Chinese actress Li Bingbing gets a buzz from 'Resident Evil' role
Just like in a Hollywood film, her big break came after a run of rejections when she was least expecting it. So award-winning mainland actress Li Bingbing was still buzzing from landing her breakthrough turn in at the film's local premiere on Wednesday night.
"I'd auditioned for a few Hollywood productions, including and the James Bond series, but they didn't work out. So when I got the audition for , I didn't get my hopes up ," Li said at the W hotel before the premiere.
"They had someone in Beijing take a video of me performing a scene. I was given a long excerpt of the script filled with scientific jargon that I'm not too familiar with."
Three days after the video was sent, Li was hired to play special agent Ada Wong.
Having starred in a string of action-packed movies, Li was not intimidated by the choreography. "I told Paul [Anderson, the film's director] I would love to do more action scenes, but he said we'd have to wait for the next film."
So has she already signed up for the next instalment?
"I should probably not say too much for now. But in the previous films, the actors who appeared in the final scene also usually appear in the next film. Luckily, I was among the line-up," she said.
Li also confirmed rumours she was absent from the world premiere in Tokyo on Monday because of the territorial dispute between Japan and China over the Diaoyu Islands.
"I'm really grateful that the company understands my stance on this matter, despite my very short notice," Li said. "But I decided not to go to the premiere because I wanted to respect my heartfelt feelings."
The film opens in Hong Kong next Thursday.
