Li Bingbing Loses Chance to Star in New James Bond Movie
Li Bingbing’s (李冰冰) dream to enter the Hollywood film market will not be broken despite losing the chance to star in Bond 23, the new James Bond movie. In fact, Li Bingbing will be starring in another Hollywood hit,Resident Evil: Retribution, portraying the popular and sexy game character, Ada Wong. Resident Evil: Retributionstar, Milla Jovovich, posted on Twitter a photo of Bingbing in her new short hairstyle for her upcoming role.
Winning the 2008 Best Actress Award at The People’s Hundred Flowers Awards, which was equivalent to China’s Golden Globes, Li Bingbing was absent at yesterday’s opening reception for the 2011 Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Film Festival. Bingbing had quietly flown to Canada to film Hollywood blockbuster, Resident Evil: Retribution. Since starring in Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, Bingbing will be officially filming her first trueHollywood debut this time.
Yesterday, Bingbing posted a photo of the filming set of Resident Evil: Retribution on her blog, “Today was my first day of the shooting, which took me by surprise since I did consider that I would be filming a genuine fight scene. It was really exciting! Earlier, I underwent gun training, but I was still a bit shocked by the intense gunfire. Fortunately, I was wearing earplugs. I like Ada Wong with force!” Bingbing also revealed that she was unaccustomed to the coldweather in Toronto and thus came down with a fever.
Resident Evil: Retribution star, Milla Jovovich, uploaded a photo of Li Bingbing in her new short hairstyle, which was taken in the dressing room. Milla indicated that she was unable to reveal Bingbing in her full length costume; otherwise “big trouble” may start. It was not known whether Bingbing had indeed cut her long hair, a preference which she kept for many years, for her role of Ada Wong. Nevertheless, many netizens praised Bingbing’s new look as being sexy.
May Lose Chance To Play Bond Girl
The reporter contacted Li Bingbing’s manager, Li Xue (李雪), who was currently in Canada. Li Xue indicated that Li Bingbing’s recognition level increased dramatically after the release of Snow Flower and the Secret Fan. Since Director Paul W.S. Anderson realized that Bingbing had a free spot in her schedule, he immediately cast herin Resident Evil: Retribution, requiring her to undergo rigorous training for the role of Ada Wong.
Although Li Bingbing was initially rumored to be the top five finalists to be considered for a role in the new upcoming James Bond movie, Bond 23, she may lose the opportunity to star in the film. Li Xue stated, “From what Iunderstand, Bond 23 may change its script, making a Chinese actress not a good fit for the role. The director may not choose to cast a Chinese actress after all.”
Source: Oriental Daily
Jayne: Wow, I did not know that Li Bingbing was one of the finalists considered for the new James Bond movie, although the casting decision may be changed causing her to lose the opportunity to star in another Hollywood role. Li Bingbing may indeed be the next Chinese actress to make a sensation in Hollywood!
This may be a blessing in disguise, Jayne. Not many actresses go on to have prominent roles in Hollywood after their roles as Bond girls.
dai si jie,
I think it’s necessary to not be regarded as the next hottest Asian star, but for Li Bingbing to improve upon her English and take on more dramatic roles first.
That said, Michelle Yeoh was one of the coolest Bond girls though.
I think in general Asian actresses get stereotyped into roles in Hollywood.
I think it may be a better move for her to star in the Resident Evil franchise to start her Hollywood portfolio. And as Jayne said, it’s always best to improve on the English so you can therefore have better emotions.
I agree. Michelle Yeoh has good english but even she has not really “made” it in Hollywood. She hasn’t really had a great hollywood role where she wasn’t stereotyped.
Michelle Yeoh has great eng, she grew up speaking eng and her grammar is better than many so called eng speaker. She has also made it in hollywood. She is the only chinese actress in a Bond film that is beyond wallflower. She may not have hits after hits, but most certainly she has made it.
I think every race is stereotype in Hollywood. Black, White, Chinese, Hispanic, etc all have their stereotypes.
Is the main criteria for ‘making it’ in Hollywood not being stereotyped? What about black actor like Chris Tucker? Has he made it or not made it?
What role do you consider as not stereotype for Chinese? I remember Michelle Yeoh play a Christian nun in Babylon and a biologist in Sunshine.
@ Funn
Michelle Yeoh is also the only Bond girl who was asked to return to the franchise for a second time. Too bad she turned it down for ‘The Touch’. Should have taken the James Bond movie. No matter how the movie turns out, she will go down in history as the first Bond girl to come back for a second Bond movie.
Yeap Michelle Yeoh I heard spend her teen years in England so that explains why her English is good. She’s a great action star!
Michelle Yeoh and Lucy Liu speak English well and it’s to their advantage.
It’s true, it’s a pity some asian actresses making their foray into Hollywood cannot speak English fluently. This handicaps their networking with Hollywood directors, producers and roles.
You would have think that in this century and age, English is nearly a universal language.
Michelle Yeoh is from an English speaking family. She’s better in English than Cantonese or Mandarin haha.
@ Canto
‘It’s true, it’s a pity some asian actresses making their foray into Hollywood cannot speak English fluently. This handicaps their networking with Hollywood directors, producers and roles.’
I don’t see it as a pity. These actresses are already famous in their own right in the Asia region. Why must they foray into Hollywood? Tony Leung didn’t bother and he’s still a respectable actor who won international awards.
If they succeed good for them. If they don’t, I don’t pity them. they will have tons of fans in Asia region and still a lot of Asian production company wanting to hire them.
Kidd, every actor’s dream is to make it big and there is nothing bigger than Hollywood and winning an Oscar. Tony Leung is in the minority because in western world he is one of the few chinese actors they recognise.
And truth is chinese actors are stereotyped. Their debut film is almost always some kung fu flick. Almost always. If that isn’t a stereotype I don’t know what is. Or Hollywood can’t differentiate between a Korean, a Japanese and a Chinese. That sort of thing.
@ Funn
As I said, all races are stereotype in some way in Hollywood, not only Chinese. Secondly, lynn said Michelle hasn’t has roles in Hollywood that she wasn’t stereotyped and I pointed out 2 of them that didn’t seem stereotyped. Also, there’s a strange idea here that because the Chinese actors’ roles are stereotype means the actor hasn’t make it. But, even famous actor like Chris Tucker got stereotyped.
I agree about Tony Leung. He did not need to make it into Hollywood in order to get noticed, but he is one of the few special ones since there aren’t many like him.
It is also true that not only Chinese are stereotyped. I think all races are to some extent. Maggie Q is Eurasian but is still stereotyped as well.
OMG, I can’t wait to see Bingbing in action. She looks really edgy and cool. I hope she has even more opportunities in Hollywood.
I remember someone here mentioned her facial is fake because she too had plastic surgery, is that true? So far I have yet to see any news of her plastic surgeries…
With her face being pretty always, any hairstyle will suit her.
Nobody can.confirm that but I say “yes” as my opinion. I watched her when she just came to entertainment, her face at that time was different (uglier). People might say it is a result of aging, facial treatment, eating. .. Who really know?
I dont believe ppl just got prettier simply because of the result of aging, facial treatment,eating etc etc. They think they can bluff the world with these reasons haha
Well. If you look at imdb.com where you can find upcoming movies for a few years in future. There are not many Asian roles needed.
I see more Asians appearing in movies and dramas lately but either in “who cares” products or not important roles. A good news is Korea has started to put their artists into Hollywood.
I would rather Hollywood give chances to their homegrown Asian actors than see these spots taken by Asian actors from outside. These Asian actors from outside already have lots of fans and lots of chances in their home country and the rest of Asia.
That’s very true, there are many aspiring Asian Americans but they source those that already have a fanbase in Asia because I guess that’s their first step in marketing the movie.
I think it just makes it easier for them to make money, the Asian star can do promotions in Asia and the American actors to do their part in America.
Many ABC, BBC, or CBC instead ventured into HK, China and Taiwan entertainment industry because it’s hard to start as an actor/actress in Hollywood; and some do make it “BIG”