Jackie Chan: I'm quitting action films
Jackie Chan is landing his last punch as an action star, but says he is stepping into retirement having made one of the most important films of his career.
The Hong Kong actor said that his latest film Chinese Zodiac will be his last action movie.
Chan, launching the movie at the Cannes Film Festival with co-stars Kwone Sang Woo, Yao Xingtong and Liao Fan, said that people don't believe him when he says he is going to retire.
"They say `no, you're still young, you can still do it,’.
"I tell you, I am not young any more ... I am really, really tired. I have to stop one day … This will be my last action movie.”
The 58-year-old says he is bowing out with his 100th flick - Chinese Zodiac - in which he plays a fortune hunter, travelling the world trying to track down missing astrological antiques - because it is one of the "most important" films in his career.
Chan says he spent seven years working on the movie - writing, producing, directing and coordinating fight scenes.
(From left) Actress Laura Weissbecker, director Jackie Chan, actresses Yao Xingtong, and Zhang Nan Xin during a photo call for Chinese Zodiac at the 65th international film festival, in Cannes. (AP)
"For the last ten years I've been choosing the director to direct me. This one I direct myself." he said. "I hope this movie, 20 years later, people still remember it. For me, for the audience, for my future, for my history - it's very important."
Chan says Chinese Zodiac, and the many films before it, have taken their toll on his body.
"It hurts, it really hurts," he says, flinching. "The shoulder, the ankle, it really hurts. You don't know because I still look healthy."
Not that he plans on putting his feet up - Chan shrugs off suggestions of taking up gardening, cooking or bowling in his spare time. He wants to work on his acting muscles instead.
"When I look at Hollywood, at Robert De Niro, he can do anything - comedy, drama," he says.
"I don't just want to be an action star ... I want to be a true actor. I want to be an Asian Robert De Niro.
“I want to get rid of my image. So, for the last ten years I've done other films like The Karate Kid, where I'd rather play an old man. I want the audience to know I'm not just about fighting or comedy, also I can act."
Source: Agencies
Published May 19, 2012
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