The Kung Fu Kid
I guess Jackie heard me. 
Jackie Chan looks to revamp his image with new film
Fri, 27 Mar 2009 8:03p.m.
Jackie Chan is 53 now, and despite breaking almost every bone in his body he is nowhere near retirement – but is considering a major image change.
Chan told Campbell Live and Film 3’s Kate Rodger he wants to be taken more seriously, and be China’s very own Robert de Niro.
“I don’t want to be an action star my whole life,” says Chan. “I want to be an actor. I want to be an actor who can fight, not a fighter who can act.”
It is hardly surprising Chan is keen to slow down. He has starred in almost 50 films - doing all his own stunts. He is an uninsurable walking miracle.
In one of Chan’s more death-defying stunts, where he jumped several stories inside a mall down a lighting pole, got straight up and finished the scene. He was electrocuted, seriously hurt his back and dislocated his pelvis.
“I remember when I met Stephen Spielberg, and I say, ‘How you make the dinosaur movie, getting them jumping around, it’s amazing!’ ‘Easy,’ he said, ‘I just push the button, button, button - Jackie, how you jump from the building?’ I say, ‘Easy - rolling camera, jump, cut, hospital. That’s how we make action movie.’”
Rolling camera, jump, cut, hospital - the Jackie Chan mantra.
Chan started out in Hong Kong at 14 as a stunt man - no protection, no insurance, and no job if you get injured.
“When you get hurt, you fired, even when you’re hurt you tell the director, ‘I am fine.’”
Chan certainly was fine, learning the hard way courtesy of Bruce Lee, and would not be despatched so easily every again.
After Lee’s untimely demise, Chan pioneered his own brand of action, delivered with slapstick humour and with the trademark Jackie Chan grin.
“No violence, no sex, always happy-go-lucky,” he says. “Whenever you’re punched you get up, nobody die in my movie, no bruise,” he laughs. “Everybody survives.”
After dozens of Chinese films, Hollywood came calling. The Rush Hour franchise may have lost him a few of his hardcore fans, but they were box office winners, and he is pretty open about his reasons for embracing the mainstream.
“Honestly, when I make some Hollywood film, only for the money. Honestly.”
Now Chan is ready for the next chapter in his career, a move he hopes his audience is ready for too.
“Action star - the life is very short,” he says. “For the last 10 years I change my character. Very difficult for the audience to accept me. Without action, without stunt, without jumping off the bridge, diving from the building…”
This is Chan’s latest film, Shinjuku Incident, which opens here next week. It is not the Jackie Chan we know - here is a far darker more serious man, barely cracking a smile, and he is not necessarily the good guy.
His character ‘Steelhead’ leaves his home in China for Tokyo, searching for his hometown sweetheart. He finds her now married to the Japanese mob, and ends up in a brutal fight for his life, and those of everyone he loves.
“When you have nothing, the bad guy will use you to do bad things,” says Chan. “But what can you do, you have to survive. Otherwise you just die on the street.”
The role was a conscious decision to change his own image.
“If I continue to make these films, Rush Hour 1, 2, 3… I am tired. Every day doing the same thing. I want to change. I look at Robert de Niro and Dustin Hoffman, wow, you can do bad guy, good guy, he can play god, comedy, cartoon – there’s so many things. I want to be a real actor.”
Chan’s not ready to turn his back on Hollywood entirely. He has just shot The Spy Next Door, and confirmed he has signed up to “wax on wax off” as Mr Miyagi in the The Karate Kid remake.
“They don’t want to call it Karate Kid anymore,” he says. “They want to call it Kung Fu Kid.”
He is also looking to head to New Zealand next year to shoot part of his new film in Rotorua.
“New Zealand - beautiful place, all green… keep it that way!” he says. “So beautiful!”
