Gong Li during the interview (Sina.com)

Actress Gong Li is preparing to star in Jim Carrey's latest comedy movie, Gong told talk-show hostess Yang Lan on Sunday.

Gong starred in Stephen Chow's popular comedy Flirting Scholar, but her performance was widely criticized as "wooden". She told Yang that she wished to be a better comedian this time.

Gong, 43, also told Yang that taking up Singapore citizenship was her own business and it was unnecessary to explain it to the public.

She lost her membership of the China Film Association when she became a Singaporean citizen in November.

Gong, Chinese director Zhang Yimou's first leading actress, won fame after performing in a series of Zhang's films including Red Sorghum and Raise the Red Lantern.

Her role in Chinese director Chen Kaige's Farewell My Concubine earned her a New York Film Critics Circle Award.

She married her Singaporean husband in February 1996, but rumors about their break-up and affairs with both Chinese and overseas actors have persisted.

Gong starred in Memoirs of a Geisha in 2005, Miami Vice in 2006 and Hannibal Rising in 2007.

Gong also told Yang that she had no ambition to be an Academy Award winner and didn't care whether audiences would remember her.

(Shanghai Daily January 6, 2009)