Chan Spurred Into Action

Throughout more than 20 years and 40 films, Hong Kong action star Jackie Chan had a seemingly far-fetched dream: to make a Hollywood western. Now, with the release Friday of “Shanghai Noon,” Chan’s dream comes true.

“The original idea was mine,” says Chan by telephone from New York between rehearsals for his May 20 guest shot on “Saturday Night Live.” “But no one would listen to me in Hong Kong because making an American movie is so expensive.”

But after proving his bankability in the U.S. with “Rush Hour”--the acrobatic Chan’s 1998 effort that teamed him with Chris Tucker--Chan knew the time was right, so he pitched the “Far East meets Old West” story to “Rush Hour” producers Roger Birnbaum and Jonathan Glickman.

“They thought the idea was fun,” he recalls of the informal pitch session with Birnbaum and Glickman, who agreed to produce the $50-million-budgeted “Shanghai Noon.” “And I was just so happy when Disney picked up the film because it means my movie is a family movie. All these years I’ve been doing a lot of action, no violence, always happy-go-lucky.”

Not only did Disney’s Touchstone Pictures pick up “Shanghai Noon,” the studio showed confidence in the film by moving its release date up from July 21, placing Chan in direct contention over Memorial Day weekend with fellow Hong Kong veteran John Woo’s “M:I-2.”

Set in 1880s Nevada, the plot line of “Shanghai Noon” resembles “Rush Hour,” complete with language and cultural-barrier jokes. In sum, Chan’s character, Chon Wang--yes, it sounds like John Wayne--is a member of the Chinese Imperial Guard who travels to the U.S. to rescue a kidnapped princess (Lucy Liu). Along the way, Chan teams with outlaw Roy O’Bannon, played by Owen Wilson, who, like Tucker’s character in “Rush Hour,” is more adept at banter than he is at battle.

“I was worried how he’d be improvising, if there would be a language barrier, because he was kind of shy when I first met him,” Wilson says. “But his English was great and more important than that was his sense of comedy. I was able to riff on some stuff with him.”

“When he’s acting,” Chan says of Wilson, “he’s very cool, not like me. He does the verbal comedy. I do the action comedy.”

Action comedy indeed. In “Shanghai Noon,” the 46-year-old Chan leaps from moving trains, takes on a barroom full of cowboy thugs and swings from rafters with princess in tow. But perhaps Chan’s most challenging stunt was horseback riding.

“A horse is a giant animal,” says Chan. “Every time when I get on, he want to eat. And I have to say, ‘Stop! Stop!’ And the trainer say, ‘Pull him!’ And I ask, ‘How can I? He’s much stronger than I am!’ Then after I know the trick, it’s OK. Up till then he totally control me.”

“In Asia we’d never spend this kind of time to train the animal before we’re shooting,” he says, noting that horses are too troublesome an element for the low-budget films he makes in Asia.

Chan, who usually speaks in Cantonese, is as animated off-screen as he is on, and while his English isn’t perfect, he makes himself understood, punctuating the interview with a set of sound effects and exclamation points.

Born in Hong Kong in 1954, by the age of 7 Chan was an apprentice at the Peking Opera School, where he learned acrobatics, gymnastics and martial arts. He got his break in movies in the early 1970s, beginning as a bit player and stunt coordinator. Gradually Chan built a reputation as a consummate martial artist who also infused his routines with comedic elements. He made his directorial debut in 1980 with “Shi di chu ma” (Young Master) and since then has produced, starred in and directed more than a dozen films.)

Yet success in the U.S. remained elusive, as Chan attempted a crossover in 1981’s “The Cannonball Run.” His initial experiences in Hollywood left a bitter residue, he says, that was only washed away when “Rush Hour” grossed more than $140 million in the U.S.

His Humor Doesn’t Always Translate

“Rush Hour” came on the heels of Chan’s “Rumble in the Bronx,” which was dubbed into English for U.S. release in 1996, and helped boost Chan’s level of recognition here. Still, Chan finds that what works in the U.S. doesn’t necessarily work overseas.

“For some people there’s only one market, but for myself, there’s two markets, one is Asia and the other is America and Europe,” he explains. “Like ‘Rush Hour’ was a success in America, not really a success in Asia. Because in Asia people don’t get the jokes. Everybody smile in America, nobody smile in Asia.”

To maintain a balance, Chan, who also executive produces his films, alternates between Asian- and English-language fare, recently starring in and producing “Gorgeous” after “Rush Hour” and before “Shanghai Noon.” Currently Chan is making another Asian-language feature, “Accidental Spy,” before he begins filming “Rush Hour II” in September.

Chan’s commitment to the Asian market has paid off, as he is one of the biggest box-office draws in Asia, with fans in Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan. Despite his fame, however, Chan remains decidedly down to earth.

“Literally the first day I worked with him, I saw him moving electrical equipment,” Wilson says. “It was toward the end of the day and they were hustling to get a shot and Jackie’s racing with the grips to help them move stuff. I’d never seen that, and it kind of shamed me as I sat in my chair.”

“I’ve been doing this for so many years,” Chan explains. “I was the first one to have a motor home (on the set) in Asia. But I found out that when I went in the motor home I never wanted to come out. I gave it away because I wanted to be on the set where everyone is the same, equal. I help move camera equipment. I pick up the rubbish. That’s what I’m used to doing. It’s nothing special, but in America, they really treat you like a big star and I’m just not used to it. I like moving around the props, the lights, I want to do everything.”

“Everything” includes doing his own stunts, which often lead to injury. “I believe yes, I hurt myself making ‘Shanghai Noon,’ ” says Chan. “I cut my hand. I burnt my hand. I punched my finger.” The most painful injury came in a fight sequence when a spear tore off the queue--a ponytail made from a hair extension--Chan wore for most of the film. “That was very painful,” he says. “But it’s OK, I just turn around and keep going.”

Chan’s stunt work amazed Wilson. “You see that action stuff on screen and then you see him do it in person and it’s like Fred Astaire’s balletic moves,” he says. “Quentin Tarantino once said that if he could come back as anyone he’d like to come back as Jackie Chan, and after watching him for a few months, I’d have to agree.”

To give his audience a sense of what goes into making a Jackie Chan movie, injuries and all, Chan includes outtakes under his end credits. “Outtakes are my trademark,” he says. “I started using them 20 years ago, little by little. Sometimes when I’d have an outtake, I would laugh like hell in the editing room and I thought I should put them in front of an audience in the credits. Audiences liked it; even now American audiences like it ... Nobody leaves a Jackie Chan movie during the credits. They wait until the movie is finished.

“We’re not doing special effects, or computer graphics, so we have a lot of outtakes. So you see that I can get hurt, but some other American action movies, they don’t have outtakes. Why? Because they’re all in front of the blue backgrounds and using computer graphics.”

Once Chan finishes filming “Rush Hour II’s” reunion with Tucker--in Hong Kong, China and Las Vegas--he says that come April 2001 he’ll launch into filming a sequel to “Shanghai Noon.”

While Chan says making a Hollywood western and its sequel fulfills a dream, he adds that he has another, to make a film about firefighters that would be a “Backdraft II.’ ” In addition, he has no plans to retire from movie making and even seems to relish his frenetic production pace. “In my itinerary, there’s no holiday,” he says proudly. “I’m used to it. This morning I have two hours of rest. That’s like a bonus.”

Chan says he wants to work as long as he can to continue building his legacy. “Buster Keaton is one of my heroes,” Chan explains. “Even now when you look back, you’re still like, ‘Wow! How did he do that?’ That’s what I want for when I retire, or when I get old or after I pass away. I want people to look at a Jackie Chan film and say: ‘Wow, how can he do that?!’ ”