Hong Kong director Johnnie To has reportedly stated in all honesty that he does not want to cast actress Cecilia Cheung in his movies mainly because she has a complicated life and is surrounded by negative rumors as of late.

To, who is currently promoting his upcoming film, 'Don't Go Breaking My Heart 2,' which features Louis Koo, Gao Yuan Yuan and Daniel Wu, allegedly stated that he does not wish to cast Cheung in any of his upcoming movies. The director cited that the actress' life is too complicated and that she is constantly surrounded with rumors, which are often bad news.

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While admitting that Cheung, who starred in his film, 'Running on Karma', is a good actress with good looks and is a qualified actress who is over 30 years old of age, To said that she has unfortunately gotten herself into messy issues. Other than that, he has cited that the actress is a divorcee.

"Who wants to use her now?" said To.

Furthermore, the 'Don't Go Breaking My Heart' director stated that he has observed that there is a shortage of Hong Kong actresses who are over 30 years old, the age that he prefers to cast in his films. He also said that Hong Kong actresses have many limitations and it was not a common thing for actresses over 30 to be featured in films as the lead, compared to other countries who are able to generate actresses who can play the lead role even at the age of 40.

He also added that apart from actress-turned-writer Brigitte Lin, no one else can do it in Hong Kong.

On the other hand, according to the director, Mainland actress Gao Yuan Yuan has been his recent favorite actress to cast in his movies. "It was especially hard to find someone who can get Andy Lau to fall in love with her, so I asked Yuan Yuan to help out, and it worked," said To.

To cited that besides Gao, it was difficult for him to find an actress over 30 who can pull it off, saying that there's almost none.

TagsJohnny To, Cecilia Cheung