Jet Li: Interview 2 - Romeo Must Die (About.com - 2000)

Wherefore Art Thou, Jet Li?

After thrilling American audiences with his villainous turn in Lethal Weapon 4, Jet Li reunited with producer Joel Silver to make an American martial arts action movie where he would be the hero. The result is Romeo Must Die. A popular action hero in Hong Kong cinema, Li is still relatively unfamiliar to U.S. audiences, so Silver had to find the right vehicle for his star.

"We looked at a lot of pieces of material," Silver said. "This was kind of sitting there, it was a script that had been developed at Warners about 10 years ago. We kind of retooled it and fixed it and made something that's really very unique for Jet."

Li himself was concerned that people be able to separate his character in Lethal Weapon 4 from his heroic persona. "After Lethal Weapon 4 people on the street would say, 'Jet, Jet, you're so cool! But you're so mean.' I would say, 'That's a character, not Jet Li.'"

To respond to Li's newfound American popularity, Artisan Entertainment released an English-dubbed version of one of Li's old films, Black Mask, last summer, with minimal results. Li assured audiences that Romeo Must Die is his first truly American movie.

"It's my first English movie where I carry the whole story," he said. "There are a lot of action sequences and I hope the audiences like the movie. If they like it and the movie becomes successful, I'll have another opportunity to work in the future and make another good action movie."

Li's costar in the film, Aaliyah, shared a fight scene with Li in the movie. She described the impression Li made on her.

"It was a dream," she said, almost swooning."He is the nicest person in the world, beautiful inside and out, and just multitalented. Just to watch him is mesmerizing. It's a multicultural movie and I think it breaks down a lot of walls especially as far as interracial relationships are concerned. Han and Trish getting together will open a lot of people's eyes. It's just the general tone of the movie and when you see it, you'll feel it."

Addressing another sort of cultural difference, Li talked about how the American studio had to adjust to his way of making movies.

"We put a lot of time in Hong Kong into the action sequences," Lie said. "In the states, the schedule is so tight, there's not a lot of time. But I'm so glad I got to work with Joel, because he knows Hong Kong style so he gave me a lot of time and space to create the action."

Li said he also does his own stunts, like another famous Hong Kong action star. He does not think anyone else wants to share his responsibilities.

"Can you find a double for me? I work seven days a week with first unit, second unit and third unit. I act here, then do a stunt there, then a car chase there."

Romeo Must Die opened on Wednesday, March 22. More information is available at the official site.