International martial arts master and film star Jet Li jumped at the chance to work with and play a villain in supernatural action-adventure The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor and to work with his close personal friend, director Rob Cohen.

Known for his explosive roles in films like Hero, The One, Kiss of the Dragon, and Romeo Must Die, the Beijing-born actor plays Qin Shi Huang Di, the first Emperor of China who has a quest for immortality. The Emperor and his Terracotta Army are mummies yearning to break a curse passed on to them by wronged sorceress Zi Yuan (Michelle Yeoh).

In 2004, Li and his family were directly affected by the tsunami which greatly damaged South Asia. This natural disaster motivated Li to create The Jet Li One Foundation Project which encourages individuals around the world to help the less fortunate.

Q: Rob Cohen said he wouldn’t have done this movie without you! So, how did it happen?

JL: I got a call first that said they wanted to make The Mummy 3 in China. They wanted to make sure I wanted to play The Mummy. Then I read the first script. I already thought it was pretty good, very interesting. Later Rob took the job. Rob is a friend of mine for many years, we were talking about making Sinbad and other movies together, so finally it was, “Okay, good, we do this first.” Rob’s a really nice guy. We’re like brothers. He’s like an American on the outside, but inside he's a Buddhist, and he knows the history of China and respects all the actors. He asks all the details. He gets the actors to approve everything from the wardrobe to action, every little detail. It’s very nice to work with this kind of a friendship.

Q: How does Rob compare to Hong Kong directors?

JL: Rob is like a Hong Kong director! First day I came to the set, he said, “Do you know how many shots I got yesterday? Thirty-five!” He’s not a Hollywood director. Usually the director just sits in the trailer and looks at ten or twelve shots every day. Rob just gets it done very quickly. You can feel it while you work. You can see his energy. That’s what I like the most. You work on the movie, and everybody enjoys it. Sometimes you don’t feel that way when people are not sure what they’re doing. But this was very clear: Rob knows what he wants, and has everything prepared.  

Q: Rob knows Chinese history very well, but did he ask for any input from you for the script?

JL: Yeah. He knows it very well, he just works very close with the actors. For example, lots of American directors have a first unit and a second unit. Second Unit does the action stuff. A lot of times the director doesn’t go to the second unit shoots. They just tell the action guy, "You do the action stuff", to design it and the director approves of it. He works with everything; the martial choreographer, with Michelle and I, when we fight. Beforehand we talked about it. We approved it together. We got to the set. He put the camera in many, many different angles. He’s very comfortable for actors. He cares about everything.

Q: Have the Asian fans asked a lot about you playing the bad guy?

JL: Myself, in this career, movie industry, I always played good guys in Asian movies. Very rarely I played the bad guys. Maybe the most challenging thing is listening to their reactions. Usually they’re unhappy (laughs) - the hardcore Jet Li fans don’t want to see me play a bad guy. I try to share in the movies. All the time, the actor wants to play different roles. Challenging himself. I’m not very tall. I’m not very strong. But at least the character on screen is full of control, he’s big. I hope they understand everything and enjoy watching the movie.

Q: What was the process like of turning you, the Emperor, into the mummy? And what was it like being covered with this chocolate-looking goo?

JL: They did a lot of tests. They always have their special team to do different kinds of things, to show the director and the actor how to control all the mud. They put hundreds of holes everywhere in the vest, and then at a push of button it comes out a little bit at a time. But many times, the director doesn’t like it. He thought it would have been too difficult for the actor to work with all those holes on the body suit. So finally when we shot it, they decided to do it the other way, to put all the 'chocolate' all over your whole body, and protect your eyes and then put on the mask. Already they’re heavier than clothes, but they put on more. It was great!

Q: You did not taste ‘the chocolate’?

JL: Oh, you cannot taste it. You cannot eat it! Today’s technology is helping making the movies so much, much better than before. Like fire. They have a special gel, you put your arm there (demonstrates putting his arm into a bucket). It’s so cold. Very cold. Then you pull your arm out, and you burn it. You can really play with the fire. You can move, you can play with it for, I think, ten to fifteen seconds. Maybe the maximum they can do it is 30 seconds. But to protect the actor, they only do ten second takes. I didn’t feel any heat when I finished doing that shot. It’s very fun to play with it. In the old style it was quite dangerous.

Q: Now you can do more of your own stunts because of this?

JL: Yeah. It doesn’t bother me. You don’t need to worry about it. You can play with the fire. (smiles)

Q: Were the swords made of real metal?

JL: Oh, they’re real. Very heavy.

Q: What can you tell about the wonderful costumes?

JL: The costumes were the most beautiful costumes I ever wore in Asian-Chinese films. In China we might not have enough money. In this one they didn’t have to worry about the cost. The costumes fitted perfectly, nothing was 'one-size-fits-all'. Every day I needed three wardrobe people to help me to put on the clothes. Everything was perfect like European designer clothing. And the helmet too. We don’t do that in China. Sometimes the costumes are loose, too big. Even if the costume is pretty heavy, like forty pounds, you have to wear it in a fight which is difficult. But everyone did a wonderful job. I really hope the wardrobe people get an Oscar! They really did a wonderful job on the whole movie.

Q: What do you do when you’re not acting?

JL: In the past 3 years most of the time I studied philanthropy. I started a charity in China last year called The One Foundation. I believe that the world is like a global family. If every person donates one dollar every month, and we put it together - think about it. A million, billion people in China putting it together, so we have the money to help the poor with education, air and water. Today in the 21^st century, it’s the corporate responsibility. But I believe in trying to share with every person that they have their own responsibility to our world. So I want to share that opinion. It’s been pretty good so far. We started one year ago to help the families who were victims of the earthquake. We got a million people’s support. It’s hard for normal people to donate one dollar by going to the bank to do that. It’s difficult. Today technology uses cell phones. Push the button, and it’s done. Everybody has a cell phone now. So you give them the easy way to put it together to pay back to the world. I work with the charity every day now, and I have fifteen people working with me in China.