Although Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh first tangled back in 1993 in the film Tai Chi Master (aka Twin Warriors), the two martial arts action stars have reunited for director Rob Cohen's The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, starring Brendan Fraser whose third adventure in the franchise takes him to China, the homeland of both Li and Yeoh. Although Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh have become huge international superstars, they couldn't be prouder of being part of a Western movie in China on the eve of the Summer Olympics in Beijing, which get underway in August.

Although the Chinese premiere of Tomb of the Dragon Emperor will have to wait until after the Olympics, Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh have been making the press rounds to promote the film for its domestic release on August 1. At the recent press junket for The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, Li and Yeoh opened up to journalists about making the Mummy together, reuniting after so many years, how the movie will play in China, and what they'll be doing for the Olympics.

Can you describe how physically demanding the fight scenes were with each other and what it took to actually compile those scenes?

MICHELLE YEOH: For us, that fight scene wasn’t physically that demanding because he was born in good shape and I work hard every day to stay in shape. The stunt coordinator that we work with has been working with Jet and myself for maybe fifteen-sixteen years, so he understands what we do. He understands what we can do well and it was just working with the environment and what Rob [Cohen] wanted. They set up a rehearsal for us for two or three hours. So Rob wanted to visit and he gets there and goes, "Where’s Jet and Michelle?" - "Oh, they rehearsed for 15 minutes, they chatted for two hours, then they left." [laughs] So we are used to it. You know, when you fight with someone like Jet you can do it with your eyes closed, because he’s never going to hurt you and he’s so precise and accurate with exactly what he’s doing. So it’s easy in a sense.

JET LI: Oh, it was very happy and exciting. I’ve been waiting for many years to beat up Michelle [laughs]. I think the most difficult part of it on set was to try to stop a smile. When we look at each other we’re always smiling. It was fun and easy, not very difficult to fight. The difficult part, maybe the costume, it looks good but very heavy - 40 pounds. You wear that to fight and it’s quite heavy. It was fun and only took a two days to shoot the action sequence. Not like a Chinese movie. Each sequence is fifteen days, twenty days, just fight every day.

As stars who are Hollywood stars and known in the West and also Asian stars, what is the difference for both of you between your publics? For instance, Variety said that the Chinese have not given this movie a seal yet to play in China and Universal said there wasn’t going to be any problem. But if there was a problem, would you be held responsible because you’re in the movie?

MICHELLE YEOH: I think with this movie it was already approved. It was green lit or else the movie would not have been shot there in the first place. Rob confirmed yesterday that the movie is going to be screened in China. It’s just going to be a little later because obviously there is the Olympics. And you don’t really want to go up against the Olympics, do you? Not in China. For us, personally, I have chosen roles and I have played roles - I think maybe the most controversial one would’ve been in Memoirs of a Geisha, where they were unhappy about us being Chinese playing in a Japanese role. And I think at the end of the day they - It is a little bit of a problem, because sometimes it’s the audience that are making these comments. It’s not so much the leaders of China, the ones who are making the decisions that say they would like to be more open and allow more of these kinds of movies to be made there. But then you have the general audience who’s turning around and saying no we do not want, or do not accept, and you have like a million people going online saying, "No, no, no, no, no," while then they would have to sit back and say, "Okay, maybe next time." So we do have problems sometimes that arise, but generally we try to fix them before it becomes one.

JET LI: I think that for Mummy, in the beginning the script they already approved and the movie they already [gave a] green light. I think that the market is different with Western because today everybody is focused on China - China Olympics. So maybe one week before the movie opens the audience will pay more attention to look at the movie. But in China everybody has been waiting for eight years, ready to see the Olympics. So I don’t think it’s perfect timing to open one week before in China because everybody is focused on TV watching all of the teams coming to China. Everybody is focused on that, not the movie business.

Do you see yourself having two careers, a Western career and an Asian career?

JET LI: Of course, because the culture is different. American culture is different than Asian. So Asian specifically looks at Jet Li as a good guy and I play something they believe. They’re not used to an American audience who sees the actor as an actor, you know. You’re making a movie - good guy, bad guy - it doesn’t matter because they’re two different worlds. The audience, the culture in China, always gets mixed up, just - Is this the real story, based on real things that happened? So I think there is a cultural difference, especially with teenagers. They get mixed up sometimes. They don’t know why Jet Li is the bad guy. Why? They don’t think that it’s just an actor doing something else.

Were you guys familiar with the mythology surrounding this film with the dragon emperor and the sorceress and were there certain things in it that were historically based that you liked?

MICHELLE YEOH: When we were approached with this movie, I think the most important thing was the studio wanting to take this to China was a great opportunity for the youngsters to learn about a new country. And with a fantasy action adventure movie like this kind of franchise, you have a little bit of fact, but then it’s a fantasy. For us the most important thing is Rob Cohen. We were saying he’s actually Chinese inside. He has a great respect for the Chinese culture. He has a deep understanding of it as well, and he’s a Buddhist. So he protected it and did not ridicule. And I think that’s something that’s very important, that it’s shown with a certain intention of bringing fun and humor to some historical facts, and I love the fact that there is such - There’s always been a mystery about the Terra Cotta armies and this is a nice little twist or take on it. So for me I enjoy that very much.

Is there anything you like about playing a villain as opposed to playing the hero type role?

JET LI: Yeah. I think, for an actor, you always want to play different kinds of roles that you didn’t play, more exciting, and you have room to create something. For me, I played good guys for many movies and it’s so very heavy because the good guy always has a lot of responsibilities. You need to take care of the family - wife, children, dog, neighbors - you now? Being a good guy is not easy. There are a lot of things you have to care about. A bad guy is much easier and fun to play because you don’t need to think about it - "Oh, I like that girl. Okay, take her. I like his car, take it." [laughs] So it’s very selfish. It’s very straightforward and fun for an actor to play, especially a Mummy, for sure, I’ve never played before. How to look like the super power guys - It’s good, a good experience for me to play, especially with our director. We were friends for many years and we wanted to make another movie and it didn’t happen so we said, "Make the Mummy? Oh, good. Why not?" It’s good for me and very challenging for my career to play something else, different.

It’s been said that you’re not going to be doing anymore martial type films. Can you comment on that and which direction your career is going?

JET LI: I think, seriously, after Fearless - I think in Fearless I tell everything about why I believe people need to learn martial arts and why we take revenge, who is the true enemy, and I figured out it’s myself. So I tell all of my beliefs in that movie. Since then I just take a movie like it’s my job. So I think that’s why this year I turned down all of the movies I don’t want to make and I work on the philanthropy in China. You know, try to help people. And when the Chinese economy takes off - People don’t know how to do NGO and how to help people and I try to build out rules and everything in China. We have a lot of the people’s support, the foundation we call it, the Win Foundation, meaning the world is one family. If everybody put in one Yuen every month together we can help the weather, education, healthy everything. So I’m more focused on my third career, really. That’s what I believe. The first career is martial arts, spending ten years learning martial arts. Then I spend 28 years making movies and now I turn my career to go do some charity NGO stuff, and I’ve already started it for three years. I spend a lot of time going around the world to study and learn how to do the right things and pay back to the world. And being the good guy is not easy [laughs], but I need to learn. The movies I’m not taking seriously right now. If I like it, that’s my job. I do it and after that I go back to my world.

Is there a certain event at the Olympics you’re looking forward and do you already have your tickets and everything?

MICHELLE YEOH: Well, he has to be there for the martial arts.

JET LI: Yeah, I represent the martial arts during the Olympics. We have several parties there and, of course, we have charity work. The big charity on August 22, we’re involved a lot.

MICHELLE YEOH: I’ve always been a big fan of gymnastics and the track and field events and all of the pool events. So I’ll probably be glued to the TV, because I’ve been on the road for the last few months. I need to go home. My dad’s 83 this year and I want to spend as much time as possible with the kids and the family. So we’ll all be watching TV together.