Bai Ling was cut out of "Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith" after it was announced that she was posing nude in Playboy, the disappointed actress claims.
The sexy Chinese-born Ling, who was supposed to play Senator Bana Breemu in the final installment of the "Star Wars" series, burst into tears at the Tribeca Film Festival premiere of "The Beautiful Country" the other night while she was describing how her scene was snipped:
"I just found out that my part has been completely cut out of the upcoming 'Star Wars' movie. I do not know what happened," Ling said.
"I posed for Playboy and it may have been doing that which upset [director] George Lucas. I did not know when 'Star Wars' was going to be released when my manager came to me and said that Playboy wanted me to pose topless."
Ling, who appears in the June issue, continued, "I did not know that Playboy was going to come out the same time as 'Star Wars.' I saw them as separate projects. I see the human body as beautiful and not pornographic, but maybe the 'Star Wars' producers did not see what I did. I am in shock."
LucasFilm spokeswoman Lynn Hale told us that Ling's sole scene was cut more than a year ago. "It was just one scene," she said.
After Ling was finished venting about her "Star Wars" diss, the talkative actress pulled herself together and gave her intimate impressions of a list of actresses to Webster Hall curator Baird Jones.