Ice Ice Bingbings: Li to Star in "Transformers 4" and Fan Starts Shooting "X-Men"

Fan Bingbing and Li Bingbing, the Beijing-based actresses, are making significant inroads this month to expand their Hollywood careers and international presence. Quite the change from their filmographies to date, which have been mostly shot in our fair city (in fact, Fan is best known for Lost In Beijing).

Fan got the red carpet treatment in Cannes earlier this week, honored by trade rag The Hollywood Reporter as their International Star of the Year, at a party sponsored by the magazine and Jimmy Choo. For her trip to France, she had to tear herself away from filming X-Men: Days of Future Past, the fourth film in that franchise, which she began shooting last week. Superhero turns are not unknown to the superstar, who has a small part in Iron Man 3, one that was expanded via editing for the China market. While the film has done well, it remains to be seen if Fan's presence actually contributed significantly to that success. Fan is also due to star with Jackie Chan in the upcoming English-language Skiptrace.

While The Hollywood Reporter calls her "China’s leading movie star and fashion icon," of China's top 10 all-time box office hits, Fan has appeared in none of them — except for a cameo in the runaway domestic comedy Lost in Thailand. Recognizable, yes. Bankable? Maybe not yet.

Li, the face of Gucci in China, has been cast in the fourth Transformers film, where she'll play alongside Mark Wahlberg, Kelsey Grammer, and Stanley Tucci for the latest installment of the exploding-robots extravaganza. Action is nothing new for Li. She previously appeared in Resident Evil: Retribution and Forbidden Kingdom. Transformers 4: Gripping Subtitle TBA not only has a cast, it has a release date: Li's fans can line up now for the June 27, 2014, global release. No word yet on whether China will get it the same day as the rest of the world.

Photo: Guccitimeless.com.