He's called the Spielberg of Asia because of the wide range of movies he's made: comedy, action, romance and animation.

But Tsui Hark's latest film, Seven Swords, marks his return to his kung fu roots. The 55-year-old Tsui says Seven Swords, the story of seven martial arts fighters who try to evade an imperial ban on kung fu, isn't typical of the genre. It depicts the evolution of the hero rather than dwelling on sheer heroism, he said.

Seven Swords examines the price the hero pays in his growth process, Tsui told The Associated Press.

Tsui directed the 1991 Once Upon a Time in China, one of Jet Li's most famous works. He also filmed Zu: Warriors from the Magic Mountain in 1983, a groundbreaking production for which he sought input from special effects experts who worked on Star Wars, and an updated version in 2001, The Legend of Zu.

Among his works in the early 1980s is the Dick Tracy-style detective comedy All the Wrong Clues (For the Right Solution), set in Hong Kong. He produced Hong Kong's classic gangster film, A Better Tomorrow, the 1986 John Woo movie that made the gun-toting, trench coat-wearing Chow Yun-fat an icon.

The director has spent most of his career in Hong Kong, but he's willing to give Hollywood another shot if the right script comes along. He said his Hollywood work isn't as inspired because he filmed scripts written by others.

Tsui joked about his reputation as Asia's Spielberg. He said, There's probably a big gap between his talent level and mine. In terms of wealth, there's a big gap too.