HOLLYWOOD -- Jackie Chan is planning to spend the fall and winter in Canada transforming himself into more of a dramatic actor and less of a comedic marital arts master.

In an interview here to promote the August release of his next martial arts comedy, Rush Hour 2, the Hong Kong superstar confirmed what Toronto Sun entertainment reporter Claire Bickley had already sussed out -- that Chan will be coming to Toronto Sept. 1 to shoot Tuxedo, which will wrap next February 4. Before that, and during the 10-day Christmas break in Toronto, he will shoot a traditional Hong Kong Jackie Chan comedy-action film, High Binder.

Tuxedo is a big American movie, a DreamWorks production which will emphasize drama over martial arts action, Chan said on the weekend. He claimed he is forbidden to provide many details about the story.

Steven Spielberg will executive produce the film, Chan said, adding in his usual colourful broken English that he turned down Spielberg's request to direct as well as star in the film. "He asked me to direct. I no like. I asked, 'Why don't you direct?' He said he produce. Okay, we find director." Kevin Donovan will direct instead.

"Tuxedo, this is what I want, more acting and with little special effects with my action," Chan said. "More acting and more drama. Because I don't want to be an action star. Because an action star, the life's so short. I want my life to get longer. I want to get my career longer."

Chan said, after two decades as an Asian action star, "I want to do something for Steven Spielberg like Jurassic Park, or maybe The Matrix. That makes me excited. Wow, something new. Tuxedo, good. I want different things."

Asked what he plays in Tuxedo, Chan laughed and said: "They won't let me say too much. I'm a truck driver. I help somebody and he was a spy and he is in a coma in a hospital. I go back to his house to help him, to take him a toothbrush and underwear, and then I find a tuxedo and then the story begins."

As usual, Chan will be a Chinese-Hong Kong character. "Our scripts always say, 'I'm from China, I'm from Hong Kong,' and I'm not from the U.S. I'm not ABC -- American-born Chinese. My kind of English (is not good enough)."


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