We learn martial arts as helping weakness. You never fight for people to get hurt. You're always helping people.
The action star's life is very short. Back in Asia, I can do whatever I want to do. I'm the producer, I'm the director, I can do so many things, but in Hollywood any time I present a script they say: "No, no, no, Rush Hour 3, Rush Hour 4."
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When I work I do it from my heart. And my heart is that I bring love to the world. When I travel around the world I bring my love. I bring so much love in my heart. I hope you can feel that.
I hate interviews - but you have to do them.
First, there are many who can fight, but they're small in stature; Zhang Lanxin is 177 cm [5'9"+] tall, with very long hands and legs, and very quick. In the scenes, I tried to show all of her special strengths and qualities. Plus, Zhang Lanxin has extraordinary staying power: it was only yesterday at the airport that I saw her cell phone photos from the hospital where she was having blood clots in her knee being cleared up, and I hadn't known till then that she had this problem.
The movie business is a big gamble.
My schedule goes: wake up, running, exercise, downstairs, running shoes off, then to the shower. That's the Jackie Chan diary.
Every time I make an American film I just trust the American director and American writer. Myself, I would never make this kind of film. For me, those kinds of films are ridiculous. They don't make sense.
I am really, really tired.
When I came to Hollywood, I spoke no English - except nobody bullied me. Every day, I had nothing to do except training in English, to keep talking.
One thing we haven't mentioned is something everyone should understand very clearly. Look at the budget that was invested in 'Avatar': who in China has that kind of money to spend on making a movie? So we as Chinese filmmakers should work together to make Chinese movies that can compete as best we can for Chinese audiences, not make lousy movies, but make the best we can for that audience. Concentrate the money, the talent we have on making good movies [for China].
Of course I get hurt.
Actually, the few good Chinese movies that foreign countries choose to import are Zhang Yimou's, and mine, a few directors, but how many movies can we make in a year? We can only make a few, while they turn them out continuously.
Honestly, every movie I do in America, the only challenge for me is English. I've done everything already, for me it's pretty easy. Only the English.
When life knocks you down, you can choose to get back up.
I do small things. I try to do good things every day.
I'm very pessimistic about that, no matter how hard we may try. The Chinese market is huge, but out of last year's $2 billion box office, $1.8 billion was taken in by foreign movies, and just $200 million by our own movies, no matter how much we have learned of their techniques, or their good practices. The Hollywood movies imported into China are all good movies; does the U.S. make lousy movies? Yes, too many lousy movies, but the imports are good films, so how can they not be box office hits? They're all hits.
I just want people to remember me like I remember Buster Keaton. When they talk about Buster Keaton or Gene Kelly, people say, 'Ah yes, they good.' Maybe one day, they remember Jackie Chan that way.
I want to show audiences I can act.
I want to be an Asian Robert De Niro.
Most of the time I'm not even working, I'm just helping people, because I feel that I am too lucky. If there really is a god, then he really looks after me. All these years he's taken care of me, my career keeps getting better and better. Whatever I want just seems to come. And it keeps coming. So I promised myself that I have to pay for this, payback society. So this is why I started my Jackie Chan Foundation to help children and sick kids and people in hospitals.
It is totally different making films in the East than in the West. In the East, I make my own Jackie Chan films, and it's like my family. Sometimes I pick up the camera because I choreograph all the fighting scenes, even when I'm not fighting. I don't have my own chair. I just sit on the set with everybody.
Speaking English is like tongue-twist for me. I can speak each word perfect, but then you have to string them together like, 'Blah, blah, blah.' That's when I get crazy.
Besides entertainment and action, I want to educate. You know, as a producer or director, we do have a responsibility to society.
