New Jet Li Movie Opens in Taiwan

WONG:
Chinese action star Jet Li and prominent Asian actor Takeshi Kaneshiro walked the red carpet on Tuesday in Taipei, Taiwan. They were at the premiere of their new movie: "The Warlords."

STORY:
"The Warlords" is a war epic based on a Qing Dynasty story. It has made over $18.7 million U.S. dollars at the box office in China and Hong Kong since its release last week.

While the movie depicts the brotherhood spirit in war time, star Jet Li says the movie is really about the price paid for a lasting peace.

[Jet Li, Movie Star]:
"In this movie, we tried our best to show cruelty: white knife in, red knife out. In thousands of years of history, there are lots of tragic stories, we know peace does not come easy, so we need to extend peace to enjoy it as much as possible".

Director Peter Hosan Chan hopes this ancient movie would also relate to people in modern times.

[Peter Hosan Chan, Director]:
"I wish for this ancient swordsman film to relate to the lives of our audience, for whether in the past or present, stories like this do happen. So don't assume peace comes easily, or we may find ourselves in the situation of these characters."

Nearly half of the $40 million budget for "The Warlords" went to the cast, among whom are Andy Lau, Takeshi Kaneshiro and Beijing-based actress and director Xu Jinglei.

Jet Li, a childhood martial arts champion, has also starred in English-language films such as "Romeo Must Die" and "Lethal Weapon 4." "The Warlords" is slated for release in North America in March, 2008.