Jet Li - Kung Fu Fighter

Romeo Must Die

Interviewed by Film 2000 with Jonathan Ross

I'm a big fan of yours. Tell me about Han, the part you play in "Romeo Must Diei"?

He's a cop in Hong Kong, for some reason he helped his family then he made a mistake. So later he heard about his younger brother who had died in the States so he broke out of jail and he flew over to the States to find the truth. Who killed my younger brother? Then by accident he met Trish, played by Aaliyah. They both find that they love their brothers, they try to figure out who's the real killer and they have a little bit romantic feeling, fall in love, then they find the truth.

You were talking about the scene were Han breaks out of jail, that's an incredible sequence. How long did that take to shoot?

Oh that's the most difficult thing to make in "Romeo Must Die" because we have two days schedule and finally we shot five days.

So you had five days hanging upside down?

Yes, 12 hours a day. I get a headache and after 50 minutes you gotta shout stop and the face turn red. It's quite tough, I never hang upside down for a fight that long in 25 movies in Hong Kong.

Jet Li talks about the success of Hong Kong movies and his friend, Jackie Chan