Even as he battles society's villainous types, his roles, be it a policeman in Police Story and Rush Hour or an imperial guard in Shanghai Noon, are invariably lightened with comedic turns.

All that, however, is set to change in Chan's first major role in a period film, The Myth, which is a deliberate attempt to stretch his acting range. In The Myth, which opens here on September 23rd, he plays an archaeologist who stumbles upon an undiscovered mausoleum, which transports him back to his dark past as a Qin Dynasty general who is in love with a Korean princess (played by Korean actress Kim Hee-seon). She, in turn, is betrothed to the Qin emperor.

Stanley Tong, who wrote and directed the film, is behind Chan's dramatic muscle-to-melancholic transformation. Speaking to Today in Hong Kong, the boyish-looking director said: When I wrote the script, I thought about how Jackie is always cheerful and funny in his contemporary roles. That's why I devised the role of a general who has to be more restrained and serious for him.