Jet Li in America: how Lethal Weapon 4 and Romeo Must Die, the Chinese martial arts star’s first two Hollywood movies, took shape

After approaches from Francis Ford Coppola and Oliver Stone, Li starred in Lethal Weapon 4 with Mel Gibson and Danny Glover, but was given a low sixth billing

In Romeo Must Die, the late R&B singer Aaliyah was his co-star in an actioner aimed at elevating Li to leading-man status, but it received mixed reviews

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In his first major Hollywood movie, Jet Li played an evil villain in director Richard Donner’s Lethal Weapon 4.

Richard James Havis

Published: 5:15am, 14 Nov 2021Updated: 12:37pm, 16 Nov 2021

Corrected [12:36pm, 16 Nov, 2021]

[12:36pm, 16 Nov, 2021]
DMX did not play the father character in Romeo Must Die. The story has been amended.

Jet Li Lianjie had high hopes for his Hollywood career in the late 1990s, but his first two films in America met with a mixed reception.

Lethal Weapon 4 (1998)

When it was announced that Jet Li would appear in Hollywood’s Lethal Weapon 4 alongside Mel Gibson and Danny Glover, it was big news in Hong Kong – even though Li hails from mainland China, the city regarded him as one of its own stars.

Equally big news was that Li, who had only ever played heroes like Wong Fei-hung in Hong Kong films, was to play a bad guy. “Jet Li’s first role as a villain has put him on the ‘it’ List. But will it launch a Hollywood career?” this journalist wrote at the time.

Li was certainly not new to the United States. He had moved there in the mid-1980s, after his first burst of fame with the Shaolin Temple series had subsided, and even made two films in the country, albeit not for Hollywood producers – The Defector, and the Tsui Hark-directed The Master.

His success in Hong Kong in the early 1990s had reportedly led to approaches from Francis Ford Coppola and Oliver Stone to star in a US film. Lethal Weapon 4, produced by Hollywood super-producer Joel Silver, was the project that materialised.

The buddy cop film franchise, which was a mix of comedic humour and action, was tired and Silver had already brought in black comedian Chris Rock to pep up the storyline.