CALGARY -- Jackie Chan is horsing around again in time for the Stampede.

But the Hong Kong martial arts superstar won't have time to check out the Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth while he's here filming Shanghai Knights, the sequel to his 2000 action-comedy-western hit, Shanghai Noon.

Although the original movie - which partnered Chan with Owen Wilson as a mismatched buddy duo who team up to save a kidnapped princess -- was shot entirely in Alberta, the follow-up sends the unlikely pair to Europe.

The change of scenery means the western townsite used for Noon, located south of Cochrane, will only make a glorified cameo in Knights.

However short his stay -- cameras wrap on the local scenes today with some aerial footage to be shot tomorrow -- Chan, relaxing during a break in production yesterday, is clearly enjoying his return visit.

"It's so nice to be back," Chan tells the Sun. "I came back and went to the old house we rented (during Noon) and thought about maybe knocking on the door and saying hi, but I decided not to ... I'm so happy to see everyone -- the wardrobe designer, the hairstylist, everyone is here."

Adding to the deja vu is the town itself -- identical to how it appeared in Noon -- and the occasional surprise, as when Chan, clad in his old cowboy garb, finds a piece of tissue paper he left in the coat pocket three years ago.

What has changed "I am comfortable with American movies now," Chan says, adding that his rapport with Wilson -- who isn't part of the Calgary shoot -- has grown too.

"We're really good buddies now. In the beginning Owen was a very shy person and kept to himself and now he's more confident and he comes to my trailer."

And Chan expects Knights to outperform its predecessor when it's released in December.

"There's much more comedy. It will be much better," he predicts, hinting at what movie-goers can expect.

"We make fun of the characters from the old days -- Jack the Ripper and Sherlock Holmes."

NONSTOP WORK

The locally-shot scenes -- involving 250 cast and crew, including 75 extras and 20 horse wranglers, as well as a stagecoach supplied by Calgary's theatrical construction company F&D Scene Changes -- marks the end of production, which began in Prague last March.

Executive producer Stephanie Austin -- a veteran of films including Terminator 2, True Lies and Behind Enemy Lines, which starred Wilson -- is no stranger to action blockbusters.

But working with Chan, who choreographs his own fight sequences, presents its own challenges.

"We try to imagine everything he might need because it's all in the scene. He might look at a prop and say, 'I'd like that to break.' We have to stay on our toes," she says.

"He's wonderful to work with. He works so hard -- it's been seven-day weeks since we started."

And Chan won't be taking a break in the near future.

After wrapping Knights, he'll head to Los Angeles to finish work on The Tuxedo, the action-comedy he shot in Toronto last year with Jennifer Love Hewitt.

Then it's back to complete post-production work on Knights.

Austin admits the Christmas release is "daunting. It's very fast, but also because we have a lot of visual effects."

"I'm used to it," Chan says of his hectic work schedule. "I have nowhere else to go. I don't like taking holidays or having nothing to do."

He confirms that plans are going ahead for more Rush Hour films -- last year's Rush Hour 2 grossed more than $200 million in North America alone -- although not immediately. "The producer is talking about it, doing (Rush Hour 3 and 4) together, but not at this moment."

For right now, Chan is just enjoying the Wild West.

"I love cowboy things. Growing up, I always watched John Wayne movies and cowboy movies," he enthuses, recalling that during Shanghai Noon's shoot he spent much of his time shopping for and buying western gear around Calgary. "I love leather and silver buckles. I bought so many things, so many antiques.

"It's like a dream," Chan says, gazing around the elaborate western set.

"I'm so lucky because I'm an actor and a movie star. There are so many characters I can play -- police, cowboy, firefighter. I'm just so lucky."


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