Bailing Bai Ling
That’s cinematographer Christopher Doyle in 2005. Before 1997, he should have directed Bai Ling in a Category III movie. It’s strange that they never did a film together like a collaboration with Wong Kar-Wai. Bai Ling lookalike Zhang ZiYi played a hooker named after her in Wong’s 2046 (2004). I’ve seen photos of Bai dressing up as Charlie Chaplin in more than one occasion. The more that she does this, the more that she reminds me of Dean Shek Tin doing the same in John Woo’s Laughing Times (1980). Bai had a supporting role in a Jodie Foster film co-starring John’s main leading man i.e. Chow Yun-Fat in Anna and the King (1999). Bai shares a common denominator with Jodie - Gina Gershon. In the latter’s memoir, published this year, Gina claimed that she used to hang out with Jodie when they were teenagers.
Much later on, Gina Gershon and Bai Ling acted in the same film - Love Ranch. Although it was released in 2010, it was filmed in 2008. Both actresses could be seen together a lot earlier in May 2005, when they attended the 5th Annual “Project A.L.S.” benefit gala in Los Angeles. In 2009, Bai attended a Halloween party with Gina and her best male friend - Fisher Stevens (who people assume is Gina’s boyfriend). You can see some photos from the event on page 7 of the Bai Ling thread over at the Vintage Erotica Forums. Not only have Gina and Fisher acted in some of the same films, but they founded a theater company called Naked Angels. This was established in 1987. Like Tara Reid and Bai Ling, Gina Gershon had an interest in Playboy. Gina took her first trip to the Playboy Mansion at the age of 15, but she didn’t want to be known as a Playboy model, so she turned down an offer to pose for them when she was 18.
Bai Ling met someone who used to be related to Gina - Sharon Stone. They were cousins by marriage. From February 1998 to January 2004, Sharon was married to Gina’s maternal relative: Phil Bronstein. In September 2004, Sharon could be seen shaking Bai’s hand at a gala in Santa Monica. It was a joint celebration between Macy’s and American Express Passport. This was a month before Bai could be seen getting funky with a black guy on a catwalk for Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week. For all of her swooning and sweaty swagger, Bai Ling is an award-winning actress. At the 41st Golden Horse Awards in Taiwan, she won Best Supporting Actress because of her performance in Fruit Chan’s Dumplings (2004). This was in December 2004.
At the 24th Hong Kong Film Awards in March 2005, she won the same award for the same film. This was the week after she met Jackie Chan in Malaysia for a Tsunami Aid concert. They never did a film together. Compare this with 1993 when Jackie and Carrie Ng won Best Leading awards at the 30th Golden Horse ceremony. They then worked together on a film, Thunderbolt (1995), but her role was left on the cutting room floor. In a 1997 book called Hong Kong Babylon, Jackie’s manager claimed that Jackie had many girlfriends. In 1999, his affair with actress Elaine Ng came out when she was pregnant but this didn’t stop him from making family-friendly films. Lucy Liu played a dominatrix in Mel Gibson’s Payback (1999) but this didn’t stop Jackie from having her cast in Shanghai Noon (2000).
Then we have Jet Li, who has acted in films with Jackie Chan, Andy Lau and Stephen Chow but not Chow Yun-Fat. Unlike these men, Jet Li is said to be more faithful to his wife - Nina Li Chi. Plus he is a Buddhist, but then Jet did star in a film where he saved the life of a hooker. This film was Kiss of the Dragon, for which Bai Ling attended an advanced screening in L.A. circa June 2001. Richard Gere is also a Buddhist, and he worked with Bai Ling on Red Corner (1997). Chow Yun-Fat must really have liked Bai Ling, because lookalike Zhang ZiYi was cast in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000). Ironically, you’re more likely to see Bai Ling date a black person like record producer Damon Elliott. In 2015, she was seen dating a bi actress named Rose Acosta (who is an Afro-Latina).
Back to the aforementioned book, Hong Kong Babylon, this was published by Miramax. Bai Ling already had a connection to Miramax when they distributed The Crow (1994), starring Bruce Lee’s son. One of her friends is Sandra Vidal, who was in Undisputed (2002) starring Wesley Snipes, and Derailed (2002) starring Jean-Claude Van Damme. As for being a lady of the nightlife, Bai Ling would rather be paid by multiple men than marry a rich guy. Prostitution may be the world’s oldest profession (no love for carpentry), but a man never bribes a woman to marry him. On her Facebook page, Bai Ling provides a link to her PayPal account. Besides being reminiscent of bling, 88bling reminds me of 8 being a lucky number for the Chinese. For example, Wong Jing’s second memoir was published in the eighth month of 2025 (therefore repeating his strategy in 2011).