Link This | Email this | Blog This | Comments (2)

Cranking It Up with Bai Ling

September 22, 2009

Last week, I had a chance to speak on the phone with the lively and loquacious Bai Ling, co-star of Lionsgate’s recently released Crank 2:High Voltage, which topped the rental and sell-through charts last week. Much fun was had as the spirited actress discussed her love of action and adventure, as well as the respect she felt for her Crank co-star Jason Statham.

 

VB: Over the past decade or so, you’ve become quite a proficient action and adventure heroine, with lots of guns and fighting and running and jumping and so on….It’s must feel like a second childhood—except for the guns part.
Bai Ling: A second childhood—I like that. Well, like a child, with everything I do, I want to have fun!

VB: You’re known for being a very lively person both on the screen and off and it definitely shows in Crank 2, where I understand you did all your own stunts.

Bai Ling: Yeah! I think I’m known as an adventuress. Even generally in life, I have no fear. It’s not that I’m not afraid of things, but when I am afraid of something, I don’t back away--I approach it and try to understand what makes me afraid.

VB: Were you scared of anything you did in Crank 2?

Bai Ling: I let out the crazy little girl inside of me for Crank 2. She has no fear, so she tries everything. I indulged my wild child—the one that’s not aware of danger or fear--for the purity of existence for that character in the film.

VB: How do the filmmakers and producers feel about your wild child spirit, particularly when you get yourself into a situation where you might get hurt?

Bai Ling: Of course, behind me they’re saying, ‘She’s crazy!’ We had a stunt double for me for Crank 2 and she was losing all this weight to look like me. After two weeks of losing weight and training every day, I decided I wanted to do the all the stunts, and they let me. I did one car stunt where I almost smashed my face into the pavement and said to myself, ‘Wow, that was dangerous!’

VB: How did you like handling all those guns?
Bai Ling: Those guns were so heavy and I’m kind of tiny, so it was difficult. When the bullets came out of the gun, I could barely hold it. The directors and gun men told me very carefully how to do certain things, but I think I did everything just the opposite from what they told me to do. It was so much fun, though. I’ve never really had a chance to act that free and crazy!

VB: And working with Jason Statham? What was that like?

Bai Ling: Jason has got a wonderful quality about him—he’s very real. He’ll do anything he can to help you if you’re having problems with anything. And he’s such a serious actor—he’ll do anything for his work. That’s something I really respect about him.

Posted by Laurence Lerman on September 22, 2009 | Comments (2)