Acclaimed Chinese actress Gong Li will soon head to North America to start promoting her next film, the Hollywood thriller Hannibal Rising, to be released globally on February 9.

Shanghai Youth Daily says around 6,500 copies will be prepared for the film's worldwide premiere.

The 41-year-old actress plays the role of Lady Murasaki in the film, which is a prequel to Silence of the Lambs.

Thomas Harris, writer of the novel of the same name and screenplay for the movie, reportedly admitted he was a big fan of Gong Li and gave her a thumbs up for her acting.

The best actress of the 1992 Venice Film Festival is now making headway into Hollywood, with previous performances in the Oscar-winning Memoirs of a Geisha and the 2006 adaptation of Miami Vice.

(CRI January 10, 2007)