To make a kung fu film is like a dream come true, because I'm a big fan of kung fu movies and I'm learning kung fu for a long time.
The battle scenes in 'Gladiator' don't have the exultant lift of Hong Kong period-action pictures like the 'Once Upon a Time in China' series, where the fights have the eye-popping panache of dance sequences from a musical.
My father was, like, the token bad white guy in all the old Jackie Chan/Bruce Lee films.
In the film industry, we tend to pick up where others have left off, and I'd like to think the influences I picked up from Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, Sylvester Stallone and Jean-Claude Van Damme are visible in my work.
I've been watching things like 'Master of the Flying Guillotine' since I was 5.
When you look at martial arts films, the later ones became more and more exaggerated. It's like, wow, is martial arts only a show?
I never wanted to be the next Bruce Lee. I just wanted to be the first Jackie Chan.
I love 'Enter the Dragon,' and I love Japanese movies. I love Jackie Chan movies; they are my heroes.
What we did with 'Tai Chi Zero' and 'Tai Chi Hero' was break down the martial-arts genre and make it younger, hipper, and kind of cooler for the younger kids.
I certainly look at them very differently now, and enjoy Jackie Chan movies and movies like that.
