Jackie Chan in a new role

The upcoming film The Foreigner, featuring Chinese action star Jackie Chan and Irish actor Pierce Brosnan, is a revenge story about Quan (played by Chan), a Chinese restaurant owner in London and a former member of the special forces, whose daughter is killed in a bomb blast. [Photo provided to China Daily]

The Foreigner is based on a novel from 1993. The director says: "There's no comedy in the action. It's all very serious and has a slight military feel because of the character's background."

In contrast, the fighting scenes in Chan's previous films are full of kung fu.

The New Zealand director also attaches a lot of importance to location shooting.

"Green screens cannot create the Thames or the streets of London," he says.

Campbell took four months to get permission to shoot a scene on Lambeth Bridge in London, where the film's scene involves blowing up a doubledecker bus.

Residents in the area were given notice and paid to move into hotels on the day of the shooting.

And the crew had only four hours to complete shooting the scene, there was no time for a second take.

Still, the stunt caused alarm in London as not everyone could be informed in advance.

The cast of The Foreigner includes Chinese actress Liu Tao and Irish actress Charlie Murphy.

While some actors were making their action film debuts, Chan has a long resume of such films, starting with his 1980 debut in The Big Brawl.

After that, he played the leading role in nearly 20 Hollywood films, including Rush Hour, Shanghai Noon and Rumble in the Bronx.