From:The
Straits Times, posted on 8 March
By Mervin Tay
Have we seen the last of Barbarella?
With local actress-turned-director Michelle Chong embarking on her
second movie – 3 Peas In A Pod – and not being part of the coming
season of Channel 5’s parody news sketch show The Noose, does this
mean farewell to television’s most famous Sarong Party Girl?
Chong, 35, made a name for herself and The Noose by playing a
series of popular characters such as air-headed newscaster Adrianna
Wow, Sarong Party Girl Barbarella, Filipino domestic helper Leticia
Bongnino and Chinese KTV hostess Lulu.
However, these characters will not appear in the sixth season of
The Noose, which begins on April 2, at 8.30pm, on Channel 5.
When The New Paper met Chong at a press conference on Monday to
mark the start of filming for 3 Peas In A Pod, and asked if she
would return to television, she jokingly said: “No, I hope
not!”
She said she would not be part of The Noose’s new season, or any
other television show, in the short term.
“I won’t be doing television for a while,” she said.
According to previous reports, Chong’s MediaCorp contract ended
last January and was not renewed.
Ms Kim Wong-Nathan, Channel 5’s vice-president of Network
Programming and Promotions, confirmed that Chong’s characters on
the show will not appear in the new season.
“We will not be getting anyone else to play Michelle's characters
like Leticia, Lulu or Barbarella and as such, these characters will
not be featured in the upcoming season,” said Ms Wong-Nathan.
Channel 5 will focus on developing new characters to complement the
cast.
“But we would definitely want to work with Michelle again if her
schedule permits,” she added.
Chong’s move away from television is part of her plan never to be
in front of the camera again.
She made a successful transition to the big screen in 2011, as her
directorial debut, Already Famous, took in $1.4 million locally,
and was Singapore's official entry for Best Foreign Language Oscar
this season.
She played the lead role in Already Famous, but in line with her
desire to fade out of the limelight, she will have only a cameo
appearance in 3 Peas In A Pod.
“It’s a very funny role and a non-speaking one too,” said
Chong.
Ultimately, she hopes to be the unseen force behind her works.
“The ideal situation for me would be that I don’t even have to put
on make-up, appear on stage or do interviews,” she said.
“Doing creative work is a lonely thing, but it’s also very
enjoyable. For my movies, I hope the focus will be on the
actors.”
Focus
The focus this time will be on her three leads, namely former
Korean boyband U-KISS member Alexander Lee Eusebio, 24, Taiwanese
boyband Fahrenheit member Calvin Chen, 32, and local fresh face Jae
Liew, 22, who was chosen from more than 800 hopefuls at an audition
held in January.
They play university students who embark on a life-changing road
trip before graduating and returning to their respective
countries.
The movie begins filming in Australia today and is scheduled for
theatrical release in late November this year. Chong wrote the
script.
But the movie industry’s gain seems to be the television industry’s
loss, at least according to viewers TNP spoke to, who lamented
Chong’s absence from The Noose.
“Michelle Chong is one of the highlights of the show, so it’s a
loss (not having her on the show),” said 27-year-old cabin crew
Mohamed Nasri Mohamed Naguib.
Maxie Aw Yeong, 24, a civil servant, said the new characters in the
new season of The Noose “probably won't be as iconic as Lulu,
Leticia or Barbarella”.
Said 45-year-old housewife Sally Chin: “Barbarella was really
iconic and everyone knows her.
“I don’t think anyone can play Barbarella as well as Michelle Chong
can.”
– Additional reporting by Noor Ashikin Abdul Rahman
http://stcommunities.straitstimes.com/movies/2013/03/08/michelle-chong-does-not-want-return-television-shifts-focus-directing
The much-loved characters of breakout Channel 5 comedy hit "The
Noose", all played by Singapore host/actress/director, Michelle Chong,
have all met an untimely death after MediaCorp banned her from
playing the characters.
Chong (@immichellechong) tweeted on Friday afternoon, "So
what's this I hear about Mediacorp's Higher Management banning me
from playing Barbarella from now on?"
The 36-year-old quickly followed that up with "They not gonna sell
character license to anyone to use my characters anymore so no more
Barbs, Leticia, Lulu etc anywhere." She added in Mandarin, "there's
no need to be afraid if you have the ability".
As MediaCorp "own" and have the rights to those characters, it
seems like Chong -- or anyone else for that matter -- will no
longer be allowed to portray those characters in public
anymore.
Commenting on their decision, Chong told Yahoo!
Singapore, "I just feel disappointed because this doesn't seem
like a decision that will benefit them either. It just seems
slightly narrow-minded".
However, she made it clear she bears no ill will towards them.
"I'm not sure who makes these decisions but I have no animosity
towards MediaCorp. In fact, I still work closely with certain
departments in MediaCorp and I am truly grateful for the platform
and creative freedom they have given me, and I am sure there will
be opportunities in future where we will work together,
content-wise."
After her departure from "The Noose", Chong continued to portray
the much-loved characters in a series of property ads such the one
below. No more it seems.
Michelle Chong won't be able to portray Barbarella in
property ads like these anymore. (Yahoo! photo)
Which is a shame because Chong and her characters were a big part
of why the Emmy-nominated"The Noose" was the best thing to
come out of Channel 5 in recent years.
Chong, a former Asian Television Awards Best Comedy winner, has
since branched out into directing with her first feature
film, Already Famous, in 2011. She also has her own
film production company and last year, started her own artiste
management agency.
She is currently working on her latest movie, 3 Peas in a Pod, a coming-of-age movie about
three university friends on a road trip, which will be out in
November.
http://sg.entertainment.yahoo.com/blogs/singapore-showbiz/rip-noose-stars-barbarella-leticia-lulu-100358691.html
