Jackie Chan at a photo call for his new movie Bleeding Steel, which is being shot in Sydney. Credit:Peter Rae Chan, speaking at a press conference marking the start of principal photography which will run through July and August, said he always aimed to achieve something different and had to go one better than merely being pursued at ground level. "The first time the director said the Opera House have let us film chasing around [it], [I said] no, everybody is chasing around. I have to jump from the roof. That's what I want," he said. He added the production had worked hard to gain permission from the Opera House for the daredevil feats. "Trust me, we will protect the roof," he said. The roof scenes will also feature Australian actor Tess Haubrich, who plays a villain known as the Woman in Black, and will soon be seen in another recent Sydney-filmed sci-fi thriller Alien: Covenant.

Jackie Chan and his co-stars in Bleeding Steel appeared in Sydney on Thursday; Nana Ouyang, on his left, and Erica Xia-hou. The movie is the biggest budget Chinese production ever shot here. Credit:Peter Rae Bleeding Steel sees Chan play a special forces agent who becomes embroiled in a sinister conspiracy. He admits that he's cautious about taking on some stunts these days – "I'm still young but I'm not young any more like I used to be" – but said if he felt he was capable of the bigger stunts he was still game. "The big jumps, the roof, these kind of things I want to do it myself, because [of the] memories," he said. Chan, whose credits include Rush Hour and Shanghai Noon, is the second highest earning actor in the world after Robert Downey Jr, with an estimated fortune of $474 million.

It's the first Australian-based production for Chan since filming Mr Nice Guy in Melbourne in 1996, although he's been a regular visitor to Australia for decades after his parents moved to Canberra when he was a child. "I love Australia and that's why I try to come back again and again and again. I'm almost half Australian, my parents lived here for 40 years," he said. "I just love working here. Any way we have a chance we have to come back here [we do], because we know the crew, we know everybody here." Bleeding Steel also stars another local talent in actor Callan Mulvey (Captain America: The Winter Soldier) and will be released next year. It's a joint production between China's Heyi Pictures and Village Roadshow Pictures Asia and is directed by Leo Zhang. Filming will also take place in Taipei and Beijing. NSW acting premier Troy Grant said it was a success for the state's ramped-up drive to lure more filming under its $20 million Made in NSW initiative.

"We have set out on a very deliberate and specific vision to enhance and continue to increase the investment we are making in film and television production in NSW," he said. "[Bleeding Steel] is great news for the state for the obvious reasons, that there the jobs that are being created, there's economic stimulus and there's a contribution to our economy that way. "It is even better that we have the opportunity to work in partnership with a Chinese film production and to open the opportunity to showcase Sydney, New South Wales and this iconic building, the Sydney Opera House." Jackie Chan In Conversation is at the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall on August 6.