Jackie Chan feels ‘useless’ in wake of Las Vegas massacre

LOS ANGELES: Jackie Chan wishes he could have used his iconic, on-screen martial arts skills to help those hurt at the mass shooting in Las Vegas.

“A lot of young kids say ‘Jackie, you’re a superhero. You’re hero’. (And) I really want to be any superhero (so) I can fly around the world, save the people, beat up the bad people, put them in jail.

“But sometimes I watch this, I’m just useless. Only thing I can do is pray, pray for them,” Chan said in an interview on Tuesday.

The rampage on Sunday by Stephen Paddock killed at least 59 people and injured 527 others at the Route 91 Harvest Festival.

Chan does get the chance to battle terrorists in his new action-thriller The Foreigner, opening on Oct 13. The actor takes a dramatic turn as a grief-stricken father hunting a rogue IRA cell responsible for an explosion that killed his daughter.

“I hope through the movie (to) tell the people to stop this kind of violent things,” Chan said.

“It’s a good message to tell, stop these kind of terror things, stop the bombing, stop hurting innocent people.”

Other films cancelled and scaled back promotion in the wake of the attack in Las Vegas – something Chan thought long and hard about.

“Yes, it is challenging,” he said of continuing the film’s promotional tour.

“Asked what should I do? Should we change? Should we cancel? ... I don’t know what to do. You know, what should I say? (Is there) anything I can (do to) help?” — AP