We've known for a while now that there will be a significant Chinese influence on Michael Bay's Transformers 4, which is a result of the studio behind it appeasing to the giant Asian market, and now it seems that influence has grown a little stronger today. While the cast currently consists of only American and English actors, including Mark Wahlberg, Nicola Peltz, Stanley Tucci, Sophia Myles, Kelsey Grammer and Jack Reynor,today it's been officially announced that Chinese actress Li Bingbing as come aboard as well.
While most of Bingbing's work has been done in her home country, just last year she took the part of Ada Wong in Paul W.S. Anderson's Resident Evil Retribution. She may also be recognized from Jackie Chan's war film 1911 or from 2008's The Forbidden Kingdom, which had her starring alongside Chan, Jet Li, and Michael Angarano.
Said Michael Bay in a statement about the casting, "I am excited to have Li Bingbing join our cast and to be shooting portions of the movie in her native China. I have always aspired to work with the best actors and this cast is especially exciting now with the addition of Li."
The sequel, which will be shooting in both IMAX and 3D, is scheduled to start shooting this summer (a more specific date isn't given in the press release announcing Bingbing's casting) and the movie will be filming both here in the United States and in China.Paramount has scheduled Transformers 4 to be in theaters on June 27, 2014.
