He's played a science-fiction hero, policeman and even Hamlet. But now actor Keanu Reeves is taking on a new role - as director of a contemporary martial arts movie aimed at both Chinese and Western audiences.

Reeves has stepped behind the camera to make his directorial debut with Man of Tai Chi, a trilingual film loosely based on the life of a stuntman, Tiger Chen, whom he befriended while working on the sci-fi trilogy The Matrix.

At the Cannes Film Festival to promote his new movie, due out later this year, Reeves said he knew he had always wanted to try directing and spent five years on the script.

He said the main character of the film, in which he also acts, is a stuntman and martial arts expert, struggling to maintain his traditional values and beliefs against the pressures of modern society. This character is played by Chen.

Reeves plays the villain who lures him into underground fighting and the promises of money, glamor and power.

The film, made in English, Cantonese and Putonghua and filmed in the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong, is meant to appeal to both the huge market in China, where Reeves won fans with Matrix and for having a Chinese great-grandparent, as well as in Western countries.

Clips from the movie suggested there would be big fight sequences and high-speed car chases along Chinese highways.