Jackie Chan reenacted his role in Bruce Lee’s “Enter the Dragon” at Switzerland’s Locarno Film Festival.
Chan played a small part in the iconic film. In the past, he admitted Lee accidentally hit him with a stick during a scene – but that didn’t stop him from completing the take.
“I’m no Superman. I am scared,” he admitted. “Before a stunt, I go: ‘Am I going to die this time’?”
During a masterclass at the Swiss fest, he talked about his beginnings.
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“That’s a long, long story,” he said. “I was lazy, naughty, I didn’t want to study – that’s why my father sent me to martial arts school. I liked fighting when I was young. Later, he asked: ‘Did you like the school?’ Yes, very much. I could kick the teacher, punch someone – whatever I wanted,” he joked.
Chan started out as a stuntman, appearing in Lee’s “Fist of Fury”, before eventually transitioning into acting following some childhood experiences on set.
“I went: ‘Movies are great – I can have my own lunchbox’.”
The star delighted the audience with his animated presence, at times seeking their help to find the right words or titles. He also opened up about his absent father, who used to send him tapes with the recordings of his voice. “If I listened to them now, I think I’d cry.”
Ambitious, he wanted to learn filmmaking from scratch. “I’d even put on my own makeup – I wanted to show the director I’m good enough.” After a while, he decided to take over directing duties as well.
“I do everything – myself. Now, I tell filmmakers: ‘If you only learn how to direct, that’s not good enough’.”
“The audience doesn’t know about the rain or the producer, or that the budget was cut. They just want a good movie. I always remember that, so I try to make every scene perfect. I think old movies were better than [what we have] today. Now, these big studios, they are not filmmakers – they are business guys. It’s very difficult to make a good movie these days.”
Later on, Chan recreated even more of his famous fight scenes, forgetting about his mic out of excitement. But he had to wait for his moment in the US.
“At that time, I was the ‘King of Asia’. I thought I was going to conquer America, so I went there, saying: ‘I’m Jackie Chan.’ ‘Jackie what? Who? Another Bruce Lee?’ Nobody knew me. They didn’t even care about my fighting skills. They wanted me to deliver one punch, like Clint Eastwood. ‘Make my day’,” he said, referencing “Sudden Impact.” But I am not Clint Eastwood!”
“I said: ‘I will show you.’ That’s why I went back to Hong Kong to make ‘Police Story’. Sometimes, you can’t just tell people things. You have to prove them.”
After many disappointments, his manager asked him to try one more time.
“It was ‘Rush Hour’. He told me I’d play a police officer from Hong Kong, so I don’t have to speak perfect English. Perfect – [it was] the most important thing,” he laughed. “I think ‘Rush Hour’ changed the culture. I wanted to be a cross-cultural bridge between China and the US, and now Switzerland.”
The most important thing is the script, he underlined – fight scenes come next.
“We analyze the script to figure out how to combine it with action, otherwise it doesn’t make sense. I see a lot of American films, even Chinese films, and [the characters] fight and then… They fly. Why? Because the first and second AD don’t agree with each other. So they are superheroes?! This kind of action makes me angry.”
He said: “At least my films are coherent.”
Chan added: “I always learn how to change.” Not afraid of singing either – “It’s easier than fighting” – he serenaded the audience, admitting he wanted to be versatile. “An actor who can fight,” and not just an action star.
“Action star’s life is so short. How many of them are still around? so 15 years ago I said I wanted to be Asian Robert De Niro,” he revealed.
“Only now they say: ‘Jackie is a good actor,’ and that’s why you gave me this award.”
Chan has received Locarno’s career achievement award, the prestigious Pardo alla Carriera, on Saturday.
“He reinvented, literally, what an action film is,” said artistic director Giona A. Nazzaro, calling him a “true genius.” “There is before Jackie Chan and there’s after.”
Accepting the award, Chan recalled a conversation he had with his father, back when he asked him: “I’m 60. Can you still fight when you’re 60?” Chan replied: “I didn’t know what to say [to him]. But now I’m 71 and I still can fight.”
