According to the Chinese Movie Database (cnmdb.com), Miss Li has been offered three roles in Hollywood films. In order to prepare for the role in The Forbidden Kingdom (2008), Li Bingbing studied with an English coach in order to perfect her English. Through her previous casting experiences she realized that while English can be a difficult language to learn she needed to master it, and therefore has had an English teacher. Even though The Forbidden Kingdom took place in China with Chinese dialogue it was shot with English-speaking parts. As a result Miss Li’s English teacher would read the script from The Forbidden Kingdom and record the English words and she would study the words over and over again to get them right. Now she practices speaking in English and speaks often with her friends in America.

Additionally, since her part in The Forbidden Kingdom was actually a more sympathetic character that was not fully explored, the sequel to this movie will apparently involve the backstory for this character.

She mentions that shooting a movie in Hollywood is a rare opportunity and she intends to tackle the English in the same manner in which she did in The Forbidden Kingdom, with a lot of script work. Miss Li hopes to demonstrate Chinese actresses in leading Hollywood roles without the need for making them martial artists.

Quoted article:

中美合拍大片《功夫之王》即将在内地上映，该片不仅会集成龙(听歌 blog)、李连杰(blog)这两大功夫巨星，李冰冰( 听歌 blog)饰演的白发魔女在造型和武打动作上也颇为出彩。在接受记者采访时，李冰冰表示，自己之所以接下这个角色完全是为了要和两位大哥级明星合作。由于她在片中的造型冷艳、英文对白流利，目前她已经接到了3部好莱坞电影的邀请，与章子怡、杨紫琼闯荡好莱坞不同的是，她所受邀的角色并非都是打女，其中有两部都是需要丰富演技的文艺片。

内地观众看到《功夫之王》都是中文对白，但该片拍摄时所有演员都说英文。对此，李冰冰表示：“此前我的英文水平一直不过关。当年《尖峰时刻3》找我试戏时，我得知该片需要说英文，就直接拒绝了，因为我当时的英文水平就是拿着剧本念都很困难。那次遗憾地错过与成龙大哥的合作让我认识到了自己的不足。从那时开始，我便请了英文老师。《功夫之王》拍摄前，老师用英文把剧本台词读了一遍，我依靠录音反复学习，终于过了关。现在我用英文与美国朋友聊天，接受国外媒体采访都没问题，只是片中那些‘长生不老药’等专有名词让我很伤脑筋。”

从《飞鹰》到《老鼠爱上猫》，李冰冰在银幕上塑造了很多打女，而在《功夫之王》中她与两位大哥合作，不仅使她对功夫的表演大开眼界，而且自身的演技也得到了进一步提高。她说：“片中最精彩的就是两位大哥那10分钟的对打戏。当时袁和平把自己设计的动作展示给他们后，他们没有走戏，而是让导演直接实拍。两人依靠自己的经验一气呵成，我在一旁都看傻了。结果这段戏导演不满意，因为他们打得太快了，3部摄影机都无法跟上他们的武打动作。在片场，成龙大哥跟我说：‘拍功夫片只要人不住进医院就不叫受伤。’而我在与别人对打时，被对手一脚踢在脸上，嘴巴立刻就肿了，而且还流血。我的第一反应就是摸牙齿掉了没有，幸好安然无恙。按照大哥的‘指示’，我休息了10分钟，补了下妆，就继续投入拍摄。”

片中，李冰冰饰演的白发魔女是个不相信任何男人，一生梦想长生不老的功夫高手，但整部影片并没交代她性格形成的原因。对此，李冰冰解释说：“其实在片中，导演说白发魔女与李连杰饰演的人物有过一段感情戏，后来在剪片时，导演出于整体风格的把握，将这些戏全删除了。为此，明科夫还专门向我道歉，但他表示如果拍续集会将这些内容再丰富一些，用整部电影去展示白发魔女这个人物。”

日前，《功夫之王》在北美上映，许多观众都模仿起白发魔女的甩头动作，甚至有媒体预测，“白发魔女甩发”这个全新的镜头，将有可能成为美国街头 的新时尚。而李冰冰近来也得到了3部好莱坞影片的主演机会。她说：“演员都想把自己的演技和作品展示给更多观众，而到好莱坞拍片是个难得的机会。在英文对 白过关，自己饰演的角色得到认可之后，进军好莱坞会让我的展示空间进一步增大。但我不想总是塑造打女，我近来正在研读那3个剧本，希望找到最合适我的角 色，让全世界观众看到中国女演员并非只能依靠功夫片才能展示自己。”

Bingbing Li’s star continues to shine in North America, as Forbidden Kingdom continues to generate revenue both in the United States and internationally. According to Hollywood-stats website, The-Numbers.com, the movie has now soared past $88 million. According to China.org.cn, there is a rumor the producers would make a sequel only if the revenue broke $50 million. The existence of a sequel is also mentioned on Miss Li’s official website, LiBingbing.net (you will need to read Chinese to translate it).

To quote China.org.cn:

The overwhelming box-office success of the action-adventure flick “The Forbidden Kingdom” has prompted its producers to shoot a sequel.

Sources from the film’s Chinese investor and distributor, Huayi Brothers, said Tuesday they will once again collaborate with Hollywood for part two of the Jackie Chan-Jet Li film, the Beijing Times reported.

The two action heroes will appear in the follow-up film, together with actress Li Bingbing, who made her major Hollywood debut with “Forbidden Kingdom.”

The sequel is likely to feature a romance between Jet Li and Li Bingbing’s characters, the Beijing Times report says.

According to earlier rumors, Huayi Brothers president Wang Zhongjun said a sequel would be made if global revenue of “The Forbidden Kingdom” hit US$50 million.

The film raked in almost half that amount in its opening weekend in North America two weeks ago, topping the local box office with US$20.9 million. According to the Beijing Times, the US$70-million film has already broken even.

Pondering the Sequel’s Storyline:

Of interest in this article is the fact that there will be a romance between Bingbing Li’s characters — PLURAL! This begs a few questions: Is this a sequel or a prequel? Does this mean that the Monkey King is in love with the white witch? Or will Miss Li be coming back as another character?

But if this is a prequel, then does this explain the origins of the White Witch (Ni Chang) and why she wants immortality? Could she have been in love with the Monkey King? And could she have been in love with him and wanted immortality to be with him?

Or are we talking about an entirely different angle? If the story takes place after the current movie then it would be an interesting tale about the Monkey King’s journey as an immortal, falling in love with one woman only to see her die of old age, then living on to meet another woman that is a spitting image of the first love. Since both the Monkey King and the Drunken Immortal are, well, immortal, that would explain why both of them are in the same movie together again.

Well, we can all be rather happy whichever way the filmmakers craft the story. After all we get another chance to see Li Bingbing’s great acting and beauty on the screen again along with those two powerhouses, Jet Li and Jackie Chan. Congratulations and good luck to everyone involved!