Jackie Chan is one of the world's most enduring action stars. With a career that started when his parents sent him as a young boy to train with an opera troupe in Hong Kong, Chan has risen to become one of the world's top international celebrities. Despite a busy Hollywood career these days, Hong Kong's "Big Brother," as he is known, remains committed to his home roots through new films and business investments, including interests in various production companies, restaurants and jewelry and fashion lines. Last month he formed JCE Movies, a joint venture between Chan and Hong Kong entertainment group Emperor Multimedia principal Albert Yeung, in a bid to nurture new local talent, kicking off with two movies to be directed by first-time feature film directors Stephen Fung and Kenneth Bi (HR 10/21).

Winnie Chung for The Hollywood Reporter caught up with Chan on the set of his upcoming Hong Kong movie "New Police Story," directed by Benny Chan ("Gen-X Cops"), to talk about his efforts to unite Hong Kong's film industry, which has been bruised and battered in recent years due to piracy, poor audience reception, a blowout in budgets and a general economic downturn, in addition to suffering repercussions of the SARS outbreak.

The Hollywood Reporter: You are an international star but you still spend a lot of time working in the Hong Kong film industry. How do you see your role as part of the Hong Kong industry?
Jackie Chan: I don't know why, but I feel a sense of responsibility towards the industry, towards society and towards China. I see myself as someone who works towards uniting the industry. I spearheaded the setting up of all the professional film-related organizations such as the Performing Artists Guild and the Stuntman's Assn. I wouldn't do all these things if I didn't care deeply about the industry. Now, more than ever, is the time to be united. The Hong Kong market is shrinking and we've lost a lot of our traditional markets. On my part, I try to introduce Hong Kong talent to Hollywood when I work on my films.

THR: You recently started a new company, JCE Movies, with Emperor Multimedia Group chairman Albert Yeung and also bought up shares in Golden Harvest. You also hold shares in Media Asia. Is there a conflict of interest?
Chan: I have to show people I still have faith in the Hong Kong film industry. In Chinese there is a saying: "The gun barrel should point at the enemy, not at ourselves." That has been my maxim. It goes back to the question of unity. As a shareholder in these companies, at least I have a say in what happens. Of course, it's not easy because each company has its own way of working, but at least I can try.

THR: What are the lessons that have brought you to this way of thinking?
Chan: After working for so many years outside of Hong Kong, I have realized that Hong Kong people are smart; we're just not united enough. The Hong Kong market is shrinking and we've lost our traditional markets in Korea, Japan and Taiwan. We've stagnated. The Hong Kong market cannot support the industry. Our market is now in China and we have to work together to come up with some new genres and better films.

THR: JCE Movies is giving opportunities to some new directors such as Stephen Fung for "Enter the Phoenix" and Kenneth Bi for "Hainan Chicken Rice," and other new talent. Is this the direction the new company will go?
Chan: I can see the urgency in nurturing new talent. There are not that many actors who are really good. The new ones cannot act. We also need to train the next generation of stunt people, lighting and cinematographers.

THR: What are the aims of JCE Movies?
Chan: I want it to aim for high-quality films. For starters, we cannot steal ideas from foreign films anymore. We should aim for originality. In the past, we could take one or two gags from other movies and people wouldn't know. Now the world is too small. We have to create our own things. If you plagiarize anything, the audience will know immediately. We're not rappers, for instance, and a Chinese rapper will not cross over to the U.S. or Europe. We shouldn't fool ourselves. We may be good, but we're not better than the U.S. We have to work on our own creativity and capitalize on our own strengths with genres like "New Police Story," (with its) special effects, or "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," which has effects but is so different from anything done in the U.S. that people accept them.

THR: You've mentioned before that you wanted to start a talent/technical school for the production industry here. How are plans progressing?
Chan: I have found two pieces of land in Beijing. One plot is 100 acres and has a school building on it. The other one is about 50 acres. I haven't decided which one to take. It's not something I want to start haphazardly; it is a long-term plan. My name is quite influential and I don't want it to be misused. I cannot run a rickety organization. My consideration is not to make money and run (away). So there are still a lot of things that need to be worked out.

THR: What is your vision for this school?
Chan: It will have a dormitory so that students can live there and students can attend the different schools of filmmaking. After graduation, I would also like to arrange for them to be able to go on exchange programs to the U.S. and for teachers to come from overseas. The land could serve another purpose: A lot of Hong Kong film companies are being set up in Beijing. We could house them all so that people just need to go to one place if they are looking for Hong Kong partners. It's still about a kind of unity. People often ask me why I want to do this. I guess I feel a sense of responsibility to do something for the next generation of Chinese film talent.

THR: You have interests in many different businesses that are not necessarily film-related. Can you tell us a bit about them?
Chan: I have a new fashion line that was just launched on Nov. 5 in Guangzhou. Fashion has always been something I have been interested in. In the past, I've always designed my own clothes and accessories to give to friends as presents. I've invested in the Blanc de Chine label in Hong Kong. The new label that was just launched is called the JC Collection, which has a casual-wear line called JC Jeans, underwear, shoes and watches. I've also recently been asked to invest in a water treatment plant in the U.S. I've been thinking that if I can take water treatment equipment into the poorer areas in China, they could have drinking water really quickly.

THR: Many companies and actors have been looking for opportunities to work on co-productions with China, especially after the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (between Hong Kong and mainland China) was signed in August. You haven't been in a co-production yet. Why is that?
Chan: I have more freedom when I work on my own films. My films still get distributed in China, and usually financing is not a problem either, so it really doesn't make that much of a difference.

THR: What film projects do you have coming up?
Chan: I am working on "New Police Story" now. After that, I should be working on "Rush Hour 3" and then (Hong Kong entertainment group) Media Asia's "Time Breaker," for which they are rewriting a script. There's (also) another Hollywood film that's still being confirmed. The one I am most excited about is a new Edward Yang movie, which is a drama. I've always really wanted to do more drama, but in Hollywood, no one is going to pay me that much money to do drama. Edward's movie costs only $3 million, and I'm not taking an actor's fee for that, so it's quite risk-free. I can afford to make one or two noncommercial films. It doesn't matter if no one watches them. I've worked so hard for so many years to satisfy other people, I think it's time I did something for myself."