Names and faces
In 1983, Geeling Ching was 23 years old and living in Australia, waiting tables at a cafe in Sydney, when she was chosen to play the lead role in the video for David Bowie’s “China Girl.” She said the music video and the brief romance with Bowie that followed in the 1980s were like a surreal dream and a life-changer. The death of the British rock star from cancer this week at age 69 stunned fans worldwide. Ching was watching a tennis tournament in Auckland, New Zealand, where she now lives, when her phone started buzzing with questions of whether the reports were true. She was already a fan when she met Bowie. As a teenager, she’d put Bowie’s posters up on her bedroom wall and bought one of his albums. “There was something quite other-worldly about him,” she said. “He was beautiful. Just beautiful.” The “China Girl” video parodies Asian stereotypes and went on to win an MTV award. At the time, the unedited version was banned from New Zealand and other countries for a raunchy scene on a beach. Ching said she and Bowie were naked for the scene but that it wasn’t romantic. After the shoot, she said, Bowie invited her to join him on tour in Europe. She traveled on a private jet and saw the frenzied fans. “It was completely surreal,” she said. It didn’t last long, but Ching said the experience “had the biggest influence on my life that I could have ever imagined.”
Fifty Shades of Grey is tied with Pixels, Jupiter Ascending and Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 for the most nominations at this year’s Golden Raspberry Awards celebrating the worst in cinema. The films led the Razzies lineup Wednesday with six nods each, including worst picture and worst actor for Jamie Dornan in the sexy thriller Fifty Shades of Grey,
Kev in James in the comedy sequel Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2, Channing Tatum in the sci-fi film Jupiter Ascending and Adam Sandler in the video game mash-up Pixels. Sandler also received a worst-actor nomination for his fantasy-comedy The Cobbler. The other worst-picture nominee is the superhero film Fantastic Four, which is also up for worst remake, screen combo, director for Josh Trank and screenplay for Simon Kinberg, Jeremy Slater and Trank. The announcement of the Razzies, which began in 1980 as a spoof of Hollywood’s awards season, comes ahead of today’s Oscar nominations. The winners for the 36th annual Razzies will be announced Feb. 27, the night before the 88th annual Academy Awards. They will be selected by 900 voting members from 47 states and 21 foreign countries. While far less star-studded than other award shows, past recipients such as Halle Berry and Sandra Bullock have shown up in person to claim their prizes.