His new film "The Tuxedo" features Chan's trademark martial arts fighting and the comic sidekick his fans have come to expect in his Hollywood movies. But "Tuxedo" also adds something new for Chan -- romance -- in the form of Jennifer Love Hewitt.

And in his own way, Chan is finally getting the chance to try out his acting skills in romantic company.

Think of an Asian Cary Grant crossed with John Wayne, Robert Redford and Sylvester Stallone.

"I don't want 'Rush Hour' 1, 2, 3, 4, 5," Chan said in an interview, referring to the enormously successful box office hits in which he starred opposite comedian Chris Tucker.

"Some day I really want to be only an actor. The actor's life is long. The action star's life is very short," he said.

A veteran of well over 100 films, mostly made in Hong Kong, and a superstar in Asia, Chan has been making strong inroads into Hollywood movies.

"Rush Hour" (1998) and "Rush Hour 2" (2001), in which he played a Hong Kong cop, raked in $245 million and $329 million, respectively, worldwide.

"Shanghai Noon" (2000) a western in which Chan was a sort of bodyguard to an Asian princess alongside a reluctant gunslinger, played by Owen Wilson, was successful enough to spawn a sequel, "Shanghai Knights" due for release next year.

But Chan has been around the movies and in Hollywood long enough to know that at 48, his days of high kicks and death-defying stunts are nearing an end.

A Chance to Act

For the past year, at least, he has been talking about changing his career and "The Tuxedo" is his first chance. "I have to let audiences see I have a different style," he said.

In the movie, Chan portrays a lowly taxi driver named Jimmy Tong, a normal guy who is comfortable in a T-shirt and blue jeans and likes his job, but he has a hard time with women and could do with a little more cash.

When Tong lands a chauffeur's job for rich man-about-town Clark Devlin, who doubles as an agent for a super-secret government agency called the CSA, he thinks he may now have the status, the cash and the clothes to get his dream date.

Enter Hewitt, who shows up as fellow CSA agent Del Blaine, a scientist looking for her first shot at field work.

"I get kind of excited about getting beat up and thrown around," said a joking Hewitt, known to her friends by her middle name Love.

The 23-year-old, who was born in Texas, said she had always been something of a tomboy since she was young and a huge fan of Chan's.

"The main reason I wanted to be in the movie was because of him," she said.

When agent Devlin is hurt in a bomb explosion -- a fact that remains unknown to the CSA -- Tong dons his boss's gadget-filled tuxedo and finds he can do anything Devlin could. Quickly, he assumes Devlin's identity.

He's got the job and he's got the suit. All he needs is the girl. That comes soon enough when Blaine and Tong pair up to catch a villain with a plot to monopolise the world's water supply, then make people thirsty.

If the plot sounds silly, it is. But "Tuxedo" is a Jackie Chan movie, after all. It's supposed to make audiences laugh.

Opposites Attract

Chan does get a small chance or two to do his acting best within the romantic give-and-take between Tong and Blaine.

Of course, in "Tuxedo," it turns out that Blaine is not the meek character she pretends to be. In fact, she can kick butt right along side Tong -- which makes Hewitt all that appealing to a guy like Chan.

"She can do everything," Chan said. "Even men say 'I'm not going to do that, Jackie. It's too dangerous, ooh, it's too difficult.' She never says too difficult," Chan said.

Hewitt cracked her ankle doing a triple kick and had to be taken to hospital.

Chan visited her and signed her plaster cast. She still has it.

"Jackie signed it," Hewitt said. "Are you kidding me, of course I (kept it)...You know what he wrote on it? Stick to dramatic films."

Chan hints that may be where he is heading after his first try at romantic comedy.

"I don't want somebody to later mention my name, always 'Jackie Chan,'" he said, making a yelping karate cry, "Hi-ya," and drawing up his hands in a fighting stance.

"Why does nobody ever say, 'Robert De Niro'" he added, with another high-pitched "Hi-ya" and flurry of fists.

(China Daily October 21, 2002)