Susan Sarandon challenges Chinese actor to ping pong match
With a heavy downpour and slippery floor, it was hard for anyone to stand out from the crowd. However, the Oscar-winning actress Susan Sarandon has demonstrated to the Chinese glitterati that one can achieve equal exposure, if not more, by talking smart.
And this is the message Sarandon sends to the Middle Kingdom: I love ping pong.
During a press conference a few hours prior to the SIFF red carpet ceremony, the atmosphere couldn't have been more tedious until Sarandon showed up and started talking about ping pong, according to Chinese newspaper Changjiang Daily.
Sarandon declined the invitation of a local reporter for joining their Weibo, but told that reporter to follow her ping pong club's Twitter account.
She went on to tell the media how she enjoyed playing ping pong and that the Twitter account was the closest social networking platform to reach her.
Good marketing job on the ping pong, but too bad Sarandon doesn't seem aware that Twitter is unavailable in mainland China.
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Later that day on the opening ceremony of 14th SIFF, Sarandon was presented the "Award for Outstanding Contribution to Film Art." Her acceptance speech was once again centered around the country's national sport.
I am a very bad ping pong player, but I have a ping pong club in the United States and a number of ping pong bars and clubs.— Part of Susan Sarandon's speech on SIFF's opening ceremony
This time, Sarandon challenged Zhang Guoli, China's well-known actor for a ping pong match in the future.
"I am a very bad ping pong player, but I have a ping pong club in the United States and a number of ping pong bars and clubs,” says Sarandon on stage. “So maybe he will play ping pong with me if we open one in Shanghai. This will be a good excuse (for me) to come back to China.”
In a previous interview with National Post, Sarandon also revealed that she was invited to play in a TV ping pong tournament during this first trip to Shanghai, which was set to be televised for 40 million people. The details of this Shanghai ping pong tournament are yet to be confirmed.
Self-proclaimed “Asia's first red carpet,” this year's SIFF attracted over 300 celebrities and movie stars from all over the world. Some of the biggest names present were Rupert Murdoch and his China-born wife Deng Wendi, Susan Sarandon, Matt Dilon, Mischa Barton, Sammo Hung and China's own A-list actress Fan Bingbing.
