High-kicking Hong Kong action star Jackie Chan wants to change his ways and move into more serious movie roles in the future, insisting his opportunities are limited in Hollywood: “It's difficult for me - and also, I know my problem... my role is always the police from Hong Kong. With Jet Li, it's the police from China. For us, it's so limited because our English is not that good.”

Chan cites the time the script for Nicole Kidman’s political heart-quickener The Interpreter hit his doormat. The 51-year-old actor lobbied to play the male lead, but the part eventually went to Hollywood firebrand Sean Penn. “What I realised is that the life of an action star is very short,” stated Chan, using his hero Robert De Niro as a career benchmark. “He's not young any more, but he's still the bad guy, the good guy, the good cop, the bad cop - and then in comedy,” JC said.

Chan’s next film is the action-adventure The Myth, from stuntman-turned-director Stanley Tong. “This year it's The Myth - a fantasy. Next month I start another movie that is totally comedy. I want all the audience to know that not only can I fight, I can really act.”

We know that Jackie-boy… but come on, jump off that bridge onto a bus and smack that guy upside the head, there’s a good chap.