Chan planning 'something different'

Jackie Chan revealed he wants to be like Dustin Hoffman or Al Pacino as he vowed his latest film would be his last big action picture.

Speaking at the Cannes Film Festival to launch Chinese Zodiac, the martial arts star said he would leave the world of big budget films behind but would not disappear entirely from the screen.

The Hong Kong-born actor, 58, said: "I've been fighting and doing action films all my life, you've got to find a point to stop. With this movie I'm the director, I'm the writer, I'm the producer. So okay, I think it's a good time to announce that it's my last big action movie.

"I would still do action movies but not a big one like this."

The film, due for release in December, is the third in Chan's Armour Of God series. The first film was released in 1987, with Chan playing the Indiana Jones-style character Asian Hawk.

He said he wants to be like other well-known actors and take on a directorial role, and would consider a drama or a love story or even something like The Sound Of Music, instead of his usual plots.

"I want to be like Dustin Hoffman or Al Pacino, doing something totally different," he said, "or like Clint Eastwood's Million Dollar Baby in directing. I want to one day direct and only direct."

The new film sees Chan's character, a "good thief", searching for the 12 bronze heads of the Chinese zodiac, he said.

The six bronzes in the action adventure, which also features Laura Weissbecker, originally formed a set of 12, representing the animals of the Chinese zodiac.