"My Fair Princess" star Fan Bingbing is planning her comeback. The actress has been out of the limelight since July 2018 after the Chinese government ordered her to settle her tax evasion case or risk going to prison.
Users of Weibo, China's biggest social media platform, recently spotted ads for a brand of eyewear called Prsr, which featured Fan as the model. Though Fan has been a long-time endorser of the brand, the photos could not have been from a previous ad. The same images also appeared on a Thai fan club's website, which stated the line of eyewear would be in the market for 2019, according to The Straits Times.
Another reason why followers think Fan is plotting her comeback sooner rather than later comes from actress Penelope Cruz. The Spanish superstar had a feature on Marie Claire Taiwan where she enumerated her upcoming projects for 2019. One of these projects is a female spy movie called "355" with Hollywood actress Jessica Chastain, Oscar winner Marion Cotillard, "Black Panther" star Lupita Nyong'o and Fan.
According to Variety, "355" is set to begin filming in mid-2019 but Fan's disappearance from the public eye did not create any problems for the production so far. There has been no news that the actress has been replaced and she remains good friends with Chastain, who is also the producer of the film.
Last October, Fan admitted and issued an apology for her tax evasion case. She had to fork $127 million after TV presenter Cui Yongyuan launched an expose into the actress' questionable movie contracts.
Fan signed two types of contracts for her latest film with Bruce Willis, "Air Strike." She filed a tax report for a contract reflecting a lower amount, but she also had another contract with larger talent fee. Insiders said this practice is known as the "yin-yang contracts."
Fan's home studio threatened to sue the TV host for libel. But Cui, who was rewarded with $14,393 by the government as a whistleblower of tax evaders, apologized for his expose and said that he didn't wish to go after Fan to ruin her career. He only wanted the "gang" that drafted her contracts to pay for what they are doing.
In June, authorities from China's tax office issued new rules regarding movie contracts. Though Fan was not mentioned in the announcement, the government officials hinted that actors and actresses could no longer earn more than 70 percent of the talent fees of the combined wages of all the cast members or more than 40 percent of the total production costs.
