Action remains the big draw of Jackie Chan's movies, such as (from left) "Drunken Master," "Rush Hour," "The Forbidden Kingdom," and even the latest "Shinjuku Incident." [File photos]

The day after the opening of the Hong Kong International Film Festival, one of the city's favorite sons is looking very much the star. Jackie Chan, now 55, strides into a function room at the swish W Hotel almost at odds with it. The hotel embodies all things Western and modern.

Chan is dressed in a traditional men's Chinese tangzhuang and doesn't look at all out of place. Though it's the middle of what's going to be a long day, Chan is feeling talkative. A quick "Congratulations on the film" sets him off.

In Chan's words, the premiere of Derek Yee's "Shinjuku Incident" was exciting, though he wonders, "whether a normal audience will accept it or not, my character. It's a really, really big change for me. It's too dark."

In the film, Chan plays Steelhead, a Chinese national living and working illegally in Japan as he searches for his missing girlfriend. Steelhead becomes mixed up with the Yakuza and becomes a gang leader in Tokyo's Shinjuku district and does some very, very un-Jackie Chan things. He's not quite an anti-hero, but close.

"I just know I have to change," he continues, possibly in recognition of his age and changing audience tastes.

"I cannot continue to make 'Rush Hour' 1, 2, 3, 'Drunken Master' 1, 2, 'Police Story' 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. I've wanted to change for the last few years I want to play good guys, bad guys. In a few more years I want to be the Asian Robert De Niro."

Chan's meal ticket is still action, but a better comparison for career trajectory than De Niro may be Dwayne Johnson (formerly the wrestler known as The Rock).

He's managed to transform himself into a bankable general leading man with a combination of action ("Doom"), comedy ("Get Smart") and family films ("Race to Witch Mountain"). Chan is on a similar track. His most recent work has comprised the same combination - "Rob-B-Hood," "Rush Hour 3", and "The Forbidden Kingdom" - and just spread over two continents.

That doesn't mean Chan has an easy task ahead of him. He got the part in "Shinjuku" partially because he produced it.

Chan does have a Rock-like plan. Within the next few years, he and the characters he plays will be all over the map. The first step in that master plan is indeed Shinjuku, a mix of drama and action.

Next comes "The Spy Next Door," an American film directed by Brian Levant about a babysitter, his charge, and an accidentally downloaded secret code; "Big Solider," a dark comedy currently shooting in China and which Chan is already stating, "will be very good"; "Kung Fu Kid," a remake of the 1984 cult classic "The Karate Kid"; and then "Chinese Zodiac," another big action movie in the "Armour of God" franchise, and possible work with Zhang Yimou.

Chan has been a fixture in the Hong Kong industry since the early 1970s as an actor, stunt coordinator, director and most recently producer (he heads JCE Entertainment).

Ask him point blank if the film scene in Hong Kong is in as poor shape as many seem to think it is and he doesn't mince words. "Yeah. I think in a few more years, we won't have Hong Kong films anymore. We'll have Chinese films," he says. But that's not necessarily bad according to Chan.

He argues that shifting tastes and priorities that come with the natural flow of history are the guiding forces for local cinema's direction.

Now that the initial handover panic of 1997 has subsided, "All the children are coming back. When they left they were 10 years old, and when they came back they're 20 years old with Starbucks," Chan says.

Investment is down precisely because of all the returnees and their new Western tastes, which ultimately impacts the economics.

"Chinese film is the way to go. What can you do? There are only 47 theaters here and there used to be hundreds," he says.

"Hong Kong is so tiny and real estate people would rather build skyscrapers. We don't have enough theaters, and Hong Kong audiences are into the West and the world. They build a new theater every day in China; next year there will be 6,000 cinemas in China."

For all of Chan's old school charm and faith in the future of China, he's clearly a pragmatist.

"Shinjuku" has already made waves for being banned by mainland censors for its graphic violence, and oddly - perhaps bravely - Chan as a producer left director Yee to make the film he wanted to.

Contrary to being furious, skittish, or indignant, Chan is taking it all with a relaxed, laissez-faire attitude.

"I knew we might lose China with 'Shinjuku'. I'm a bit selfish. I don't care about the market because I have a market," Chan admits.

"When we showed an edited version to the mainland government, the movie just wasn't that good. We couldn't make two versions. So if we kept the mainland market we'd lose Europe. In China, they know how to see it. They have a way to see it. We'd rather have the world market."

But not all producers can think like that and Chan does indeed recognize his market of one is unique. "Malaysia for example, that's big. But you can't 'kill' police, so that's out. And then there's Singapore," mentioning it with a bit of an eye roll.

"Every country has its own rules. If you want to come into a market you have to follow the rules. When you go to Russia, you do as they say. If you don't, then don't come in. It's a fair game."

Up to now, Chan has starred in most of the films he's produced, but there are exceptions: Kenneth Bi's "Rice Rhapsody," "House of Fury," Stanley Kwan's "Everlasting Regret," and Sylvia Chang's "Run Papa Run" are all part of Chan's executive producer's resume, and he says he will continue to produce other directors' films.

Chan is something of a workaholic. He returned to Hong Kong for the festival's opening from a grueling high-altitude shoot in China, and will follow that up with press junkets to every corner of Asia for "Shinjuku".

In May he begins shooting "Kung Fu Kid," and shortly after that work starts on "Zodiac."

"Sometimes I ask myself why," Chan says, "but I just don't stop. I like to work. It's like a holiday. You create and solve problems, hang with the crew, sometimes take some meetings. You know what I hate? Interviews."

Then comes a little bit of Jackie Chan style venting. "But you have to do it. You get out there and smile. Then come the people, the fake talking. 'Oh love you.' 'Thank you so much' Then come interviews, round tables, TV, tomorrow Taiwan, next day Malaysia, then Singapore. And everyday it's the same thing; the same subject."

It's too bad he hates them because, really, he gives such a good one.

(China Daily, April 7, 2009)