Chan: Movies come first, family later

JAYCEE CHAN is due out of jail tomorrow but despite having a movie star dad in Jackie Chan, the occasion will not look like one that came out of a film - you know, the melodramatic scene where a loved one stands outside the prison gate (rain, optional), waiting anxiously for it to open.

With the elder Chan's latest film Dragon Blade set to open next week for the lucrative Lunar New Year blockbuster season, the 60-year-old is busy with his own agenda and in the midst of a regional tour to promote the historical martial-arts epic with his American co-stars John Cusack and Adrien Brody; K-pop idol Choi Siwon; and Chinese starlets Mika Wang and Lin Peng.

The film - which cost US$65 million (S$88 million) to make and is the most expensive ever in Chinese cinema - revolves around the leader of a Chinese peacekeeping squad Huo (Chan) who encounters a Roman consul Tiberius (Brody) pursing his general Lucius (Cusack) on the Silk Road. The relationship betwen the three turn heated in the desert as Huo tries to turn foes into friends.