Gong Li needs to be funnier

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

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

The 43-year-old screen darling also told Yang that her decision to become a Singaporean citizen was her own business and didn't require a public explanation.

She lost her China Film Association membership when she switched citizenships in November.

Gong was Chinese director Zhang Yimou's first leading actress and rose to stardom after performing in a series of his 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 breakup 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.

The actress also told Yang she had no Academy Award ambitions and didn't care if audiences remembered her or not.