DVD Talk wrote:By The Associated Press
Sun Sep 10, 3:15 PM ET
VENICE, Italy - Jackie Chan has seen enough action.
The Hong Kong star told Press Association in Venice that he wants to be more than a martial arts master — and is ready for another challenge.
"I've been willing to change my roles for quite some time. I'm fed up with these roles," the 52-year-old actor was quoted as saying. "We all know that the life of an action movie actor is quite a short career. I already consider myself a myth for still being around today."
"I want to put myself to the test by interpreting and acting different characters," he said. "I would like people in (the) future to see my movies and consider me an actor who can act in action movies, not just someone who knows about martial arts and happens to be an actor."
Chan — whose screen credits include "Shanghai Noon" and "Shanghai Knights" — presented his latest movie, "Rob-B-Hood," at the Venice Film Festival on Friday.
"When people come up to me in the street in America they say `Ah, Jackie Chan!' and do all the action moves," he said. "No one does that to Robert De Niro."
I think Jackie means he wants to be taken more seriously as an actor, fair enough, but AFAIK ALL of his movies, even the ones he "acts" in. have fights/stunts or physical comedy in them, which is what he has become famous for. Even Crime Story, though its gritty at heart, has some "Jackie" fights in it. Look at more recent stuff like The Myth also (I know I'll get beaten but i enjoyed it, so there! )[/quote]
Jackie's been saying the same shit for 20 years orso now...
Truth is, he hasnt made many worthwhile movies the last 12 years orso, so personally I dont really care much anymore about his projects.
He says he wants to be taken seriously, and then he does a project BB or whatever it's called.
He tried 'serious acting' in New Police Story... and it wasnt very good.
I'm not saying Jackie cant act, cause I think he CAN act. He can act pretty well. BUT he does need to pick the right projects to do that...
I was there, the big BNB blackout of november, 2008. We lost many that day...
Yi-Long wrote:I'm not saying Jackie cant act, cause I think he CAN act. He can act pretty well. BUT he does need to pick the right projects to do that...
Was just gonna say the same thing. Crime Story is, and probably always will be his best film as a serious actor.
Heart of the Dragon also had some fine acting moments.
BTW, I do rate both Yuen Biao and ESPECIALLY higher when it comes to acting.
Sammo was just tremendous in the Peking opera drama he did (Painted Faces?) where he played his own teacher ...
Such a strong performance.
Also, Jet Li is a very very good actor. Very underrated (which is also his own fault by picking bad projects)
I was there, the big BNB blackout of november, 2008. We lost many that day...
"When people come up to me in the street in America they say `Ah, Jackie Chan!' and do all the action moves," he said. "No one does that to Robert De Niro."
They do, except the response is a little different:
"Are you talkin' to me? Are you talkin' to me? I don't see anybody else here... Did you just ask me to do action? Did you... did you... did you just ask me to do fuckin' action? Did you fuckin' ask me to do action? Did you? Did you? Are you fuckin' talkin' to me...?
Last edited by Markgway on 13 Sep 2006, 17:20, edited 1 time in total.
I agree with you about the ending of The Myth, Keung. I really enjoyed the film up until the end. The fact Tom likes the ending should tell us something
I can name many of Jackie's 90's/00's movies I've enjoyed or quite enjoyed, Drunken Master II (excellent), Rumble In the Bronx (a lot of fun), Thunderbolt (OK), Mr. Nice Guy, Who Am I, Accidental Spy.
Jackie does often say this sort of stuff I agree, the lighter, more romantic Gorgeous had some fights in it as well!
I agree with you about the ending of The Myth, Keung. I really enjoyed the film up until the end. The fact Tom likes the ending should tell us something
The first 90 min was good. The last 30 was awesome.
The first 90 min was good. The last 30 was awesome.
YES !
Finally someone agrees with me.
I used to be "the man who loves the movies you hate".
Now I'm just "that weird french guy with a cat avatar who comes to BnB once a year for no reason and then disappears again".
Back on topic:
I think Jackie's a really good actor.
He did a really good job in stuff like Crime Story, New Police Story, Heart of Dragon, Island of Fire, Miracles...
But he has never been given a chance to shine as a serious actor.
I used to be "the man who loves the movies you hate".
Now I'm just "that weird french guy with a cat avatar who comes to BnB once a year for no reason and then disappears again".
True, he's never done a totally serious role, but as shown by the movies you listed (OK I haven't seen NPS) Jackie is a fine actor, Heart of Dragon and Crime Story are his best performances IMO.
Jackie will never give a truly great performance because he refuses to stop playing Jackie Chan or a variation thereof. Even his serious characters are Jackieish. He needs to play a complete bastard psycho with a shaved head who slashes up prostitutes. That will stretch his talent. But how many dedicated honest cops can he realistically play? Only Jackie could consider New Police Story a stretch... and why...? Because he does a drunk bit. That's it. Jackie is the Chinese John Wayne. A magnificent movie star, sure, but an average actor who sometimes punches above his weight.
Another factor is Jackie the control freak. He needs to stopping hiring puppet directors whom he can bully (Stanley Tong, Benny Chan) or fire at will when something doesn't go his way (Liu Chia Liang, Kirk Wong). Look at the duds he's worked with in Hollywood. I can't even remember most of their names. Put Jackie in a DePalma or Oliver Stone movie and let's see what happens. Until then... it'll be the same old stuff. You know it and I know it.
Markgway wrote:
Another factor is Jackie the control freak. He needs to stopping hiring puppet directors whom he can bully (Stanley Tong, Benny Chan) or fire at will when something doesn't go his way (Liu Chia Liang, Kirk Wong). Look at the duds he's worked with in Hollywood. I can't even remember most of their names. Put Jackie in a DePalma or Oliver Stone movie and let's see what happens. Until then... it'll be the same old stuff. You know it and I know it.
You know, I can't think of a US English language martial arts movie actually directed by a reputable filmmaker. They usually just got Robert Clouse. If a director like Don Siegel and a decent writer had made a good drama with good kung fu fight sequences, we wouldn't still have Enter The Dragon as the best US martial arts movie.
I always though Dragon Fist - made by that marvellous auteur Lo Wei - had a very good serious Jackie performance with no comic pandering. Lo Wei normally couldn't direct to save his life but I belive he really succeeded with DF - unless he was asleep and Jackie directed it again! Mind you, DF was made just around the time Jackie became a star and so there was no star market to appeal to. Since then, Jackie's had nearly total control on his projects.
bradavon wrote:
but I guess you're more intelligence than me.
Markgway wrote:Jackie will never give a truly great performance because he refuses to stop playing Jackie Chan or a variation thereof. Even his serious characters are Jackieish. He needs to play a complete bastard psycho with a shaved head who slashes up prostitutes. That will stretch his talent. But how many dedicated honest cops can he realistically play? Only Jackie could consider New Police Story a stretch... and why...? Because he does a drunk bit. That's it. Jackie is the Chinese John Wayne. A magnificent movie star, sure, but an average actor who sometimes punches above his weight.
Another factor is Jackie the control freak. He needs to stopping hiring puppet directors whom he can bully (Stanley Tong, Benny Chan) or fire at will when something doesn't go his way (Liu Chia Liang, Kirk Wong). Look at the duds he's worked with in Hollywood. I can't even remember most of their names. Put Jackie in a DePalma or Oliver Stone movie and let's see what happens. Until then... it'll be the same old stuff. You know it and I know it.
I was going to say something similar. If JC wants good roles he needs to play better characters which he can't if he's always playing the immaculately clean & honest character he usually does. Great characters have much darker sides which Jackie isn't going to play because of his "role model"image .Also of course as you said he needs better directors & scripts not another Bey Logan idea.
Really what Jackie should do is throw some of his weight around and make it happen that he plays a bad guy in Tarantino movie with Jet Li as the "good guy" if you can call anyone that in a tarantino film.
grim_tales wrote:Didn't Jackie play a bad guy in Police Woman?
Wasn't there another project he is working on in which he plays a bad guy?
aka rumble in hong kong
I don't recall but that was one bad film & that was before his career took off. I think it's only his films of the last decade where hes tried to be more goody ,goody...I mean more so than before.
I'm sure IF he really wanted to do it he could get it done but I think he isn't brave enough to take that chance.
Grim wrote:Wasn't there another project he is working on in which he plays a bad guy?
That's Rob-B-Hood.
I used to be "the man who loves the movies you hate".
Now I'm just "that weird french guy with a cat avatar who comes to BnB once a year for no reason and then disappears again".
"I've been willing to change my roles for quite some time. I'm fed up with these roles," the 52-year-old actor was quoted as saying. "We all know that the life of an action movie actor is quite a short career. I already consider myself a myth for still being around today."
Change myth for relic.
"We do not train to be merciful. Mercy is for the weak. A man confronts you, he is the enemy. The enemy deserves no mercy."
"I've been willing to change my roles for quite some time. I'm fed up with these roles," the 52-year-old actor was quoted as saying. "We all know that the life of an action movie actor is quite a short career. I already consider myself a myth for still being around today."
)[/quote]
