"I used to think about it (longevity) whenever I saw how fit young people are. Someone once asked me if I would give up all my wealth to be 30 years younger. But that would mean breaking my bones all over again! 　

"Sammo Hung and I used to talk about girls and cars in our younger days, but now it is about which doctor is good or what medicine is effective. 　

"Everyone will go through their youth phase but not all of us can grow old. Look at Bruce Lee and his son. 　

"My dad is 91. To be able to grow old is actually good fortune. Being young has its good points, but so does being old although now I’m only in my middle-age years,” said the 51-year-old.

And this middle-age charmer put to rest questions of retirement when he said that while he may one day no longer be in front of the camera, he would still be working behind it. 　　

“I’ll produce, make small budget movies and do National Geographic-style documentaries focusing on Asia. Stanley (Tong) and I have also been talking about opening a school in China to train young stunt actors. We already have the land.

“I give myself another five years (to star in action films). But doing martial arts movies is really not that difficult. Clint Eastwood is still starring in action flicks.” 　　

With such a packed schedule, Chan won’t be able to retire even if he wanted to. Next year, he will return to Hollywood, quite possibly to work with the makers of Rush Hour on a children’s action movie. He added that there is a partnership with Universal to produce 10 movies, for which he hopes to give opportunities to new directors and actors/ actresses to showcase their talent.

Chan noted that the US market is currently saturated with too many movies, pointing out that the past nine months have seen Hollywood recording poor box-office takings. 　　

"The young generation is now more comfortable downloading their entertainment and this is a big problem. Now film companies like Miramax and Disney are looking at China. These days there is no such thing as an American or Chinese movie. It is international movies. Hero and House of Flying Daggers are not Chinese but international films.” 　　

This aptly describes Chan’s latest action-adventure flick, The Myth. In quite a coup, he has roped in two distinctly different but undeniably gorgeous beauties – actresses Kim Hee-seon from South Korea and Mallika Sherawat from India. Kim plays Chan’s love interest, Ok-soo, while Sherawat kicks a** (literally) as Samantha. 　　

Chan plays an archaeologist, Jack, who discovers that he is a reincarnation of General Meng Yi from the Qin Dynasty. 　　Long-time collaborator Stanley Tong directed the movie. Chan was in town on Monday, with Sherawat and Tong, to promote the movie. 　　

When a journalist pointed out that Chan’s movies often paired him with younger female co-stars, playing his love interests, he replied: “You may not want to believe what I say, but women age faster than men. It is still believable for me to play Kim Hee-seon’s love interest but audiences find it difficult to accept if Maggie Cheung plays Daniel Wu’s girlfriend. In fact, there are producers who are asking her to play his mother.” 　　

And why is it that he has never played daddy roles? 　　

“That’s because I have not received any such scripts but I wouldn’t mind trying. Perhaps in my next movie, Ngok Fei Juen, Mr Fong (referring to his son Jaycee Fong) can play the younger Yue Fei and I can play the older version of him,” he quipped. 　　Speaking about The<