HONG KONG – Fans of Anita Mui have finally caught a glimpse of the late Cantopop diva resurrected on screen in the biopic Anita.
On Thursday (July 8), Hong Kong film company Edko Films released a second trailer and three movie posters for the movie.
It also announced officially that the late singer-actress will be played by Hong Kong model Louise Wong, 31.
Wong had appeared in the first trailer, released in May, but was seen only from the back and from afar in a long wedding gown resembling the one Mui had worn at one of her last concerts.
In the new trailer and posters, Wong can be seen striking some of Mui’s iconic poses, including from the movie Rouge (1987).
Mui, once hailed as the Madonna of Asia for her flamboyant concert costumes, died of cervical cancer at the age of 40 in December 2003.
In April that year, her close friend and fellow Cantopop superstar Leslie Cheung committed suicide by leaping to his death from a hotel. He was 46.
Mui, famed for her throaty voice and innovative style, ruled the Cantopop scene together with Cheung in the 1980s. Her hits included Bad Girl and Sunset Song.
She also won acclaim as an actress and appeared in more than 40 movies, including the romance Rouge, opposite Cheung.
The Hong Kong media said Wong, who made her modelling debut at the age of 16, was selected for the role after a three-year search in Asia by the casting team. Anita will be her film debut.
The biopic will fulfil a promise Edko Films boss Bill Kong made to Mui before her death. She had approached him in 2003 to make a movie with her in it, one that people would remember, but died before it came to fruition.
Anita is written and directed by Longmond Leung, who co-directed the police thriller Cold War (2012) and its sequel Cold War 2 (2016). The date of the movie release has not been announced, though it is likely to come out this year.
