Scandal-Plagued Fan Bingbing Makes Big Screen Return with ‘Green Night’

Chinese star Fan Bingbing returns to the silver screen after a five-year hiatus from the limelight spurred by a headline-hitting tax evasion controversy that nearly ended her career.

The actress plays a role in the Hong Kong-Korean thriller “Green Night,” which began streaming in the U.S. on Oct. 18.

Fan, a former mainstay of Chinese cinema and world-renowned fashionista, had her career put on hold in 2018 after a tax fraud probe.

She took months to come back with a statement—an apology of sorts—then shelled out more than $70 million in fines and back taxes. As much as she tried, the scandal resulted in her being more or less completely blacklisted in China and leaving her film career hanging in suspension.

While she had two films released after the scandal, The 355 and The King’s Daughter, neither film performed well at the box office. That latter gig won Fan a Golden Raspberry Award nomination for Worst Supporting Actress, the lowest form of recognition in Hollywood.

Even though her new movie, *Green Night*, opened at festivals worldwide earlier in the year, this now plays out as her formal return to the cinema. In the thriller, Fan stars as a Chinese immigrant caught up in a high-stakes drug smuggling operation.

The release, which has received mixed reviews, including a lukewarm reception from film review site Roger Ebert, marks a new chapter for the actress.

Despite the audacity of its themes, Roger Ebert called it “not an unbearable film,” but “it’s not a particularly consequential one either.”

After so many years living in her scandal-filled shadow, the release of “Green Night” marks a tentative step back into the spotlight for Fan — but one that will be judged by how welcoming audiences are to her return.

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Rovelyn Barba