'I'll never die or kiss', Chan

2005-10-07 23:19

South Korea - Action hero Jackie Chan, famous for playing good guys, said on Friday he is forbidden to ever die on screen - nor even share a screen kiss.

Chan told reporters at the Pusan International Film Festival in South Korea that he wanted to have his character in his latest movie The Myth killed off - but was told it could never happen.

"I tried to die in the movie but my company said, 'Jackie Chan cannot die, he cannot have a sex scene, a kissing scene...'" Chan said.

"For all the years I have been a role model for all the children around the world. There's a lot of action in the film, but it's not violent, there's no dirty words, no F-words, because there are so many children watching my movies," said the star of Rush Hour and Shanghai Noon.

The slapstick kung-fu king was in the southern port city of Busan to promote his latest film, which co-stars Korean actress Kim Hee-seon, Indian bombshell Mallika Sherawat and Hong Kong actor Tony Leung Ka-fai.

The Myth, a Stanley Tong-directed action movie set in China and India and in which Chan plays an archaeologist who ends up on an Indiana Jones-style adventure, made its premiere on Friday night at the festival's 5 000-seat outdoor cinema.

'It's a very big problem in Asia now'

At a press conference before the screening, Chan launched a broadside against movie pirates who he blamed for damaging the Asian film industry.

"Asia has a population of two billion so why isn't (Asian film) thriving? It's because of the internet and piracy. ," Chan said.

"I urge anyone who sees pirated copies of Hong Kong films, any films, not to buy them but to go to the cinema and watch them," he added.

The Myth is among the more mainstream offerings among the 300-plus films being screened at the festival to an audience of almost 200 000 across South Korea's second-largest city.

Chan's appearance lent a touch of Hollywood glamour to Asia's biggest and most critically acclaimed film festival, which is traditionally devoted to more art-house films.

The star, wearing a pastel blue silk suit and white Chinese-style shirt, earlier met screaming fans in the city's Nampodong district.

- AFP