Six degrees
Zhang Ziyi has been the subject of unwelcome and - let's face it - unlikely newspaper articles in recent weeks that suggest the Beijing-born actress (below) earned US$110 million by prostituting herself to fallen politician Bo Xilai and other high-fliers. Apple Daily ran the story despite a glaring lack of evidence, witnesses or reliable sources. Thirty-three-year-old Zhang made her name in big-budget martial-arts epics such as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Hero. One incongruous entry on the actress' CV, however, is the 2001 schtick flick Rush Hour 2, directed by Brett Ratner ...
Ratner's had his own share of bad press in the past year or so. The filmmaker was forced out of his role producing the Oscars after claiming 'rehearsal is for fags'. Underscoring his classy image, the director of X-Men: The Last Stand and Tower Heist then gave a radio interview in which he offered explicit details of his sex life. Having revealed he has 'huge balls', is the world's best oral sex practitioner and has a sperm count 10 times above average, Ratner informed DJ Howard Stern that he had insisted on sending to a doctor for a venereal disease check-up one-time lover Lindsay Lohan ...
When she isn't obliterating her septum or drunkenly driving into things, 'LiLo' is deemed a capable and often fine actress. Her lifestyle has taken its toll, however, and in a recent photoshoot, which saw her recreate iconic pictures of her heroine, Marilyn Monroe, the 25-year-old was accused of looking older than the 36-year-old Monroe. Kicking a woman when she's down comes naturally to immoral media types and to prove it, this 'degree' will end with Lohan's last award: a double worst-actress Razzie for her part in the 2007 horror I Know Who Killed Me ...
The story about a young aspiring writer who disappears then magically reappears as a world-weary stripper, and some business with a serial killer, was panned as 'ludicrously plotted' and (hard to believe) 'a career nadir for all involved' by Rotten Tomatoes, which gave the film a dismal 9 per cent approval rating. Critic Richard Roeper ranked it the worst movie of the decade and it set a record for the most Razzie wins in a single year (eight). One of the more upbeat reviews described the 'preposterous' film as 'The Parent Trap as remade by the Marquis de Sade' ...