 |
|
 |
|
|
Nick of time: Shanghai Knights echoes Harold
Lloyd's famous clock scene
|
|
|
|
In the latter he played a big-hearted, wide-eyed and quick-fisted royal retainer on the trail of a kidnapped Chinese princess in the Wild West. He forms an alliance with Owen Wilson’s slick, but cowardly outlaw. It may have been a surprise hit, but it is no surprise Chan and Wilson have been reunited for a sequel.
Shanghai Knights finds the duo in pursuit of fresh villainy in a London populated almost entirely by stereotypes, though they manage to bump into Arthur Conan Doyle, a young Charlie Chaplin and Jack the Ripper. Wilson suggests the unlikely pairing could be the new Crosby and Hope, with a different exotic setting for each new adventure.
They are fast becoming one of cinema’s most celebrated odd couples. Wilson, whose character is very much a talker rather than a fighter, got a lot of time off while Chan shot his elaborate action sequences.
"When Jackie did the barge scene, that took two weeks and I went back to Los Angeles," says Wilson, "and when he did the revolving doors I went to Amsterdam. So I look forward to the stunts being as elaborate and drawn-out as possible."
Chan has been doing these stunts for more than 30 years. "I have a lot of injuries in every movie," he says. "But for me when I don’t have to go to the hospital then it’s not really an injury." He insists he never thinks about the risks. Or at least he didn’t till he met Wilson.
Chan explains: "Once when we were doing a scene, Owen says ‘Jackie do you think this is safe?’ And I said ‘Yes’. Then Owen says ‘It’s just a tiny wire, do you think it could break?’ And I said ‘No’. Then I told him to stop talking because he just keeps asking all sorts of questions that made me scared."
The anecdote reflects the slightly goofy, on-screen dynamics, with the rather more worldly character undermining his companion’s naive confidence.
But the action sequences do not always come more naturally to Chan. He admits to a fear of water, while Wilson grew up on the ocean. Chan spent three days on a water sequence, during which he had to spend much of his time upside down. "I would throw up," he reveals. He also suffered splitting headaches.
At every turn Chan’s career seems to invite comparison with some cinematic great or other. Dangling from the Big Ben clockface in Shanghai Knights echoes Harold Lloyd’s most celebrated scene, while a chop-socky reinterpretation of Singin’ in the Rain revives memories of both Gene Kelly’s original and the ultra-violent Clockwork Orange version.
Chan is famous for the imaginative use of props in his fight sequences. "I just look around and anything that’s there, I see if I can use it," he says, explaining the genesis of his tribute to umbrellas and musicals.
Now in his late forties, Chan’s action days must be numbered. He rules out a full-blown musical, but wants to try straight drama and his current role model may surprise fans. "I want to be Robert De Niro, a pure actor," he says.
There are already further instalments of this series in the pipeline, beginning with Shanghai Dawn in Egypt, and he is currently working on a remake of Around the World in 80 Days.
Chan’s impoverished parents fled Communist China just before his birth and his Chinese name means, literally, "born in Hong Kong". Like so many products made in Hong Kong, Chan has been a big success in international markets.
