Folks, Harry here with our Guy on the site of a fairly rare live Jackie Chan talk... Personally, would it not be the coolest thing in the world to take Jackie Chan into the toughest bar in the world... get drunk and just watch him kick ass with various bar stools, pool cues, bowls of peanuts and beer bottles? Sigh... It is just a dream. hehehe... Anyway, if you're a Jackie Chan fan... this is the report for you... He spills on quite a bit. Personally I'm not looking forward to the new score on DRUNKEN MASTER 2... Especially since that score was BEAUTIFUL as it was. Here's Guy...
Hello internet movie buffs!
I just got back to my dorm room from a Q&A session with the man, Jackie Chan. He's at William and Mary down here in Williamsburg, VA for parent's weekend, which is amazing since we don't get many celebrity speakers. Apparently this was the first time he had spoken at a college or university before. Naturally he was amazing! Very energetic and happy to be in front of a crowd of rabid college fans. He said far too many interesting details about his life and his work to mention here so I'll hit the highlights (and be sure to check out bullet point #11):
1) Rush Hour 2 begins shooting Nov 6 in Hong Kong. The shooting schedule has him and Tucker travelling to San Francisco, LA, New York and Vegas. Apparently this time out the roles will be reversed with Tucker being the fish out of water in Hong Kong. As Jackie put it "This time he's in my 'hood!"
2) He had been approached a few years ago about playing the bad guy in Rambo 4, but turned it down since he feels that alot of kids look up to him and he wants to be a good role model, ergo he never plays the villian. This time though it was especially hard for him to turn down since he has always admired Stallone (he told a very moving anecdote about how Rocky really did change the course of his life) and really wanted to work with him. Additionally the character was a drug dealer and Jackie has a very personal reason for not wanting to play any character associated with drugs (his father made him promise to never do drugs and he takes the promise very seriously). Apparently though, the feeling was mutual and Stallone is supposed to be working on a revised script in which Jackie and Rambo are both good guys.
3) Along similar lines as #2, he had been offered a chance to play the villian in a Michael Douglas movie in the 80s. He was really torn, but again decided to turn it down because he wanted to continue to be a good role model.
4) When asked about working with Sammo Hung again, he said that he and Sammo have talked about the idea, but that it probably wouldn't be until next year as both are very busy.
5) The person he'd most like to work with is Jodie Foster since her career reminds him a lot of his own (child actor -> actor -> director).
6) He's very, very excited about the pending wide US release of Drunken Master 2 since he's very proud of the final scene, and he says it will be the first chance that a wide audience will have to see "a real Hong-Kong style action film" since most of the other films of his that have made it over here have been seriously Americanized. In this regard he particular wants people to note the long takes and full-body shots that make the audience realize that these fights are real, not the result of alot of editing tricks. He also mentioned that the film will be graced with a new score and dub.
7) Along similar lines he really loves his saturday morning cartoon on the WB since it introduces young kids to him. He also made certain that all the kids know what the real-life Jackie Chan looks like.
8) His idols include Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin, Bruce Lee, and his master at the opera school.
9) He tends to prefer Hong Kong style filmaking since there's less waiting around, more doing. He said on Rush Hour he found it some what annoying that every time he wanted to do a stunt it would have to be cleared by the safety people and producers. He did say though he thought the technical quality (film stock, sound editing, etc) of American films were much better. He mentioned that over the past few years he's been trying to meld the American and Hong Kong styles. He also noted that every year he puts out an American film (Rush Hour, Shanghai Noon) and a Hong Kong film (Rumble in the Bronx, Who am I?).
10) Jackie gave a lengthy talk about martial arts styles, punctuated be several demonstrations! He mentioned that in his early films he used more traditional, and more beatiful looking styles. More recently he's been working on faster, modern style fights, but he'd like to use some of the old stuff again (another reason he's very happy about the Drunken Master 2 rerelease). He also talked about adapting his style as he gets older to allow for the fact that even he isn't quite as agile as he used to be.
11) Just to make this report go to 11 Chan ended with an exclusive first look at the trailer to his new film, The Accidental Spy, which he also directed. It's set in Turkey, and has Chan through as series of plot twists ending up as a spy. He didn't know yet if the film would get released over here or not. The trailer had some amazing action including a funny bit with Jackie getting pushed around on a slippery floor like an air-hockey puck, the usual fast-and-furious kung fu, some neet car chases and a terrific number with a giant white tarp that drew great applause. Looks to be a terrific film!
So there you have it! Truly a great day down here in Va!
Guy Martin
