Suddenly, comedian Stephen Chow Sing-chi (right) is as much a pariah as an AIG executive with a fat bonus. After he was recently dumped as director of the Hollywood project The Green Hornet, various local movie-industry veterans have mouthed off at the Shaolin Soccer star.

China Star producer Tiffany Chen Ming-ying recently called Chow 'unbearable'. Then director Wong Jing said he was difficult to work with and another director, Manfred Wong Man-chun, suggested 'the Chow Sing-chi era is over'.

Now, another actor has some unflattering remarks about arguably Hong Kong's top-grossing star. Danny Lee Sau-yin (left) - whom some consider Chow's mentor, having invited him to co-star in his 1980s cop films, including Final Justice in 1988 - took a shot at the comic director at a forum on Hong Kong crime films on Tuesday at the Convention and Exhibition Centre.

When asked about Chow, Lee admitted frankly that he hadn't been in touch for a long time. But recalling their work experience, Lee was blunt, saying his film company 'signed him on a two-year contract, but after I made the first film, we just didn't want him in our second film any more. So I passed him to [fellow director] Karl Maka, and then I heard that they didn't want him either,' Lee spewed.

Citing his 'over-calculating' demeanour, Lee added that if he saw the Kung Fu Hustle and CJ7 star now, he would say to him: 'Sometimes, money can't buy you everything. He should learn the importance of friendship.

'He is a smart boy. I am not saying that he is going to lose his fame or money or whatever, but if one day he falls, he may not have any friends there for him.'