Las Vegas tragedy makes Chan feel ‘useless’

Action hero Jackie Chan wishes he could use his iconic martial arts skills to help those at Sunday's mass shooting in Las Vegas. “A lot of young kids say, ‘Jackie, you're a superhero. You’re hero.’ I really want to be any superhero, [so] I can fly around the world, save the people, beat up the bad people, [and] put them in the jail. But sometimes [when] I watch this, I’m just useless. Only thing I can do is pray, pray for them,” Chan said in an interview.

On-screen, Chan does get the chance to battle terrorists in his new action-thriller, The Foreigner, releasing on October 13. The actor plays a grief-stricken father, hunting a rogue cell responsible for an explosion that killed his daughter. “Through the movie, I hope to tell people [to] stop these kind of violent things,” Chan said. He want people to “stop the bombing, stop hurting innocent people.”

Many films canceled or postponed promotions in the wake of the attack in Las Vegas, something Chan thought long and hard about.

He feels continuing the film's promotional tour, which includes Los Angeles premiere, is challenging.

“You know I’m really a foreigner in another country. I don’t know what to do. You know, what should I say? Anything I can (do to) help?” he said.

Meanwhile, at 63, the Hong Kong star is hoping to prove he can do more than martial arts. “I want to be a true actor. I don't want audiences to keep thinking I'm an action star. I want to be a Robert De Niro. I want to be a Clint Eastwood,” he explained. Chan shared a romantic lead in a musical would be a dream gig. “I want to be in a musical action comedy movie,” he said.