All about Jackie Chan

To the lovers of martial arts and martial arts movie, Jackie Chan is not a stranger. After Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan can be referred as the most successful martial art movie star from Asia.

Childhood:
Born on April 7 1954, to Charles and Lee-Lee Chan, Jackie studied in theatre school. Today, you see Jackie Chan as a martial art star, a highly disciplined person, conscious about health and fitness but in his childhood he was a very unruly kid. Both Chan’s parents used to work for the French ambassador to Hong Kong. Jackie Chan’s father was a martial artist. Every morning, Jackie Chan practiced kung fu with his father. Charles believed that kung fu would teach his son discipline and courage. Chan was first admitted to Nan Hua Primary Academy. He was not good at studying and after struggling for one year, he left the school. Meantime, his father got a job at the American embassy in Australia. In 1960, Charles Chan moved to Canberra. Before going there, according to the suggestion of a friend, Jackie’s father sent him to China Drama Academy. It was like a boarding school where students will receive training to perform on stage and receive three meals and a place to stay. The school actually prepares students for performing at Peking opera. Chinese theatre is very different because the performers are required to learn various acrobatic movements and martial art along with singing and dancing. Jackie spent ten years in the school. The school followed strict discipline. The junior students were supposed to obey their seniors and often they were bullied. Initially, Jackie had problem fitting into this rigid system but gradually he got used to the discipline and excelled in martial arts, and acrobatics. It was a tough time for Jackie Chan. He rarely met his parents.

On stage and movies:
While studying at the school Jackie got the chance to act in a Cantonese movie at the age of eight. The title of the movie was Seven Little Valiant Fighters: Big and Little Wong Tin Bar. He became member of a performance group, “The Seven Little Fortunes.” This group consists of the best students of the school. In this group Jackie Chan performed with Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao. All three of them later became very successful martial art actors in Hong Kong cinema.

At the age of seventeen, Jackie Chan graduated from the school. Unfortunately, the popularity of Chinese opera was low at that time. Those who came out of the school before Jackie, were working in the films and some of them were well established. Jackie started his career as a stuntman. In those days, there were good demands for stuntmen in the industry. For the next two years, Jackie did stunts in various movies. He was fortunate enough to work as stuntman in two Bruce Lee movies: Fist of Fury and Enter the Dragon. Following Bruce Lee’s death, Hong Kong cinema was losing popularity. Jackie was forced to leave the job of stuntman and went to Australia in 1976. There, for a short period of time, he attended Dickson College and worked in a restaurant and construction site. Jackie again returned to Hong Kong. This time he was offered to work with Lo Wei, a famous Hong Kong movie director. The problem was Lo Wei wated to create another new Bruce Lee era and he tried to mould Jackie in to a new Bruce Lee. In 1976, New Fist of Fury was released. These movies were not very successful. Jackie did not taste success till he was given the creative freedom to tap into his own talent. Finally, success came in Snake in Eagle’s Shadow. Drunken Master established Jackie Chan as a martial art star. Action movies like Police Story turned Jackie Chan into a household name in China. He is now the star of Hong Kong cinema.

Hollywood:
After success in the East, now it was time to conquer West. In 1980, Jackie Chan’s first Hollywood movie, The Big Brawl/ Battle Creek Brawl came out. In this movie, Jackie Chan portrayed the character of a Korean man, who participates in a street fighting competition. The movie was not well received by the audience. In 1981, Jackie Chan made his second attempt. This time it was a small role in the movie titled The Cannonball Run. Jackie plays the character of a Japanese race car driver. Though the movie was a big hit, it did not flourish Jackie’s career. In 1985, Chan did another movie, The Protector. All these movies did not propel Jackie’s career in Hollywood. Still, movie offers kept coming. Sylvester Stallone first offered Jackie the role of villain in his movie, Demolition Man. In fear of being type caste, Jackie did not accept the offer and the character was played by Wesley Snipes. Finally, success came in 1995 with Rumble in the Bronx. A young man comes to USA to take care of his uncle’s business and ends up fighting with a group of gangsters. The movie was a major hit. On opening weekend in US it collected $9,858,380.Critics said that the film lacked story and acting but made up with its terrific martial art fighting scenes and stunts. In one of scenes, Jackie jumps on a hoavercraft from a bridge. While doing the stunt, he broke his leg and on that same day he returned with his leg plastered and again did the stunt scene. Rumble in Bronx was followed by Shanghai Knights, Rush Hour. These movies turned Jackie Chan into a Hollywood star.

Awards and achievements:

Jackie Chan won numerous awards for his movies and stunt works.

Award for outstanding Contribution to Chinese Cinema in 2005

MTV movie award for best fight in 2002 in Rush Hour 2

Blimp award in 2002 and 2003

Taurus Honorary Award in 2002.

Star Walk of Fame in 2002.

Grand Prix Special des Amériques in 2001

MTV movie award for best on screen duo in Rush Hour

MTV movie award for life time achievement in 1995

Hong Kong Film Award 1989

Useful Links:

http://www.jackiechan.com/about/about_bio.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackie_Chan

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A592760

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000329/bio

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000329/awards

All about Rush Hour

It all began when the fastest hands of the East met the biggest mouth of the West in 1998. The movie Rush Hour broughtHong Kong martial-art super star Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker together for the first time. Rush Hour is a buddy cop movie. Before Rush Hour, many successful buddy cop movie were made in Hollywood.Lethal Weapon is the most successful movie in this genre. This movie has three sequels.

The main characters of Rush Hour:
James Carter (Chris Tucker) an LA cop, street smart, talks fast and good with guns. On the contrary, inspector Lee, a Hong Kong detective, is a very gentle and polite fellow but can be very fast and lethal when situation requires.

Synopsis of Rush Hour:
When Soo Yung, the daughter of Chinese consul, Han, is kidnapped, he calls inspector Lee (Jackie Chan) for help. The kidnapper is a Chinese gangster who is demanding a huge ransom for consul’s daughter. When Lee reaches America he meets detective James Carter (Chris Tucker). Carter is a fast talker, street smart detective and his main problem is that he does not like to work with partners because his father, who was also a police officer, was killed because his partner did not come to help him. He had a bad reputation in his department. The FBI was handling Han’s case and they did not want any kind of interference. So they told Carter to keep Lee away. In the beginning, the two did not like each other but gradually they become friends. At the end of the movie, Carter saves Lee’s life.

Business:
The making of the movie cost $35 million. On the opening weekend, it collected $33,001,803 and in USA it did business of $141,186,864. It collected $245,300,000 world wide.

Trivia:

• Rush Hour was the 7th top grossing movies of 1998.
  
• Many critics claimed that this movie has been inspired from Lethal Weapon.
• Jackie Chan was not praised for his performance. However, Chris Tucker's comic performance was highly acclaimed.
• For his character, Chris Tucker used a modified version of standard Beretta 92 pistol.
• In the movie,James Carter rides a black Corvette convertible.
• The movie was nominated for Grammy Awards in Best Instrumental Composition category.
• Chris Tucker was nominated for Kid’s Choice Awards in 1999.

Awards:

• 1999 ALMA Awards
• 1999 BMI Film and TV Awards
• 1999 Blockbuster Entertainment Awards
• 1999 Bogey Awards (Germany)
• 1999 Golden Screen (Germany}
• 1999 MTV Movie Awards

Rush Hour 2 synopsis:

Revolving around the Chinese underground, Rush Hour 2 provides another big punch. Carter is now enjoying a vacation in China with Lee. Their vacation is interrupted when Lee is assigned to investigate the American Embassy bomb blast case. The two then run into the Chinese underworld known as the Triads. Ricky Tan, the present leader of the Triads, was in police force and he was the partner of Lee’s father. Ricky Tan killed Lee's father. So, it becomes personal for Lee. The two then follow Ricky Tan in his personal boat. A gun fight breaks out and Ricky Tan is killed by his assistant. Carter then tells Lee about his suspicion about Steven Reign, the hotel billionaire who was also present at the shoot out. Carter seemed to be right and they find out that Steven and Ricky are engaged in money laundering business. The final show down takes place in Las Vegas Red Dragon Casino.

Business:
Released in August 2001, Rush Hour 2 cost $90 million and it earned $67million in the first week of its release. In USA the movie collected $226 million and $347 million world wide.

Trivia:

• Rush Hour 2 was the fourth top grossing movie of 2001.
  
• Except Lee and Carter none of the actors of Rush Hour appeared in this sequel.
• In one of the scenes of the movie, we see James Carter (Chris Tucker) singing "Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough." This is a hit track of Michael Jackson.
• In the last action scene prop cash was shown flying out of the window. Though fake, the bystanders kept those and spent them. They were so real that the studio was told not to produce them again.
• The chips used in gambling scenes became a major collection items for movie fans and game fans.
• Rush Hour 2 is the first movie of Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi. In this movie, she plays the character of a female assassin, Hu Li. Her role demanded serious physical flexibility and lots of martial art moves. Zhang Ziyi studied in dance school . She also studied gymnastics.
  
• Zhang Ziyi does not know English. In the movie, she only speaks two sentences.
• The Red Dragon Casino of Las Vegas is actually Desert Inn Hotel and Casino. For the movie, the hotel was redesigned and after the completion of the shooting it was replaced by Wynn Las Vegas resort.
• While shooting in China, many Chinese people mistook Chris for famous basketball player Kobe Bryant.

Useful Links:

http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/series/BuddyCop.php

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120812/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rush_Hour_(film)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0266915/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rush_Hour_2

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kobe_Bryant

http://www.superiorpics.com/zhang_ziyi/