When Jackie Chan was asked if he agreed Donnie Yen earns more per film than even he did, the film veteran said he agreed with that statement, but gave a rather unexpected reason for his answer.
“Donnie Yen commands the highest actor fees,” said Chan with a laugh, I’m actually sabotaging him, so the tax agency will go look for him!”
The actor explained that Police Story 2013 director Ding Sheng had misled him, as the original script Ding showed him did not call for Chan’s character to do any action scenes.
“The script later changed, and as the story progressed, there were action scenes,” explained Chan, though he conceded that he still enjoyed shooting action scenes.
“I still like to shoot action films, because there is this thrill and sense of superiority when you shoot a scene beautifully without wires.
“Maybe I will announce again that this would be my last major action film. But what if people still approach me to do big action films?”
“I think I will probably still do it,” said Chan with a sigh.
“Why is it that no director comes to me for romance films?”
Police Story 2013 will see Chan play a “very mature”, “steadfast” Chinese police officer, a departure from previous films in the series where he plays a Hong Kong cop. Chan’s character has to manage his relationship with his rebellious daughter (played by Chinese actress Jing Tian) even as he battles the villain of the piece (played by Chinese actor Liu Ye) over the course of the film.
Chan described his role in the “highly dramatic” film as being “very different” from the relatively light-hearted ones he had previously played.
“There will be no more funny faces,” said the actor.