Bai Ling

Bai Ling Talks Sith

Bai Ling, who makes an extended cameo as the good senator Bana Breemu in the upcoming Star Wars: Episode III, told SCI FI Wire that she has high hopes for the final chapter in the Star Wars saga, which is subtitled Revenge of the Sith. "I think that film is going to be very good because the last one [was]," Bai said in an interview. "Sometimes when you’re on set, you have the feeling about [a] film, good or bad."

Bai added, "I just feel like they want mystery, and [they] kept, even from us, what’s going to happen in the movie. They kept it very secretive, and when I got the job, the next day I went to a premiere and some interviewer, I told him I got the job. The next day I got a call. ’You don’t tell anyone! We’re going to announce it, not you!’ I was so afraid I would lose the job. So when I came back, our scripts, they all had a code. So one time I called my agent; she [wanted] to sign [for] the script and Fed Ex it back [to Lucasfilm]. I said, ’OK, my agent’s doing it.’ They said, ’No, no, no. You’re doing it yourself. Can’t tell your agent.’ So everything’s very secretive. But when we were shooting this with George Lucas, he said, ’Bai Ling, right now you’re on the Internet.’ I said, ’Where?’ [He said,] ’There’s a little camera right there.’ They’re allowed to show behind the scenes. Anything behind the camera they can show, like sitting around his office. They have so many fans. I [am] very lucky to be in the last Star Wars."

Bai, who also co-stars in the upcoming feature Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, a film that was shot entirely against blue screens, with all of the backgrounds digitally animated in later, noted that Revenge of the Sith was a similar but different filmmaking experience. "There’s more set," she said. "For example, we had a blue screen extended off the real set. The real set is like one room, but extended probably another 20 rooms is a blue screen. They give you some actual space, real [space]. [They] probably had much more money, Star Wars. And this one [Sky Captain] is like I had no idea what’s going on. When I saw the film, I was like, ’Wow!’ I think it’s kind of fascinating. Sometimes I feel like [directors and the CG artists] are scientists. Those people should be the stars [of] this kind of movie." Sky Captain opens Sept. 17. Revenge of the Sith is scheduled for release on May 19, 2005.