Hong Kong star Jackie Chan is planning to unearth the nextgeneration of action stars through a TV talent contest, and is establishing a Beijing-basedproduction company to produce vehicles in which they can perform.

The star spoke of his planswhile visiting China recently during a break in the filming of Rush Hour 3. Denying rumours that he is about to retire, he toldlocal press that he would produce a slate of ten films in China over the next few years.

'Jackie will officiallyannounce the establishment of the new company in April when all work on Rush Hour 3 is completed,' said YuanNong who heads JC Group's Beijingoffice. She added that the star is already scouting for suitable directors andscripts.

According to local pressreports, Chan may direct a few of the movies himself and hopes to release thefirst before the start of the Beijing 2008 Olympics.

Meanwhile, Chan's JCE Moviesis working with China Film Group, Beijing Forbidden City Film Co and BeijingTelevision on the nationwide TV talent contest called The Successor Of The Dragon Legend.

The reality show isscheduled to start broadcast in March and will culminate in a grand finaleduring China's National Day holidays in October. Winners willhave the opportunity to train with Chan's stunt team and appear in new filmprojects generated by Chan.

'I'm looking for a successorbut it does not mean that I'm retiring,' said Chan at the launch of the show.'When you want to make good films to compete with Hollywood, you need a lot of talent, especially good actionstars.'

According to China FilmGroup CEO, Han Sanping, the first film will start shooting in October.

In recent years, Chan hasstepped up his involvement in Chinese-language filmmaking - juggling acting andproducing roles with his Hollywood career - through his Hong Kong-based JCE Movies, ajoint venture with Emperor Group's Albert Yeung. Last year, the companyproduced action adventure Rob-B-Hood,starring Chan and Louis Koo, which was second biggest local film at the Hong Kong box office last year.

Once he's finished with Rush Hour 3, Chan is also scheduled tostar in a $70m as-yet-untitled action adventure alongside Jet Li, which RobertMinkoff (Stuart Little) will direct withCasey Silver producing. Relativity Media is financing the film which is basedon the Chinese legend of the Monkey King. Production is scheduled to start inApril.

Topics