By JOE NGUYEN, staff writer
July 28, 2005

Stunning, stylish and always unpredictable, Bai Ling has risen to become one of the more recognizable Asian faces in Hollywood. She has worked along side some of Hollywood’s biggest names including Will Smith, Jude Law, and Ben Affleck just to name a few. Her approach to life has stirred up controversy, but as she says, “Whether it is good or bad, I’m there.” Her latest feature is Face, a coming of age story of two women caught between the conflicting cultures of their traditional heritage and the surrounding influence of urban life.

JN: How did you get a hold of the script for Face?
BL: [Director Bertha Bay-Sa Pan] actually came to me and asked me to star in it. The story is about relationships. What I like about this movie is that a lot of things are unsaid. You watch people’s lives and you start caring about them. It’s about different cultures, different generations. Not just about mothers and daughters.

Did you encounter any difficulties in filming the movie?
It was actually shot in the winter on a short schedule. I think for me it was easier to play [my character] when she’s younger. And then gradually all she cares about is her daughter and when you think in that perspective it becomes easier. When you want to reach to a person’s soul and heart, you just have to get to their perspective. I became more appreciative about my parents. I have a love affair with my character. I don’t like her very much, but I have to understand her. I understand when she tries to approach her daughter. In life you have to somehow try to communicate with people and making the effort to distinguish the wrong and right.

I heard that you finished shooting a movie called The Gene Generation.
It’s a different project, a cross between The Matrix and La Femme Nikita. My character’s parents died [when she was] 12. You know how people hack into computers? This is about hacking into brains. It’s a beautiful love story. There’s lots of action and a wide range of emotions for my character. I had a difficult role and we had real guns. I did all my own stunts. Very different from Face and The Beautiful Country.

Are you working on any other projects at the moment?
I’m finishing up A Man About Town with Ben Affleck, Edmond with William H. Macy, which was a David Mamet play. Also, a movie called Entourage where I’m playing a bank robber.

Bai Ling (center) with her co-stars Kristy Wu (left) and Kieu Chinh (right) in Face

With all these projects, are you planning to take some time off for a vacation?
I went to Taiwan for the 4th of July weekend. It’s a vacation for me. I love fireworks. It’s the most amazing thing watching bubbles turn to flower. From earth you look at the fireworks and they’re huge. Flying on a plane, they look so small.

You were supposed to have a scene in the latest Star Wars, but it was left out in the final cut. Did it have anything to do with your recent Playboy pictorial?
I have no clue, but I don’t really want to know. Whatever happens, whatever goes, it has nothing to do with me. I’m very appreciative that I’m an important icon of American culture with Star Wars and Playboy. I have no complaints and I learned that when you don’t get what you want, it’s sometimes for the better. Nighttime may be seen as bad, but without it you’d never see the stars in the sky.

I worked from the beginning to the end and they have their own life and they have nothing really to do with me. Playboy was very fun. Whatever I have is something natural. I’m beautiful and sexy it feels very good. I feel like I’m an example. Whether it is good or bad, I’m there. I feel that the human body is very beautiful and we should be proud. You come naked, you go naked and we shouldn’t be ashamed of our bodies.

I think I’m very lucky to do what I do. JOE NGUYEN

For more on Face
Check out their website at http://www.indicanpictures.com/.

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