Jet Li (Lee Nin Kit) battles Mel Gibson as the villain of Lethal Weapon IV After Jackie Chan, Chow Yun Fat and Michelle Yeoh (Yeung Chi King), yet another Chinese actor has headed to Hollywood. Kung Fu action star Jet Li (Lee Nin Kit) will play a villain for the first time on screen! According to Hollywood entertainment weekly Variety, the fourth installment of the Warner Bros. Mel Gibson vehicle Lethal Weapon will begin production on the 8th and hit the theater in America in July. When Warner Bros. announced the details of the project, it also announced that Jet Li will play a Chinese villain in the film, going head to head against the explosive Mel Gibson. Lethal Weapon IV will star Mel Gibson, Danny Glover, and Renee Russo, and be directed by Richard Donner and produced by Joel Silver. The Lethal Weapon series has been very successfully at box offices worldwide, thus the film company finally lured Mel Gibson back for a fourth time for a record US$ 40 million. Reportedly in Lethal Weapon IV Mel Gibson and Danny Glover will face an Asian mob headed by Jet Li. Mel Gibson and Renee Russo will also wed in this installment. Originally, Mel Gibson's character was to be murdered and Danny Glover was to avenge his death; but according to the latest news, Mel will continue to live, but instead will go through torture by the Triad. On the 22nd Jet Li flew to Los Angeles to prepare for the project. Actually Kit Jai has been negotiating with a number of producers from the West but turned them all down. After turning down four offers, he finally agreed to make Lethal Weapon mainly because it has a good script and first class crew. On top of that the film's production budget is around US$80 million and Kit Jai hoped his first film in the West will be a large production, thus this time everything has matched together properly. How come he is willing to play a villain for the first time? He laughed, "I have made 25 movies, in all of which I played the good guy. I hope in my 26th there will be changes. Actually there are more room to develop and steal scenes for a villain. Many foreign actors have become popular playing villains, like Robert De Niro and Al Pacino. Days ago I was in America I have talked with film people there about the problem and discovered the difference between America and Hong Kong. In Hong Kong one can be stuck playing a villain, but it's different in America. They only think it's acting. (Will you play villains in Hong Kong movies in the future?) That depends on if anyone will hire me to play one." Kit Jai said he only spent two weeks to consider whether to accept the role or not and only one day for the screen test. Earlier he and Mel Gibson collaborated on a short film to see if they can hit it off. "After the short scene with Mel Gibson, we know each other to a certain degree. I feel working with him on this movie there will definitely be sparks. As for my English problem, I can at least communicate with others. I have always been studying with an English teacher, so the English dialogue in the film absolutely isn't a problem!" When asked about his impression of Mel, he smiled, "A real nice guy, without any vanity at all." How did Kit Jai manage to keep the news under wrap until the announcement? He expressed, "Because I have to wait until they confirm everything before saying anything, otherwise it's not good for anyone. I don't want to promote myself deliberately." In order to adjust to Kit Jai, China Star's original plan to begin production on Yuen Chuen Ting Ji Fu Cup (Lit: Completely Stop Breathing) in the beginning of the year has been delayed until April. Boss lady Mrs. Heung expressed that's no big deal since they only lost a little money. As his buddy, Mrs. Heung is happy about Kit Jai's chances in Hollywood. Kit Jai however didn't have any expectation so temporarily he has no interest yet in signing with a Hollywood agent and has no plan to stay in Hollywood for a lengthy period because he still has two films left with China Star.