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Jackie Chan, love man
Martial arts film star Jackie Chan wants to be a lover not a fighter, and he says he will take the plunge into romance on the silver screen next year.
"Pure drama -- not even one punch," Chan said in an interview, describing the outline of his pet project. Aiming to be more than a funny tough guy, Chan has paired himself with female partners in his latest flicks. On Friday, he takes to the screen with British actress Claire Forlani in his latest film, a $35 million Hong Kong production called "The Medallion." The two throw almost as many dewy-eyed glances at one another as punches at bad guys in the film. Chan, known for doing all his stunts by himself, resorts to some movie magic to fly and leap over shipping containers like a low-tech version of Keanu Reeves in "The Matrix." Over the top
Chan said that he likes to experiment between the Hollywood blockbusters that have made his name in the United States. He certainly has the pedigree for serious theater work, having begun training at Hong Kong opera school China Drama Academy when he was a mere 6 1/2 years old. The actor excelled at stunts and fighting, but he broke the mold for Asian action stars by creating a new type of hero, adding Buster Keaton-style physical comedy to martial arts, that helped him replace Bruce Lee as the region's top star after Lee died. "When everybody want to be a Bruce Lee, I don't want to be Bruce Lee. When I became famous, everybody wants to be Jackie Chan. When everybody want to be Jackie Chan, I want to be other Jackie Chan," the actor told Reuters. Singing, too Chan does not just talk about love -- he sings about it. He wrote a song, which he loosely translated as "Please Understand My Heart," that he said was a karaoke hit. "In China there are at least 1.2 billion people. At least 1 billion people know how to sing my song," he said.
Chan is forgoing his normal salary to keep the cost of the project down to $4 million, he said, declining to give more details. By comparison, "Rush Hour 2" brought in $226 million at the U.S. box office. The studios prefer he keep fighting, Chan added. "They don't like to take the risk to make a love story film," he said. But reviewers might be cheering for him to change. The Hollywood Reporter thrashes "The Medallion," suggesting that the time is ripe for Chan to try something new: "From the looks of his latest formula action flick, it appears that age is finally catching up with the previously ageless Jackie Chan. Now well into his late 40s, his days of leaping down buildings and hanging off speeding buses appear to be history," the trade journal wrote.
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