiwan is not new to hosting film crews. Prior to Lucy, Ang Lee’s Life of Pi was also shot in Taiwan. Legendary Hollywood director, Martin Scorsese is set to shoot his new film Silence this June. Will the recently publicized annoyances cause Scorsese and other directors to reconsider Taiwan as a potential location?

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