Kitty Zhang denies past conflict with Stephen Chow

17 Feb - A lot of people were surprised when Stephen Chow decided to cast Kitty Zhang in his new movie, "The Mermaid", following their past contract dispute, but the actress stated recently that the previous issue was actually blown out of proportion.

As reported on Epoch Times, the actress, who previously starred in Stephen's 2008 movie, "CJ7", was involved in a contractual dispute back in 2010 when the director's company Star Overseas demanded Kitty to pay RMB14 million for her to terminate her contract. The court later ruled that the actress was to pay only HKD3 million to the company.

While many believed that the issue has ended any opportunity of cooperation between the two, Kitty stated that her relationship with Stephen has always been good.

"Stephen and I have a great respect for each other. So it doesn't matter what time, and who have I become, as long as he wants me to be in his movie, I will come," said Kitty.

She also shared that the she was first approached by Stephen for "CJ7" in 2005, after the director saw her in a 30-second KFC ad on TV.

Stephen reportedly told his assistant that he wants to find the girl in the ad, and soon after the phone started ringing, with a staff from his company telling Kitty that the comedy auteur wanted to see her.

Kitty stated that it was such a lucky break for her that she was quite surprised and happy when Stephen called her again to play the villain in "The Mermaid".

"He is a mature director. Actors are very happy when working with him," she said.