Jackie Chan

Emmanuel Itier: How did it feel to be back?

Jackie Chan: Honestly, for me, it was like an unfinished movie. All of my life is filming and filming. I did Robin Hood and then Rush Hour 3, and the day after Rush Hour 3, I already started Forbidden Kingdom. For me, it’s just another movie. For the audience maybe it’s, “Wow, we’ve been waiting so long for Rush Hour 3.” Honestly, for me, it’s nothing exciting.

EI: Did you not understand Chris at first?

JC: Yeah, I think you really can feel, with Rush Hour 1, 2, and 3, the difference between the relationship with me and Chris. Honestly, in the first one, he is the shy boy and my English is not good, I didn’t know all the crew members, I was hiding on the set–even as the stunt coordinator. When you are stunt coordinator, you have to control the set, but I didn’t know the rules. So with all these things, I was shy instead of yelling. Most of the time, I would tell the driver to take my trailer away from Chris. Honestly, Chris would go that way and I’d go this way. I didn’t want to see the social, fake things: “Hi, Good morning!” So I would find a reason to run away. That was how we’d work, mostly in LA. By the time the movie finished, five months later, slowly we were becoming friends. And especially at the promotion, I had to come to America for promotion and we’d stay together and slowly we’d know each other. Then suddenly, Rush Hour 2 was filming in Hong Kong. That’s my ‘hood. I had to take care of everybody. Every day, dinner and karaoke–I had to show my friend that’s my territory. Then, on Rush Hour 2, we talked more and I had more understanding, and my English was getting better. Now, with Rush Hour 3, he’s a brother now. He comes to my trailer and I go to his trailer. He’s shopping for me and I buy some presents for him. We call each other. He shows up in Hong Kong to surprise me, and for five days we are goofing around. And we see each other at the Cannes Film Festival with Brett, but I just don’t know why it took six years to make Rush Hour 3! I don’t know what he’s been doing.

EI: Did you ask him?

JC: Yes, I called him. He said he’s busy. I said, “I’m the one who’s busy. What are you doing?” I said, “Let’s do Rush Hour 3, because when we did Rush Hour 1, we never expected 2 or 3.” It was just one movie. Actually, I don’t like Rush Hour 1 and 2. I don’t like either. It’s not my type of movie, but I know the audience likes it. Okay, for the audience, for the American market. Myself, I’m too busy. I have my own company and I’m making my own films.

EI: What did you do to ensure you’d like doing 3?

JC: It’s the market, the audience–wherever I go in Asia, they always ask me, “When are you doing Drunken Master 3? When are you doing Operation 3?” Nobody asks when I’m doing Rush Hour 3. But when I travel in America and Europe, people ask when I’m doing Rush Hour 3. So I know I have to do Drunken Master 3 for the Asian market and I have to do Rush Hour 2 and 3 for the American and Western market. So they are two different audiences. Even though I don’t like it, I have to do it.

EI: What are the cultural differences between the two?

JC: You have to go to a theater with an American audience, then you go to Hong Kong or Asia and you see the difference. In Singapore, I think it’s okay. In Singapore, people mostly understand English. But even if you speak English, it’s not like American slang English. When you look at Rush Hour 3, even tonight, I believe the whole audience will be screaming. In Rush Hour 1, when I said, “What’s up, nigger?” the whole theater goes crazy. In Asia, “What’s up, nigger,” the whole theater is silent. Then when I’m doing action, they think it’s terrible. My action is not as good as New Police Story or Rumble in the Bronx, right? The jokes, they don’t understand. Actually, I’m a writer. When I think about writing, I don’t like Rush Hour 1, but the whole Asia flopped. When I direct my own movie in Asia, $50 million–Rush Hour, only $10 million. See the difference? But my movie cannot be released in America, only Asian market. But Rush Hour here? $100 million! So later on, I found out why–they are two different markets.

EI: How were you able to top yourself with this action?

JC: Actually, all those years, nothing fresh. Honestly, from Who Am I, Drunken Master 2, even Drunken Master 1, there was nothing different. It was all punching and kicking and somersaults. What makes it unique is the story, comedy, humor, and different locations. Everything I speak is honest. All the fighting sequences on the Eiffel Tower, kicking and punching…without the Eiffel Tower, it’s just kicking and punching. Then I put a building, kicking and punching. Then I take an office, kicking and punching. They are all the same! We are not doing special effects like Superman or Spider-Man with a cartoon. They do whatever they can imagine, but we are doing human things. How high do they jump? My punch cannot twist. What you need is comedy and humor, and story and partnership. Then different locations, and wow, different action! Action is pretty much the same.

EI: Are you really hurting these days?

JC: No! I think I’m lucky because I’m always choreographing by myself. I know how far I can jump, how high I can go, and as long as I can, I will continue to do it. When my body tells me to stop, I will stop. I always like to do the action sequences. I like to make the audience go, “Wow. This guy still can do it!” It’s not like before with wow, now it’s like, “He still can do it.”

EI: Do you like making fun of yourself?

JC: Yeah, in my movies, I always like to make fun of Chris and Chris makes fun of me and everybody. That’s how to make the movie work. But if you ask me why the chemistry is so good, I don’t know. I have no idea. There are so many buddy movies out there, why does Chris Tucker and me just work? Why does the audience like that? I still don’t understand.

EI: Describe Chris.

JC: Now he’s changed. The first time I met him, he was very quiet. On the set and in front of people, he’d talk a lot, but when they say cut, he’s quiet. He would stay in his trailer and read a book. He was a very shy person. Most of the time, he was hiding. Me, when I’m getting to know people, then I try to speak. I tried more conversation and to start my English. From the conversation and the interviews, I learned a lot of English. And young boy Chris Tucker–no discipline, late on set, and so easily gets tired. And he would ask me, “Jackie, you are a big star. You can be late on the set. Every time you are on time, you make me look bad.” I said, “What? That’s my job.” I still don’t know the American system. My system, where I grew up, I have to be there in Hong Kong and Asia. Then slowly, in Rush Hour 2, he got a little changed and talked to people. Now he’s totally open and on time. Before I get to the set, he’s already on the set. He’s disciplined. Whatever I tell him to do, he does it and he never says no. And he’s more friendly. He’s not hiding anymore. He opens his trailer and invites me in. He buys me something and I buy him something. Now it’s really, really good. It’s a good feeling. Before, I don’t know if I’m shy or for what reason, but I was always hiding. When he’d come in, I’d say hi and then wait for him to go away. I had nothing to say or nothing to talk about–not like Americans: “Hi! Oh yesterday…” I have nothing to say: “Oh, hello.” But now? I bump into him and grab him and say something. Now it’s a good feeling.

EI: Do you improvise a lot?

JC: Not me. He improvises a lot. He changes the dialogue and changes the scene, and I follow the script. In Asia, I write the whole script and I can change it whenever, but here it’s difficult. English is not my mother language. I don’t know the jokes. Most of the time, I just listen to whatever they tell me to do. “You have to sing a song.” I hate the song. I hate the first one, “War! What is it good for? Absolutely nothing.” When the movie is finished and the day wrapped, the director said I have to sing this song together with Chris. Chris said, “What? Rap? No, you have to do it!” I hate it. But they are going to do it and I have to do it. In Asia, I say no! Just no, and I run away. But in America, I have to. Even if I don’t like it, I have to do it. But when the movie is released, I travel around and the children see me, and they are singing the song! Then I realized, Brett Ratner, there is some reason he wanted me to do it. So from that time, a lot of the things they tell me to do, right now I have to say I’ll listen to you. Whatever you tell me to do, I’ll do it. Then he tells me to sing the song, “Over and over again.” Okay! You come down the swing, okay. It seems everybody likes it. Then I think, for the future, I’ll have more of a singing career. Now everybody sees me, “Wow you sing the songs so good!” No one is talking about the stunts anymore. They are talking about my singing. “You have a good voice.”

EI: What was Paris like for you?

JC: It’s just another location. I’ve been filming in Paris before, but it’s different this time. We stayed in a five-star hotel with a lot of crewmembers. It used to be, when we’d film in Paris, just the Eiffel Tower. You just passed it and we are hiding the camera. “Action!” and the cop goes by the Eiffel Tower. Then we built the set in Hong Kong and we’d fight on the set. We never did think we could fight on the Eiffel Tower. Thirty years ago, in Paris, I had to wait one hour in line and then squeeze in a small elevator. Now I have a private elevator and I do whatever I want to do. At 5:00 in the morning, if we want them to turn on the lights, they will turn on the lights. The whole Eiffel Tower is lit. All my friends from Hong Kong or China see me because I was there. About 20 people came from around the world to see me. The first time they saw me, it was fun. I called them in the hotel, “Open your window! It’s 4:00 in the morning and I turned on the lights for you!” They go to their window and I would turn on the lights. Boom! “Wow! Jackie, you are so powerful!” That’s the most fun time. Of course, that’s a tough scene and it was cold at night, and I ran out of time and the producer was telling everyone to hurry because we were running out of budget. “I need more days and more money.” We were always arguing, but now we forget. We just remember the good things.

EI: What about the Olympic games in Beijing?

JC: I have to go back on the 8th. On August 8th, I run out of Tiananmen Square with 2008 children. Then, after I finish, I go back to make Forbidden Kingdom.

EI: Will you go to the Olympics?

JC: Yes, I just listen because I’m the ambassador of the Olympics. They tell me, “Jackie, on August 8th.” And I’m filming, but only for the Olympics can I tell the production I have to do this. They understand and let me go. So in 2008, on that day, I believe I’ll have a lot of things to do–the opening, the torch run–I just listen to the government. They are big things. You need one year to rehearse them. With the whole world watching, you cannot do something wrong. I toned it down. I don’t want to do anything. I just do the normal things, the torch light, and say something–that’s all.

EI: Will there be martial arts?

JC: Yeah, all the children are rehearsing right now every day. How many—a hundred thousand children are rehearsing every day! It’s going to be big, huge!

EI: What project would you still like to make?

JC: So many, and there is just one Jackie Chan. What can I do? There are a few projects, like The Fireman I’ve been talking about for more than 15 years, before Backdraft. I was already thinking about The Fireman with a good story. And in Hong Kong, the buildings are all so close so you cannot set up the fire, and there is not enough money. The Hong Kong government, before 1997, was not supporting making movies. We were always hiding and taking the cameras out on the street and hiding. So after Backdraft, I looked and wow! I still want to make this kind of movie, but there is no place. We don’t have enough special effects. We are not those kinds of people. When I look at Backdraft, wow! It’s so good. But that’s the only one, Firemen.

EI: Can you make it in Hollywood?

JC: Yes, I tried to talk to Ron Howard and we tried to set up part two, but I don’t have time. He’s a great director. I’m willing to sell my story to him. I have a very great story.

EI: Is the seven-foot guy the biggest guy you’ve faced?

JC: Yes, he’s the second tallest guy in the world. He’s from China. I think that was Brett Ratner’s idea. With Game of Death, it was Bruce Lee, but now we change to Chinese with Chris Tucker. Then he finds the guy to train him. He’s so big sometimes, he can’t control his body. When he walks, he goes boom. The feet are coming…my face is there. He won’t see my face! He’s too big. I say, “Cut!” He’s eight inches taller than Yao Ming. That’s big!