48 Questions for Jackie Chan

Forty-eight and still at it – always with flying (pun intended) colors!

Turning 49 on April 7, Jackie Chan doesn’t see any reason why he has to slow down. He continues to kick asses, fly like a bird in an action genre he rules unchallenged and unsurpassed all these years and keep the cash registers around the world ringing merrily as if every opening day of his movie is Chinese New Year’s Day.

If Jackie were a soldier, he’d be battle-scarred – literally. In pursuit of (martial) arts, Jackie has sustained all the bruises and the cuts and the wounds you can ever imagine, one time even fracturing his skull (he has a hole in the head as "proof" of it) while shooting a risky stunt for Armour of God in Yugoslavia. The hole is as big as a peso coin and Jackie would willingly let you touch it (be gentle now) if you asked him.

Despite all those broken bones, Jackie is proving to be as sturdy as ever, refusing to let age drag him down.

"For how long will I be doing this?," he asked during a press junket for his Hollywood movie. "For as long as I can, for as long as my fans love watching me do it."

How his fans love it!

In his latest screen caper, Touchstone Pictures and Spyglass Entertainment’s Shanghai Knights (released locally by Buena Vista Pictures through Columbia Pictures, opening on Wednesday, Feb. 12, in Metro Manila), Jackie is paired anew with Owen Wilson (award-winning scriptwriter in his own right, besides being an actor). Together, they were a hit in their first starrer, Shanghai Noon; and they’re out to duplicate, if not break, that box-office record with this new action-comedy adventure.

This time, the duo is out to settle a score in civilized London where a Chinese rebel retreated after murdering Jackie’s estranged father in China. Not only is the tandem able to track down the killer, they also, don’t look now, save the queen and get "knighted" in the process (thus, the movie’s title).

The following Conversation (fourth in five years by this section), conducted in Taipei a week before the start of the Chinese New Year (of the Goat), Jackie answers the 48 questions that his fans may have been wanting to ask him.

1. Happy New Year. What can we expect from you this year?

"Very busy. Next month, we start Around the World in 80 Days and then, hmmmm, probably Shanghai Dawn."

2. Shanghai Knights is a very exciting film, very Jackie Chan. How is it different from your previous films?

"I think Shanghai Knights right now is the best Jackie Chan film. Better than Rush Hour I, better than Shanghai Noon, better than Tuxedo. Why? Because now the producer really knows what I want. Not like before. In Rush Hour, I wanted to do the revolving-door scene. Very good scene. They told me, ‘No, no, no! We don’t have time!’ In Shanghai Knights, I did the revolving-door scene. They told me, ‘Okay, okay!’ I told them, ‘I need two more days, I need more budget.’ They said, ’Go ahead.’ They let me do what I wanted to do, that’s why I’m so happy."

3. You and Owen Wilson click as a team even if you’re opposites. You’re outgoing and Owen seems to be shy. How do you do it?

"When we were doing Shanghai Noon, I didn’t know him very well. He was a shy guy, always hiding in the trailer. I only saw him on the set. He said, ‘Ha, ha, ha! Good morning!’ That’s all. And then he went back to his trailer. By the time I was starting to know Owen, the shooting was finished. When we shot Shanghai Knights, we were already very good friends. I know him very well already. Now, we are very good buddies."

4. The whole world knows that you do your own stunts, even in life-threatening scenes. Are there instances when you need a "double"?

"Yeah! In some difficult scenes, I use a ‘double’. But Shanghai Knights is a Jackie Chan movie and I did my own stunts. No ‘double’; just myself. Nobody knows me better than I do. I know what I can do and what I cannot do. But, yes, I will use a ‘double’ if you ask me to ride an F-16 jet fighter, or jump over a series of hurdles with a crazy horse. I’m not good at riding a crazy horse. I will use a ‘double’ if you ask me to perform two 720-degree somersaults. But if the script calls for just one somersault, I will do it myself."

5. What was the most difficult stunt that you’ve done?

"Lots of difficult stunts, especially in Hong Kong films. But in Shanghai Knights, I did something unbelievable – I jumped from the clock tower (Big Ben) in London. First, I dangled on the hour hand of the clock and then I jumped. First time I did that kind of stunt. In Hong Kong films, I always jumped – from the bridge, from the building, from the roof of a train."

6. Do you still have that hole in your head (sustained during a bad fall while shooting Armour of God in 1986 in Yugoslavia)?

"Still there - up to now."

7. Who’s your favorite action star?

"I like Bruce Lee. He did everything – wrote, acted, directed. In Hollywood, I like Sylvester Stallone. Like me, Stallone does everything – he acts, fights and does good talking. But my idol is Bruce Lee."

8. Are you protective of your private life?

"I used to say, ‘No personal question!’ Before, I lied, but I had a good reason. When journalists asked me, ‘Do you have a girlfriend?’ I answered no. ‘You have a wife?’ No! Because the first time I admitted that I had a girlfriend, one of my female fans committed suicide. She jumped on the subway. Another girl drank poison in front of my office. But now, I tell the truth. Yes, I have a wife. Very good wife! I have a son. Very good son!"

9. Valentine’s Day is just around the corner. What does love mean to you?

"For me, love is nothing more important than my job. I think because when I was very young, I already left my parents (Now based in Australia. – RFL). Since then, work, work, work! When I was growing up, I was always asking myself, ‘Do we have food tomorrow? Do we have money to pay the bills?’ At that time, I was a nobody, earning $8 a day! I wanted to be somebody. So, work, work, work. Day and night, day and night. When I had a girlfriend, suddenly I had to work so I’d go… I’d go away. My girlfriend said, ‘Bye! I think you don’t need me!’ I don’t know what is love."

10. How sad! But shouldn’t you have time for yourself and your loved ones?

"My job involves traveling a lot, so I bring along my wife and my son. In one year, I go to so many countries…so many that I can’t remember how many."

11. What’s your favorite country?

"Vancouver. It’s the best country, I think."

12. How’s England? Some scenes in Shanghai Knights were shot there.

"Pretty good. There’s only one thing not very good – it’s too expensive!"

13. Are you going to shoot again in England?

"Very expensive! We shoot somewhere else. For Around the World in 80 Days, we are shooting in Bangkok and maybe China or Hong Kong. England is very expensive!"

14. Was Supercop the first film you shot in China?

"Yes, the first. The second was Drunken Master II."

15. Was it difficult to shoot in China?

"I think so and it was because of me, Jackie Chan. Wherever I went, there were bodyguards. Safe for me. Whatever I wanted, they gave me. They said, ‘Yes, yes!’ I said, ‘I want that,’ and they told me, ‘Yes, yes!’ Everything I asked for, yes, yes, yes!"

16. Which of your films is your favorite?

"I am a very honest person and I will tell you. Rush Hour (I and II) I don’t like. You ask, ‘They made lots of money. Why don’t you like them?’ Maybe you like it, maybe you also like Shanghai Noon and The Tuxedo, but I don’t like them. You know why? I knew what went on behind the cameras. I wanted to do some more scenes but they told me, ‘No. Over-budget!’ So many things are cut - too long! Over-budget! Shanghai Knights is different. I did everything that I wanted to do. That’s why I say that this is better than my past three movies."

17. Do you think Around the World in 80 Days will be even better?

"I hope so. I think so! I always say that my next movie will be better; I will try to improve in my next movie; I try to do better."

18. Most Hollywood action films now have all sorts of special effects (such as Tuxedo, the only Jackie Chan film to feature special effects). How do you compete this new trend in filmmaking?

"You can ask an audience when they go see my movies, ‘Who do you really watch?’ They will tell you, ‘Jackie Chan.’ I’m very happy with that. You can’t say that about people who watch movies with special effects. The audience don’t remember the actors; they remember only the special effects."

19. Don’t you ever go on a holiday?

"I just hate holidays. I feel that if you are happy, everyday can be a holiday. Everyday can be Christmas or New Year. What good would it be if you are only kind to someone on his or her birthday, you love him or her only on Valentine’s Day or you’re nice to your parents only as Father’s Day or Mother’s Day? If you love someone, it should be an everyday thing. If you love your work, everyday is a holiday."

20. Are you insured? For how much?

"No! Nobody wants to have me insured. Maybe they’re scared! I don’t blame them."

21. Of course, you believe in God, don’t you?

"Yes. I believe in God."

22. Do you pray before you do a dangerous stunt?

"No, I don’t. But I know that God is watching over me and protecting me."

23. When you’re doing a dangerous stunt, aren’t you worried that you might die in the process?

"Sometimes, I get scared. I may be crazy but I’m not stupid. I know how far I can go, how high I can jump, that’s why I calculate my movements. I also have to be careful."

24. You’re so funny, even off camera. Have you always been a comedian?

"Before the camera, I am a natural comedian. I used to do what my director would tell me to do and I wasn’t comfortable with it. I just listened to the director. Now, I have my own ideas and I’m happy, I’m comfortable. If you say that’s my style, the Jackie Chan style, it’s okay. I like natural comedy because I’m a natural comedian. If the situation is funny and comic, you don’t have to act anymore. I like situation comedy better than the ones that make you do funny faces. Jackie Chan comedy is natural comedy."

25. You’re an only child. Wasn’t it lonely growing up an only child?

"Very tough but I was very lucky in school (China Drama Academy where he was entrusted by his father)." (In his book I Am Jackie Chan. Jackie wrote that his parents had been previously married to other partners. – RFL)

26. Is it true that you hated school?

"It’s true. But I had lots or friends in school and they were like my brothers. In school, I didn’t feel like an only child at all; I felt like I have many brothers and sisters. I enjoyed it in school even if I hated studying."

27. You hate guns, too, do you? You don’t use guns in your movies.

"American movies are full of guns. They open with hundreds of guns going rat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat! Bullets flying, flying, flying! I don’t like it. I use no gun. I do fist fighting. More deadly!"

28. Would you like to do something else in your future movies?

"I want to do drama – you know, like Kramer vs. Kramer. I do action, action, action every year. I want to do something new. I haven’t cried in a movie. I will do that when I play a drama role."

29. You speak good English now. You’re a fast learner, aren’t you?

"A few years ago, I hated interviews (with English journalists). Very bad English. Now, I speak English. I learn everyday. Practice, practice, practice! I learn a new English word everyday."

30. So what new English word did you learn today?

"No new English word yet. But later this afternoon, maybe I will learn a new word. I’m sure I will."

31. You’re 48 but you look years younger. How do you manage to do that?

"I watch my diet. Chicken, yes, but no skin. I eat lots of vegetables and fruits; lots of juices orange, carrot juice, apple juice. I also drink a lot of water."

32. How much sleep do you get?

"Not much. Very busy. These days, I get only about five hours a night. But when I’m not busy, I can sleep the whole day without eating."

33. Don’t you have a social life?

"I hate social life. I get invited to parties but I seldom go. I like working in Hollywood but I don’t like the Hollywood social life. I am not a party person."

34. Do you sing?

"I do but I am what you call a ‘peculiar’ singer. Either I cannot move when I sing or I forget the lyrics of the song when I’m moving."

35. What are you afraid of?

"Needles! But I donate blood. You know what I found out? It helps ease the pain – and your fear of needles – if you scream when the needle pricks your skin."

36. Are you fond of clothes, "designer" ones maybe?

"I hate formal wear. Give me a pair of jeans and a T-shirt and I’m all right. Why waste money on clothes? Nobody would know the difference anyway."

37. Is it true that, when you stay in a hotel, you wash your own underwear?

"I do, but the hotel does the rest of my laundry. This way, I can save money and serve as a good example to my staff."

38. How do you celebrate your birthday?

"Not in a big way. I don’t actually celebrate my birthday. Neither do I encourage my fans to celebrate my birthday. I don’t want them to waste money on presents. I’d rather that they donate the money to charity. For me, a simple card is good enough to make me happy on my birthday.

39. What’s your real name?

"Chan Kong Sang. Sang means to be born and Kong stands for Hong Kong. My name means ‘born in Hong Kong’."

40. You have a lot of nicknames, I heard. What are they?

"Pow Pow, meaning ‘precious,’ was my baby nickname. Shing Lung is another one; it means ‘to become a dragon’. There are others: Big Nose, Adopted Prince (at China Drama Academy), Double Boy (because of my huge appetite as a child) and Sunkist Boy (because of my sunny disposition)."

41. You were born on April 7, 1954, so you’re an Aries, aren’t you?

"But I am a Horse in the Chinese horoscope. A Horse is said to be cheerful, popular, witty, perceptive, talkative , independent, adventurous, vivacious, energetic, impetuous, affable and honest. I’m all of the above."

42. Your first love is movies. What’s your second love?

"Car-racing."

43. What’s one movie that you’ve watched again and again?

"The Sound of Music."

44. What are the languages that you speak?

"Cantonese, Mandarin, Korean, Thai, a little Japanese and quite a good English."

45. What subject did you like most in school?

"Kung Fu."

46. And what subject did you hate most?

"Math."

47. Earlier in this Conversation, you mentioned the films that you didn’t like. Now, what are your three favorite Jackie Chan movies?

"Drunken Master, Police Story and Miracle."

48. What about kissing scenes? You seldom kiss your leading ladies.

"If there’s a good reason, I will kiss. I don’t like sexy scenes, nude scenes, violent scenes. I want to do wholesome action films which my young fans can enjoy watching."

* * *

E-mail your reactions at: [email protected]