I had Great time working with Ash

Norwegianhelmer Harald Zwart, who directs Will Smith's son Jaden and Jackie Chan in theupcoming remake of the 1984 classic "Karate Kid", says he had a terrific timeworking with Aishwarya Rai in "Pink Panther 2" and is keen on teaming up withher again.




Zwart, whose direction credits include Hollywoodbiggies like "Agent Cody Banks" and Michael Douglas starrer "One Night atMcCool's", says the actress was always the first choice to play Sonia, acriminology expert, who turns out to be the main villain in the end.



"I had a great time working with Aishwarya. She is a huge star butat the same time when the cameras are not running she is the nicest person to bearound. We had so much fun together. I hope to work with her again," Zwart toldin a telephonic interview from Los Angeles.




"She was our firstchoice. We always wanted to have someone, who was beautiful, somebody you wouldnever suspect to be bad. We were so happy when she wanted to do the movie," hesays, adding he is fascinated by the Indian film industry.


Coming to hislatest project starring Jaden Smith ("Pursuit of Happyness"), Jackie Chan ("RushHour", "The Myth") and Taraji P Henson("The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"),the director promises an original fair though it is a remake of Sony Picture'smuch loved 1984 movie of the same name.




"We have made sure that werespect the original but we wanted to make it original and fresh and I think wehave succeeded in that. It is completely different from the first movie althoughwe have references," he says when asked about the comparisons that the film isbound to invite with the earlier movie.


Produced by Jerry Weintraub, WillSmith, Jada Pinkett Smith, James Lassiter, and Ken Stovitz, Columbia Pictures'movie hits theatres on June 11 in India and the US.



The new movieshifts action to China and instead of karate, talks about Kung Fu and itshistory.


Jaden plays Dre Parker, a Detroit kid, who is forced to shiftbase to China because of his mother's career. Dre has a hard time making friendsat first but he does make a connection with his classmate Mei Ying but he alsomakes an enemy in the class bully, Cheng.




When Dre is bullied byCheng, he turns to Mr Han, who not only trains him in Kung Fu but also helps himface the bully and in the process also ends up having a special bond with thechild.


At 11, Jaden has already proved his acting potential with "Pursuitof Happyness" where he starred with his superstar father but he is playing thelead in this film and a lot is at stake for the young star.




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