HONG KONG (AP) – Jackie Chan’s acrobatic stunts have made him one of the world’s most recognizable movie stars, but the actor revealed that mastering a Segway two-wheeled scooter can be tricky.

Chan, preparing to kick off filming for the third installment of the “Rush Hour” action comedy series with co-star Chris Tucker in Paris, wrote in a diary entry on his Web site Sunday that he shipped the scooters to Paris to conveniently get around the film set.

“Everybody thinks it’s easy to drive a vehicle like this. Like riding a bicycle, one has to learn how to properly drive a Segway. Even when a person thinks they understand how to ride it, they may go too fast and get hurt,” Chan wrote.

Chan also wrote that he thinks camera tests are unnecessary.

“American directors want to make sure that our coloring and costumes look right for the film, which I think is a good thing. Sometimes I think they seem to spend too much time on trying to get every detail right. In Chinese films, we just use our eyes to figure out if everything looks right.”

The “Rush Hour” series revolves around the racial humor from the pairing of a Chinese police officer, played by Chan, and a black counterpart, portrayed by Tucker.

LONDON (AP) – A 14-year-old boy who plays the role of Billy Elliot in the successful stage adaptation of the film has rejected the bright lights of London’s West End.

Liam Mower, who won a prestigious Laurence Olivier Award for best actors in a musical along with two other boys who also play the role of Billy, has decided to quit because he’s homesick and wants to return to Hull, 185 miles north of London, a realization that came to him when he left home to return to work.

“I started crying because I didn’t want to go back, so I rang mum and told her. It was a big moment. She asked me if I was sure it was the right decision and she was really good about it,” Mower told the Daily Telegraph.

The show, which was named best new musical in this year’s Olivier awards, is one of London’s more popular theater destinations. Based on the Oscar-nominated film, it boasts a score by Elton John, who has said Billy’s story reminds him of his own childhood struggle to express his creativity.

Mower, who has played the role for 18 months, will give a final performance on Sunday, the paper reported. He is also giving up his place as a student at the Royal Ballet School in southwest London, where he was on a scholarship the Telegraph said was worth $52,000, in part because of criticism he received for quitting Billy Elliot.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) – As he worked his way to salsa stardom, Marc Anthony said he saw the tragic career of the Puerto Rican performer he plays in an upcoming movie as inspiration and a warning to avoid industry pitfalls.

Anthony, who kicked off a concert tour in San Juan this weekend, said he felt a personal connection to Hector Lavoe, who was credited with bringing salsa to the United States and died in 1993 at age 46 following a struggle with drug addiction.

“He painted this clear picture of what you could be if you put your mind to it, but how painful a life you could live if you made the wrong choices,” he said.

The biopic “El Cantante,” which has Anthony starring opposite his wife, Jennifer Lopez, premiered this month at the Toronto Film Festival. It is expected to be released in North America next year.

The film traces Lavoe’s rise from the Caribbean island to stardom in New York, where the sold-out concerts and best-selling albums of the 1970s give way to drug addiction and a strained marriage in the 1980s.

Lopez, who co-produced the film, took on the project nearly five years ago when Lavoe’s widow approached her with a script and asked the pop star to consider playing her role.

The husband-and-wife duo – who also collaborated on Lopez’s upcoming Spanish-language album, with Anthony as the producer – were expected to appear on stage together this weekend.