For years, Jet Li has thrilled movie audiences - first in Hong Kong, then around the world - with his martial and acrobatic skills. After bursting on to the Hollywood scene with his English-language debut, Lethal Weapon 4 (1998), and the box-office hit Romeo Must Die (2000), Li was ready to tackle an even more ambitious project. He envisioned a dramatic film that combined his trademark martial arts and action heroics with strong, recognizable characters.

Li came up with the idea of a government agent who, despite enormous proficiency and skills, becomes lost in a physical and moral landscape he can't comprehend. "I wasn't interested in making a movie about a big action hero who saves the day," Li explains. "My character, Liu Jiuan, is one of China's best agents, with tremendous abilities in martial arts and acupuncture. He's determined and driven. But he's not a superman; he's human. When his mission goes wrong, Liu initially doesn't know how to handle things. "

When Liu meets Jessica, things become even more complicated. "My character doesn't know how to deal with her," Li comments. "At first he finds her annoying, then her pities her; finally he decides to help her. But his government won't let him. So does he keep his word or follow orders? For the first time, Liu has to take care of someone else, and be more than a fighter. He finally grows up."

"Of course, he also finds himself in a lot of action and fights," Li quickly adds with a smile.

To help bring the story, characters and relationships to life, Li turned to one of the world's most acclaimed and visionary filmmakers, Luc Besson. "I loved Luc's films, like Léon (1994), which combined drama, characters, story and action," Li comments. "I knew he had a special way, even in his thrillers, of focusing on the drama and characters. He tells stories differently than most American filmmakers do. "

Besson, recognizing the potential of Li's ideas, came aboard as a producer, bringing his impressive production expertise as well as dramatic skills to the project.

With Li's story in hand, Besson asked screenwriter Robert Mark Kamen to collaborate on the KISS OF THE DRAGON script. The two had known each other for almost ten years, having previously worked together on Fifth Element, the (1997).

According to Kamen, the writing process was a whirlwind of intensity and creativity. "Luc and I worked nonstop, eight hours a day, for weeks," Kamen recalls. "He has the most unbelievable concentration of anybody I've ever seen, and he just keeps pushing and pushing until he gets what he wants. And as he writes, he edits in his head."

"We have a shorthand where I know exactly what Luc's thinking, and I shape it to that, and then he edits," Kamen continues. "Luc just edits away in his head, and then it's there. I write 'long' and he'll say, 'No, we cut here, here, and here. We just know each other's beats. "

Although Kamen was well into the writing before he had the chance to meet Li, the actor's personality and demeanor helped shaped the relationship between Liu Jiuan and Jessica. "We wanted to create a dynamic that was funny, dramatic and had a lot of humanity," Kamen relates. "Jet is the most straightforward and upstanding man I've ever met in my life, and we made Liu the same way. Luc and I asked ourselves what's the most uncomfortable position we could put the character in - besides having half of the Paris police force trying to kill him? And Luc said, 'Oh, it's very simple: she's a prostitute. "

Kamen and Li immediately connected when they finally met. Kamen, like Li is a longtime martial arts practitioner, and the two shared many ideas about the Chinese internal arts of Taoism and Buddhism. That connection continued as Li provided specific ideas to the final script. Li even bestowed upon Kamen an honorary Chinese name, the translation of which is "Thunder/Lightning Hands. " "Because I write so quickly," Kamen deadpans.

As writing progressed and locations were scouted, Besson began the additional principal casting. For the role of Jessica, he approached Bridget Fonda who, coincidentally, had starred in the American version of Besson's La Femme Nikita, Point of No Return (1993).

Fonda jumped at the chance to work with Besson - despite the as-yet-unfinished script and the cloak of secrecy that Besson had enveloped around the project. "I really am a great admirer of Luc's films and especially his female characters," says Fonda. "When I met him, he was very secretive about everything, and gave me only a couple of script pages to read. The next thing I know, he offered the part to me. I really didn't know what the film was about, or who the character was, but I took it on faith."

Fonda says her trust in Besson paid off when she finally did read the script, after arriving in Paris to begin filming. "I thought my character, Jessica, was really interesting - funny, sad and complex at the same time. She's a sweet but misguided person who really doesn't see beyond three feet in front of her at any given moment, and she's pretty much bereft of hope. Her life has turned into a nightmare, and the way she deals with it is to not look at things too closely. She has this strange sort of distance, like a dog that's been out in the rain too long and is grateful for any tiny moment of happiness. "

Besson then cast veteran character actor Tchéky Karyo, whom Besson had directed in La Femme Nikita and Messenger, the (1999) to play the villainous Richard. Karyo, like Fonda, could not yet read the work-in-progress script. He believed he was in good hands, however. "Having worked with Luc, I knew without even reading the script that he was going to give me a strong character that I could really work on," Karyo points out.

Karyo's faith was also rewarded. Although Richard's evil obsession for power is unambiguous, the role gave Karyo several layers to play. "Richard really moves through a range of emotions," says Karyo, "from over-the-top, kind of expressionistic anger to a minimalism, as Richard plays with people's minds - maybe even being secretly in love with Jessica. I enjoyed going through this twisted character's labyrinth of emotions. "

With Karyo, Fonda and, of course, Li signed on, Besson still had one key component missing: the director. Besson had long admired the work of French commercials director Chris Nahon, and thought Nahon could capture the emotion of the story, as well as its technical complexities. Nahon welcomed the opportunity to join Besson and Li in what became a satisfying creative alliance. "Luc and Jet brought great ideas to the production," says Nahon. "Luc has been making films for a long time, and Jet is very familiar with the large-scale action genre. Each of us brought something to the project. We were a team. "

Nahon also was in sync with Li and Besson's vision of KISS OF THE DRAGON as both an action and dramatic piece. "The challenge was to make an action film that doesn't bore you between fight scenes," Nahon explains. "For KISS OF THE DRAGON, we wanted a real story and relationship between Jet and Bridget's characters."

"There's a lot more going on than just action," agrees Fonda. "The dramatic moments and character vulnerabilities also make the action even more exciting, because you care about these people who are risking everything. "

The balance of drama and action was critical to the film, the fulcrum being Jet Li. The actor's thespian and martial abilities impressed both cast and filmmakers. "Jet is poetry in motion," Fonda exclaims. "And this is from somebody who grew up on Bruce Lee, so I have an appreciation for kicking butt. " Fonda also appreciated Li's many contradictions. "Jet's a combination of shy and strong, sweet yet dangerous, quiet and outspoken. "

From the beginning, Karyo was amazed by Li's concentration. "For one scene, Jet put himself in front of me and suddenly his eyes seemed to disappear. You deal with people through their eyes - you catch their personalities and emotions through them - and Jet's just disappeared. I couldn't catch him anymore, so to speak. "

Chris Nahon says the great discovery of making his feature film debut was Li's acting prowess. "I was honestly surprised because Jet was such a good actor. Not just a martial artist. "

For the film's high-powered fight scenes, Li brought on a team headed by his longtime collaborator Cory Yuen, who serves as KISS OF THE DRAGON's action director.

Li, Yuen, Besson and Nahon wanted to make sure that the martial arts scenes heightened the story and characters. They largely eschewed the use of wires and computer effects seen in films such as Crouching Tiger, Hidden dragon (2000) and in Matrix, the (1999) opting instead to keep the action grounded and real, similar to street fighting style Li employed in his classic 1994 film Fist of Legend (1994).

Fist of Legend (1994) is a favorite of the many Jet Li fans who've followed his career, and whose postings on Li's Web site influenced Li's choice of fighting style for KISS OF THE DRAGON. "We went back to the basics," notes Li, "keeping the fighting simple and based more in reality. " Liu Jiuan's principal fighting aid are acupuncture needles - healing tools that Liu can turn into a deadly weapon - and which play a key role in the mysterious "kiss of the dragon" revealed at the film's end.

The city of Paris not only figures prominently in this action. Liu's desperate search for clues and his flight from the pursuing authorities take him across the city. "It's almost like a travelogue," jokes Robert Mark Kamen, who, with Besson, made sure the script featured "cameo appearances" by Parisian landmarks, such as the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, Place de la Concorde (Paris' largest public square), Basilique du Sacre-Coeur - even the city's "red-light" district, Place Pigalle.

After filming wrapped in Paris, world-renowned musician Craig Armstrong began work on the score, in his native Scotland. Armstrong had recently completed work on Moulin Rouge (2001), an unabashed musical for which Armstrong used big orchestrations.

While KISS OF THE DRAGON's big action scenes required what Armstrong calls "orchestral fireworks," he used something very different for the film's more intimate scenes. "Much of the score has a much more chamber feel," featuring more subtle and refined musical ideas. "In many ways, it's the opposite of Moulin Rouge (2001), which was more about huge orchestral statements. KISS OF THE DRAGON is very small, very personal, in certain scenes. It's almost like a theater piece, in a way. "

As scoring and other areas of post-production came to a close, director Chris Nahon reflected on KISS OF THE DRAGON's international flavor. "To me, the film is comprised of three different styles," he points out. "There's the Hong Kong style: fast, direct martial arts action, like many of Jet's previous films. Then there's definitely an American style: the scale is quite large, like an American action-adventure film; finally, there's the 'French' element - the more intimate, dramatic scenes between Jet and Bridget.

"I think it can make for a very interesting mix," Nahon concludes.