War - Jet Li interview
Compiled by Jack Foley
JET Li discusses his new action thriller War, working with Jason Statham and the fighting style in the film.
Can you tell us a little bit about your character in War?
The character I play, you don’t know if he’s a bad guy or a good guy. He tries to figure out who his enemies are, who’s fighting his angle, and he’s trying to get revenge and get the real bad guy who caused the loss of his family, the loss of his children. So from that point he will go to the end to find the truth.
What was working with Jason Statham like?
Jason is a great actor and also a great action star, it was good.
And Cory Yuen?
He’s done a lot of different kinds of film; modern style, ancient style, martial arts movies. We are very close friends – even in the States we have worked on a bunch of films. He’s a great guy and we’re open to hard work.
Can you talk a little bit about the fighting style in the film and how it differs from martial arts movies?
The director explained that he wanted to see real fighting – we were beating each other up for real. He said try to do it real to help the story, because in reality it wouldn’t be long – normally when humans are fighting each other it’s really short; you don’t need a lot of time, usually just a few moves and someone’s dead already – particularly the character I play who has had special training to kill people.
How would you describe the film as a whole?
This movie I think is just an action film. When the director talked to me, he said he didn’t want to see martial arts, he didn’t want to see kung fu, he wants to see physical hardcore fighting. So, I don’t think this is a martial arts movie, I see it as an action film.