Jet Li is comfortable in a kung fu brawl, but ask him to do a love scene and the action star says he breaks out in a cold sweat.

Li described his anxiety about romantic acting in his latest Web blog musings about his new movie Ci Ma. The film is about the breakdown of a friendship between three men when one kills another to steal his wife, and the third seeks revenge.

"When I read the script and came upon the lines, 'They could no longer hold back their true feelings, they embraced passionately, fervently kissing, stroking and removing clothes,' I started sweating profusely because I had no idea how to do this," the 43-year-old wrote.

He also recalled a difficult love scene when shooting the 1992 film Swordsman II.

Li said director Tsui Hark asked him, "Why do you give me the impression that you're getting raped?"

The action star also said he had doubts about his overall acting skills. "The best actors in the world are probably very flexible expressing themselves emotionally and able to forget themselves when acting. But I am certainly not one of them," Li wrote.

He said he was surprised when he found out that his performance in Fearless, a biopic of kung fu master Huo Yuanjia, won Best Actor Award at the Hong Kong Film Critics Society ceremony last month.

"I thought my friend was joking. I am a very rational person. In 27 years of making movies, I have always made commercial films. I never thought about receiving awards," he said.

But Andy Lau, one of Chinese cinema's biggest stars and Li's co-star in Ci Ma, disagrees with Li's assessment of his acting.

"He's just being humble," Lau said Thursday at a press conference for his new movie Protégé.

"When you see the movie, you'll realize that. He's great for his part," Lau said.

Li's credits include Lethal Weapon 4, Romeo Must Die, and Hero.

(Shanghai Daily February 12, 2007)
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