By Kelvin Tong

EVASIVE FANN LABELLED A DODGER

THE truth can painful.

Raintree Pictures yesterday revealed that Chinese newspaper reporters here are fed up with Television Corporation of Singapore leading lady Fann Wong.

In a statement to Life!, it said that at a recent lunch it had with the Chinese press, journalists said she was evasive.

"They were also irked by Fann's alleged inconsistent approach to the local and foreign press. They felt that Fann has taken the local Chinese press for granted."

Raintree, the producer of Fann's first movie, The Truth About Jane And Sam, said that it was with the intention to clarify this matter that a press conference was arranged for Monday.

A press statement had said she would "reveal the TRUTH about some of the issues the media has been speculating about". But on Monday morning, the conference was cancelled suddenly.

Raintree said yesterday that on the eve of the press conference cannot be met with the prevailing focus of the media on her personal life".

It added: "At TCS and Raintree Pictures, we respected her concerns. As it has gone beyond the promotion of the movie and Fann as an artiste, we jointly decided to cancel the press conference."

Raintree's statement was entitled The Truth About The Matter. It was in response to an article in Life! yesterday about how Fann, 28, was sticking to her guns about not revealing her personal life.

Speaking to Life! on Monday, Raintree had also said that a reason Monday's press conference had been cancelled at the last minute was because Fann was exhausted from work. This point was not mentioned in yesterday's statement.

The statement also said that TCS and Raintree have never used an artiste's personal life to promote a TV show, album or movie. It added that often it was journalists who uncovered details of that.

A check with entertainment reporters from the Chinese press confirmed the negative feelings between reporters and the star.

"We've experienced a lot of problems with Fann in the past," said Lianhe Zhaobao journalist Eista Lee. "She has a history of not returning journalists' phone calls."

Shin Min Daily reporter Chan Yunn Horng concurred, saying: "Fann has a track record for being very evasive. She does not answer questions with enough directness. She has quite an attitude problem."

She said there have been instances when Fann would not answer questions posed to her by journalists here but would come clean to foreign reporters.

While launching her album, Shopping, Fann declined to tell the press here how much she spent on costumes and promotions. A few days later, the details came out in an interview with the Taiwanese press.

Of the last-minute cancellation of Fann's press conference on Monday, Ms Chan said: "Somehow, when I got the invitation, I knew it would not happen. Fann likes to evade."

Ms Lee said: "If Fann had actually seized the opportunity to come out and clear the air, it would have done her relationship with the press a lot of good. But instead of doing that, she has chosen to hide."

According to Friday Weekly journalist Ang Ming Hwa, his publication conducted a poll last year to see who was the most hated actress in town. Fann topped the list and when Friday Weekly attempted to get her comments, it hit a blank wall. She did not return calls for two months. "Maybe she does not know how to handle negative publicity," said Mr Ang.

"Compared to the Taiwanese or Hongkong press, Singaporean journalists are really not so scary. So I do know why she has to shun us like that."

Fann, who is said to be in Taiwan promoting her latest album Missing You Now, could not be contacted by Life! yesterday.

TRUTH DOES WELL AT SNEAKS

TELEVISION princess Fann Wong was anything but elusive last weekend.

Her film debut, The Truth About Jane And Sam, made a sizeable splash at the box-office when it began its sneak previews last Friday, taking in $78,261 by Sunday.

Opening on 22 screens, the Mandarin romance by Hongkong director Derek Yee compared favourably against other recent mushies like Notting Hill, which sneak-previewed on 24 screens and made $84,000.

Fann's movie looks set to open strongly when it starts its run tomorrow.

"We are pleased with the sneak figures, which are excellent for a Mandarin love story. But from this point on, the film's performance will pretty much depend on word of mouth," said Mr Roger Pollock, managing director of the movie's distributor, United International Pictures.

"On all accounts, it was enjoyed by the audiences who attended the sneak screenings."

But Fann's detractors felt that factors like aggressive TV and radio hyping by the film's producer, Raintree Pictures, are the reasons it did well at the previews.

"The Fann Wong TV trailers, the Fann Wong MTV clips, the Fann Wong songs on radio - it's like a circus," griped undergraduate Amelia Lee, 19. "Any movie with that kind of hype will surely do well. It has nothing to do with quality."

But Janice Quek, 14, a student, viewed it differently. She has seen her idol's movie three times and gushed: "It's our way of supporting Fann."