Hollywood director Renny Harlin on his China career, directing Jackie Chan and the new film Bodies at Rest

Internationally known for his direction of such popular action thrillers as Die Hard 2 (1990) and Cliffhanger (1993), Renny Harlin is now better known in Chinese-speaking countries as the rare Hollywood filmmaker who left Los Angeles with full-time Force moved to China -time basis.

It's been five years since he directed Jackie Chan in the 2016 hit film Skiptrace. Since then, the Finnish veteran has founded his own company based in Hong Kong and Beijing to develop a range of feature films and television shows for the Chinese market. He's also experienced failure: his second film since his move, last year's “Legend of the Ancient Sword,” was a flop.

His third film since his move, Bodies at Rest, is a co-production between Hong Kong and China. Set in a morgue on Christmas Eve, the story revolves around the attempts of a forensic expert (played by Nick Cheung Ka-fai) and his assistant (Yang Zi) to fend off a trio of masked criminals (led by Richie Jen Hsien-chi). who broke into the premise to search for a particular corpse.

The filmmaker recently sat down with the Post to reflect on his China experience.

Your new film, Bodies at Rest, takes place on Christmas Eve. Does this setting remind you of Die Hard 2?

Yes, I think it's fun to celebrate Christmas! At least in the Western world, Christmas is a peaceful time when families come together and everything is perfect. That's why it always felt like a good idea to me to set a dramatic, explosive story to music during this time.