Jackie Chan continued...

"My body is always in pain and I know I can't do this when I'm 62. But I will keep going as long as I can and as long as I enjoy it. Filmmaking is now my hobby, something I do for fun. I don't need the money. Hell, I'd even do a film for Steven Spielberg for free."

Most fight scenes in American movies are devised by the screenwriter, the director or the stunt coordinator. There is little allowance made for last-minute inspiration, which is why these fights are reduced to a prearranged, robot-like series of movements. On the other hand, with a Chinese film, the choreographer is told to create a fight just five to fifteen minutes prior to shooting it. Although elaborate stunts are carefully planned in advance, the foundation of action-fight choreography is based around the choreographer's ability to come up with original sequences at a moment's notice. Yet Jackie allows himself plenty of time and usually has four or five assistants on the set just for the sole purpose of fight conception.

As one of the few Chinese-trained fight choreographers working in the American film industry, I observed Jackie's working methods firsthand when I served as an apprentice fight director/ choreographer on his latest movie, Drunken Master II. What impressed me most was his patience. Jackie and Ken Lo (Chan's real-life bodyguard and former heavyweight kickboxing champion of Thailand, who plays the lead antagonist) took almost two hours and 21 takes for the same sequence of movements. Most of the time, Ken would make a minor error, requiring another take. Not once throughout the rigorous shoot did Jackie get upset or point the finger of blame. He would explain the error and how to remedy it, then pat Ken on the shoulder and proceed to film the sequence over again. Whenever he noticed frustration on the part of the cameramen and other crew members, Jackie would tell jokes or even break into song to help alleviate the tension. If perfection takes patience, then Chan's patience yields perfection.

Even at the end of a twelve-hour day, Jackie was having fun on the set. He would get bursts of adrenaline and was constantly in a "controlled hyper" state. He was actually saddened when it came time to stop and go home. "When the feeling or mood is right," he said, "I'll film for two days straight without a break. I will film the movement until it is the way I like it. That way, I know my fans will like it too."

In his private editing room, Jackie, wearing a flexible back brace wrapped tightly around his body, flicked on an editing reel from Drunken Master II. He noted, "In this sequence, when I bend back at the waist, I get kicked in the solar plexus and fall onto the edge of a table. We shot this sequence twenty times, but what really hurt me was the last take when I smashed my lower back on the table's edge." Even though the scene was effective, I grimaced while watching it.
The next scene showed Jackie getting accidentally set on fire. He pointed out to me the singed parts of his head. "I didn't think the fire would spread so quickly," he casually observed. "Even if someone gets hurt in a shot [and it's usually Jackie], in Hong Kong we can still use the scene. I know you can't do that in America." In the next few shots, Jackie is seen falling and bouncing off a flight of stairs. "The stairs are rubber; they don't hurt...much."

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