Entertainment Tonight's Interview with Jet Li
Courtesy of Entertainment Tonight Online

Click here to listen to a streaming realaudio clip of Jet discussing his martial arts training.

The Interview (from the set of Lethal Weapon 4)
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E.T. Online: So what do you think of all this? I mean this is all pretty incredible.

Jet Li: This set we are on right now is a great scene in the film. But when you work here every day--well--it's very hard and not quite as cool.

ETOL: You're one mean dude in this movie, you fight unbelievably. Where did you learn to fight like that?

Jet: In China, when I was eight-years-old. I studied and learned Kung Fu. It's very hard. It was eight hours a day, six days a week. I learned it in twelve years.

ETOL: Was it for films that you were doing or did it start as a hobby for you?

Jet: In the beginning I was training for martial arts because I wanted to be a champion in China. Later they gave me the leading role in my very first movie. Because I am the champion in China, they gave me the movie.

ETOL: You're already a big movie star in Asia. Are you excited about the attention you will get from the American audience for this film?

Jet: Yeah, this is the first time that I played a villain. And my first American film. There's a lot of great actors in this movie. I'm very happy. I try to work with them. They treat me very nice.

ETOL: You've got some pretty intense scenes with Mel Gibson and Danny Glover. Did you ever accidentally kick them or Karate chop them?

Jet: Yeah. You know, I bring my crew from Hong Kong to decide all the fighting scenes in this movie. We mix the American style and the Hong Kong style together and create a new style so it's new fighting scenes.

ETOL: What about Karate chopping Mel, did he ever say, "Hey take it easy on me."

Jet: No. Not in this movie. Sometimes I do accidentally hurt people.

ETOL: Your character always carried a strand of beads in the film that he sometimes used to choke people with. But what else did the beads signifiy?

Jet: No, this is the first time I play the villain so I did a lot of homework. I wanted to help the character. In real life, nobody says, "I'm the bad guy. I'm the villain," He just uses the beads. He has religion in his mind. He'll say, "Okay, I do the bad things today. I don't want to do it tomorrow." When it's tomorrow he still does the bad things. In real life a lot of people do that. They make a mistake then they go to church and they say," Oh sorry I made a mistake," then they do it again. This is real life so, I just want to help the character. I use the beads to help the character.

ETOL: You've got another picture coming up with Joel Silver. What's that going to be?

Jet: It's a love story and a lot of action in the movie. We started talking, maybe two months later we'll start shooting.

ETOL: Well, great thank you. Good luck with this film.

Jet: Thank You.