Skiptrace

[GeneChing]

[GeneChing]

Berlin: Jackie Chan-Johnny Knoxville Action Comedy ‘Skiptrace’ Nabbed by Saban


FEBRUARY 11, 2016 | 11:11AM PT
Carole Horst

Saban Films has picked up the U.S. distribution rights to “Skiptrace,” the action comedy starring Jackie Chan, Johnny Knoxville and Fan Bingbing, directed by Renny Harlin.

Saban will release the film in theaters during Q3 this year. Pic was produced by Talent Intl. Films and Dasym Media along with Jackie Chan, Esmond Ren, Charlie Coker, Damien Saccani and David Gerson. The film was co-financed and co-presented by Shanghai New Culture Media Group, Talent Intl. and Dasym Media. Bloom is handling international sales.

Saban Films president Bill Bromiley and Ness Saban negotiated the deal on behalf of Saban Films and WME represented the filmmakers.

Upcoming titles in the Saban Films slate include Tom Tykwer’s “A Hologram for the King,” starring Tom Hanks, where Saban will partner with Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions on the theatrical release; Alex and Ben Brewer’s “The Trust,” starring Nicolas Cage and Elijah Wood; “I Am Wrath,” with John Travolta; “USS Indianapolis,” starring Nicolas Cage; and Bob Nelson’s directorial debut, “The Confirmation,” starring Clive Owen, Maria Bello, Patton Oswalt and Jaeden Lieberher.

Surely some forum member will be able to review this before then.

[GeneChing]

[GeneChing]

...but maybe that's just for China.

Jackie Chan's Skiptrace to come soon
0 2016-05-25 14:55 chinadaily.com.cn Editor: Feng Shuang


Jackie Chan (left) and Yuan Biao. (Photo provided to China Daily)

Jackie Chan's latest action comedy, Skiptrace, aims to "showcase the diversity of Chinese culture and customs", as kung fu star revealed in Beijing on Sunday.

Skiptrace, also starring veteran actress Fan Bingbing and American actor Johnny Knoxville, will open to the Chinese theaters on July 22.

Centering on a retired detective (Chan), the tale follows his adventure to track a crime suspect from the snow mountains in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region to the picturesque nature in Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.

With the idea staying in his mind for around 25 years, Chan says he has always dreamed of making such a film revolving on chasing and tracking.

Chan, whose acting career spans for around half a century, explains his lifelong love of action films.

"I love action, but I dislike violence. So I'm always thinking about how to shoot action films without violent, bloody sequences," he says in a documentary about the making of the movie.

"For me, action comedy is the best way to showcase Chinese martial arts skills and let the audiences ignore the violence," Chan says in the documentary.

The movie, directed by Finnish director Renny Harlin, is jointly produced by the Beijing-based studio Talent International Media and American firm Dasym Media.

[GeneChing]

[GeneChing]

[GeneChing]

I only cut&pasted the relevant films mentioned here.

‘Star Trek Beyond’ $30M Debut; ‘Lights Out’ $8.3M; ‘Ice Age’ Franchise Crosses $3B To Best ‘Shrek’; China Loves ‘Skiptrace’ – Int’l Box Office Sunday
by Anita Busch
July 24, 2016 1:00pm


Paramount

PREVIOUSLY 9:15 AM with Write-thru 1:00 PM: In conjunction with its domestic release, Paramount launched Star Trek Beyond in 37 markets, including in the U.K., Germany and Australia — territories where the franchise has traditionally performed extremely well but, surprisingly, lost out to Steven Spielberg’s The BFG in the U.K. Star Trek opened to $30M, 14% below its franchise predecessor. Lights Out, Warner Bros./New Line’s horror film opened to $8.3M after an impressive $21.6M domestic — on a $5M production budget. Skiptrace, Jackie Chan’s action comedy directed by Renny Harlin, opened in China to No. 1 as it kicked Warner Bros.’ The Legend of Tarzan to No. 2. Ice Age: Collision Course made history this weekend as Fox’s franchise pushed over the $3B mark in box office receipts to become the top animated franchise ever, surpassing Shrek.

Jeffrey Katzenberg/DreamWorks’ animated Shrek bowed in 2001 and ran through 2010 theatrically; Fox and Blue Sky’s Ice Age began with its theatrical bow in 2002 and has run until 2016. I guess you could say that Ice Age cracked Shrek‘s nut. Collision Course is still No. 1 in 12 of its markets, having brought in another $30M this weekend. Gotta give kudos to Fox’s international marketing team as they put together a stellar promotional campaign for the film in overseas markets (see below).

Back to Star Trek. Historically, it’s interesting to note that J.J. Abrams’ 2009 Star Trek was the first of the series to gross $100M internationally, but, at the end of the day, the domestic take was greater $257.7M. When its sequel Star Trek Into the Darkness was released in 2013 it had the benefit of the first one establishing a newly booted franchise overseas and international offices embraced the film. With Into Darkness, international box office then overtook domestic as the film flew in with a $238.6M overseas take compared to its $228.7M stateside. The third so far is lagging behind Into Darkness both domestically and internationally. Let’s take a look at all the new openers and the holdovers:

NEW:


Paramount
STAR TREK BEYOND

With $59.6M domestically, Paramount Pictures’ latest installment of Star Trek pulled in $30M in its 37 markets — or 45% of its international imprint — and grabbed No. 1 in roughly half of them (16) for a global debut of $89.6M. In comparison, Star Trek Into Darkness bowed in 2013 to $70.1M domestically and $31.7M internationally (for $101.8M). (Beyond made 59.6M in this weekend’s domestic debut).

Internationally, the release pattern was different in terms of markets in release for Into Darkness, however. In the U.K., where the performance of the franchise has been consistently solid, it was edged out this weekend by Steven Spielberg’s family film The BFG (see below).

Paramount said that the heatwave in Europe negatively impacted the weekend’s box office results for the film which was 35% above the first Star Trek, Star Trek Beyond is 14% below Into Darkness and only 2% below Pacific Rim.

Into Darkness ended its international run with $238M. Star Trek Beyond is said to carry a production budget over $185M (not including distribution and marketing costs of over $100M globally) so if it plays across the board 14% less than the last installment, Beyond would then make a projected $204.68M internationally. You can see where we’re going here.

The all-important China bow doesn’t come for Beyond until Sept. 2. Into Darkness bowed in China with $25.8M before leaving its run at $57M and change. The film also still has to bow in France and Korea (Aug. 18), Spain (Aug. 19), Brazil (Sept. 1), Mexico (Sept. 2), Turkey, Japan (Oct. 21), and throughout Latin America.

Globally, Imax accounted $11.6 mil (on 571 screens) and the picture’s debut set an Imax franchise overseas record without the benefit of China (as we said, it doesn’t arrive there until Sept. 2) or other international territories. Led by very strong results in the U.K. and Russia, Beyond grossed an estimated weekend of $3.2 mil on 184 screens besting Star Trek Into Darkness‘ $2.8M debut.

Some more good news is that the opening is the highest-ever weekend for the franchise in 17 markets, including Russia Taiwan and Thailand.

Looking at key markets in the rollout, the U.K. opened to No. 2 behind The BFG this weekend with $6.1M at 535 locales, which is 37% below the last installment (Into Darkness) and 15% below Star Trek. In Germany, Russia and Australia, it opened to No. 1. Specifically, in Germany it nabbed $4.5M from 558 runs, which means it scored 31% above Star Trek but 29% below Into the Darkness. In Russia, it took in a strong $3.3M at 1,200 cinemas which catapulted it a big 240% above the first Star Trek and 13% above Into Darkness. And in Australia, it grossed $3M in 261 runs which marked 24% Into Darkness and 15% down from Star Trek‘s opening.

In Taiwan, it took No. 1 and grossed $1M at 79 locales which took it 143% above Star Trek and 63% above Into Darkness. Similarly, its No. 1 debut in Thailand ($912K at 64 cinemas) was 76% above Star Trek and 88% above Into Darkness. The Philippines opened at No. 2 ($766K at 162), only 2% above Into Darkness but 92% above the first Star Trek.


Talent Intl
SKIPTRACE
Even Tarzan could not hold back the beloved Jackie Chan and Fan Bingbing in China this weekend. His new movie Skiptrace, from director Renny Harlin and which also co-stars Johnny Knoxville, ended up kicking ass and kicking in an estimated $44M in the Middle Kingdom. It sits atop the Chinese box office besting Warner Bros.’ three-day take for The Legend of Tarzan. The total budget for Skiptrace was said to be $60M for its producer Beijing Talent International Media Co., Ltd. Chan stars as a Hong Kong detective who has to team up with an American (Knoxville) to fight a Chinese bad guy. It’s opened in three markets and to date has made $58.5M in its first weekend at bat.

The film enjoys two big draws for Chinese audiences — both Chan and Bingbing are beloved there. Chan is so popular in China that his last film Dragon Blade grossed $121.5M and comparable films such as Police Story and Chinese Zodiac 2012 grossed a whopping $87.3M and $139.6M, respectively, in China. The Chinese-HK production was originally scheduled for a Christmas release last year but was smartly moved to this summer. It will be distributed in the U.S. by Saban, date TBA.

[GeneChing]

‘Legend of Tarzan’ Tops Foreign Box Office With $44.7 Million
Brent Lang
Senior Film and Media Reporter
@BrentALang


The Legend of Tarzan COURTESY OF WARNER BROS

JULY 24, 2016 | 03:00PM PT

“The Legend of Tarzan” swung to the top of foreign box office charts over the weekend, propelled by a solid opening in China. The adventure epic led competitors with $44.7 million from 17,500 screens in 61 markets. The big contributor was the Middle Kingdom, where “The Legend of Tarzan” picked up $27.1 million in its first six days of release.

The attempt to relaunch Edgar Rice Burroughs’ pulp novels about a man raised by apes has floundered domestically, weighed down by its $185 million price tag. The film’s global total now stands at $260.5 million. That’s a respectable gross, but a film of this size needs to do upwards of $400 million to be considered a success, let alone trigger a sequel, which is basically the point of greenlighting a movie with that kind of budget. Warner Bros. is backing the film, which was directed by David Yates, the filmmaker behind most of the Harry Potter movies. It stars Alexander Skarsgård as Tarzan and Margot Robbie as Jane.

In second place, “Skiptrace,” an East-meets-West action comedy, earned $44 million. The Chinese-American co-production stars Jackie Chan and Johnny Knoxville as a detective and gambler who team up after running afoul of a crime syndicate. Renny Harlin (“Cliffhanger”) directs the movie. It opened in China over the weekend and will get a U.S. release this fall.

Fox’s “Ice Age: Collision Course” and Paramount’s “Star Trek Beyond” were tied for third place, each generating $30 million. Both films opened domestically this weekend, with the latest Star Trek topping charts with a $59.6 million debut. The fifth “Ice Age” fared worse, bombing with $21 million. However, the animated sequel has been in release overseas for several weeks. Its global total stands at a solid $199 million. Worldwide, “Star Trek Beyond” has now earned $89.6 million. It will need to continue to draw foreign crowds if Paramount wants to make a profit on the $185 million film.

Korean zombie film “Train to Busan” snagged fourth place with $27.5 million, while Disney’s “Finding Dory” rounded out the top five with $19.5, pushing its global total to $781.7 million.

Hmm, Train to Busan sounds interesting and I'm not into zombie films anymore.

[GeneChing]

I think it's because this one of the first Chinese blockbusters where the leads are actually recognizable to English speakers.

China Box Office: Jackie Chan's 'Skiptrace' Rockets to $60M
11:04 PM PDT 7/24/2016 by Patrick Brzeski

The action-comedy's opening haul is the biggest debut of Chan's 50-year career.

Jackie Chan’s action comedy Skiptrace shot to $60 million over its four-day opening at the Chinese box office, easily besting Warner Bros.' The Legend of Tarzan.

Skiptrace debuted Thursday to $15.6 million, including previews, and stayed strong throughout the weekend, averaging $15 million each day, according to data from Beijing box office monitor Ent Group.

The four-day opening haul marks the biggest bow of Jackie Chan's career, topping the $54 million Dragon Blade earned during its Thursday-to-Sunday debut last year.

The film was directed by Finnish filmmaker and Hollywood action veteran Renny Harlin, who moved to Beijing two years ago to work in the fast-growing Chinese industry. The opening is also a career high for Harlin, topping Die Hard 2's $34 million first weekend way back in 1990.

The film co-stars Johnnie Knoxville as a fast-talking American gambler. Chan, playing a Hong Kong detective, is forced to team up with Knoxville's character after his neice, played by Fan Bingbing, runs into trouble with a notorious criminal mastermind. The movie was made on a production budget of $30 million.

Harlin has launched his own Chinese production company with financial backing from Jiabo Culture Group. He'll next direct an adaptation of the popular Chinese video game Legend of the Ancient Sword for Jack Ma's fledgling studio Alibaba Pictures Group.

Tarzan opened with $7 million on Tuesday (July 19) and has earned a modest $27.1 million over its six-day debut. Warner Bros. scored a rare July release date in China for the film, as local regulators lifted the usual summer blackout on imported Hollywood titles in an effort to counteract a rare slump at the box office.

In third place, Japanese animation Doraemon: Nobita and the Birth of Japan took $8 million from Friday to Sunday. The 36th film in Shin-Ei Animation's Doraemon franchise, the movie won't match the astonishing $86.9 million that its predecessor, Stand By Me Doraemon, made in China last year.

Local animation Big Fish & Begonia added $1.4 million for fourth place. After 17 days on Chiense screens, the film has earned $79.4 million.

The box office leader of the last two weeks, Hong Kong crime thriller Cold War 2, slipped to fifth place with just 1.1 million for the weekend. Its $96.7 million total after three weekends is the slow summer's biggest gross so far.

South Indian blockbuster Baahubali: The Beginning, a historical epic directed by S. S. Rajamouli, failed to catch fire in the Middle Kingdom, taking just $610,000 in its first three days.

[GeneChing]

Jackie Chan-Starring ‘Skiptrace’ Bows Big In China With $62M+ Debut
by Anita Busch
July 25, 2016 11:18am


Saban Films

Skiptrace, the Jackie Chan-Johnny Knoxville action comedy directed by Renny Harlin, opened to big numbers in China. Grosses just in show that it pulled in a $62.2M purse and knocked out all the competition, including Warner Bros’ The Legend of Tarzan, which came in a distant second. To give an idea of how popular Skiptrace was, Tarzan‘s six-day gross in the country was only $27.3M. The opening in China also gives Chan his biggest ever opening in the Middle Kingdom for a live-action film.

It didn’t hurt that the $60M production of Skiptrace starred another beloved local star, Fan Bingbing. The film also debuted in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, Romania and Bulgaria for a total gross of $64M in seven markets handled by Bloom International.

Stateside, the film is going to have an exclusive window with DirecTV first and then will get a theatrical release and an on-demand bow on September 2 courtesy of Saban Films and Lionsgate, which are handling here. Rated PG-13, Skiptrace is about a Hong Kong detective (Chan) who has to team up with an American fugitive gambler (Knoxville) to fight Chinese bad guys.

The film is a Chinese-HK production, and the characters speak both Chinese and English (yes, even Knoxville). It originally was going to be last year’s Christmas release in China, but then it was changed to this summer. The Chinese press is saying that it could be the only Chinese-language film that could gross 1 billion RMB (which translates to $153M).

Beijing Talent International Media Co. is the Chinese company behind the film. The local press is reporting that Beijing Talent worked out a deal with Alibaba, Shanghai Hehe Films and Tianjin Lianrui Pictures for the production budget and distribution and marketing costs and in return made a minimum box office guarantee of 1 billion RMB. The same deal apparently was cut for the box office hit The Mermaid — which ended up as China’s highest-grossing film ever.

They say theatrical, but with the DirecTV and on-demand rollout, who knows how wide that theatrical might be?

[GeneChing]

China Box Office: Jet Li’s ‘League’ Tops ‘Skiptrace’ to Win Weekend
Patrick Frater
Asia Bureau Chief


COURTESY OF CHINA STAR
JULY 31, 2016 | 04:48PM PT

“League of Gods,” a Chinese fantasy action film with lavish special effects and lashings of stars, took the top spot at the Chinese box office over the weekend. But its performance was earthbound, rather than heavenly.

Starring Jet Li, Fan Bingbing, Angelababy and Louis Koo, “League” scored $30.5 million in its opening three day run. That was comfortably enough ahead of Jackie Chan-starring holdover “Skiptrace.”

“League” held top spot on each day, with an $11.6 million opening day. But its score declined thereafter and and its lead over “Skiptrace” narrowed. “League” played on a massive 70,000 screenings per day, compared with roughly 47,000 for “Shiptrace,” giving the Chan adventure a superior per screen average.

“Skiptrace” added $20.5 million. Its cumulative total after 11 days stands at $109 million.

A distant third place was held by “Legend of Tarzan” with $5.52 million for the weekend. After 13 days it stands on $41.3 million.

Chinese animation “Shen Mi Shi Jie Li Xian Ji 3” was the second placed new opener. It managed $5.30 million for the weekend.

Japanese cartoon, “Doraemon Nonita and the Biorth of Japan,” picked up $2.39 million. After 10 days it has picked $14.5 million.

Other weekend places went to “”Girl of the Big House” ($1.65 million,) “Cold War 2” ($1.20 million,) “Big Fish & Begonia” ($!.15 million,) “A Busy Night” ($1.01 million) and “Sweet 16” with $640,000.

shiptrace? I suppose the h and k are close together on the keyboard.

[GeneChing]

I'm really looking forward to this. It's a return-to-form for Jackie. He's made some enjoyable buddy-flicks with Hollywood stars. And the Eve Torres fight looks funny. That's all I want from Jackie now - make funny fights (and don't die doing some stupid stunt).

Eve Torres on working with Jackie Chan in “Skiptrace” and moving on from WWE
August 23, 2016 Scott Fishman


WWE

Whether it was working for WWE or teaching women empowerment at the Gracie Academy, needless to say Eve Torres is no stranger to physicality.

Her athletic background would come in handy squaring off with Jackie Chan in the movie Skiptrace, in select theaters and On Demand Sept. 2. The film is already a hit in China, opening at number one with a $60 million opening earlier in the summer. Torres shot her scenes in Beijing and Hong Kong. She found working with the iconic figure unreal.

“It was a dream come true for me,” Torres said.


Saban Films

“I was a huge Jackie Chan fan growing up. I got there on set and was so nervous. I was stressing out about it because I hadn’t learned any fight choreography. I thought I would learn it a day in advance or maybe even a few hours in advance. That’s not how they do it there. The whole time I’m thinking, ‘Okay, someone can now tell me what we are doing.’

“But because with Jackie and the others are so professional and have been doing it for so long, a lot of times they will use the props around them. So it’s easier for them to choreograph it on the spot. They come up with it on the spot, then they teach it to you and then you are shooting. It was a matter of minutes. That was crazy for me, but also you realize these are the best people in the game at this. It was just a great crew to work with. They have the most creative stunt team on the planet.”

In the action comedy, she portrays a Russian badass who can be seen rolling a bowling ball down an alley with co-star Johnny Knoxville’s head as the intended target. Audiences may be surprised to hear Torres sport a Russian accent in the movie.

“You have people who are dialect coaches there, but they are speaking Chinese,” Torres said.

“They are helping Jackie Chan with his English, so they were also trained to help me help me. It was a really a fun role to play. Accents are just fun because it helps you get into character that much more.”

The former champion in WWE found her past in the ring helped her in more ways than one.

“Timing is a big part of stunt work and fighting scenes,” Torres said.

“It’s something you learn in WWE, especially when they are really character-driven fights. It’s not just, ‘I’m going to fight this person.’ It’s thinking about how or why a certain character will fight another character in WWE. I feel I pulled from that and made me feel more comfortable in these scenes. I think it all shows on camera.”

The life of a pro wrestler means being a jack of all trades. This can lead to acquiring a unique skill to be successful within the entertainment industry (cough The Rock). Though for Torres a movie set and a squared circle are unique in their own way.

“There is a big difference between performing in WWE before thousands of people in an arena and acting in a scene with a camera close-up on your face. Having to make those adjustments, through acting classes and the roles I’ve had, I really enjoy the challenge of it. It’s a lot of fun.”

One of the most high profile parts Torres secured was playing opposite Melissa Benoist in an episode of “Supergirl.” She portrayed the villainous Maxima in a relatively short fight scene, but one that got fans excited.

“I think there is a lot of cross-over with wrestling fans and the comic world,” Torres said.

“It’s all coming together, so it’s fun for me and the viewers to see that. The hope is that this will be a recurring role, but we will see what happens. That is the great thing about the super hero world is anything can happen. And you always need a good villain. So hopefully you haven’t seen the last of me on ‘Supergirl.’

Torres’ is finding work in Hollywood at a time when she believes women are becoming more prevalent and believable action stars.

“Angelina Jolie for example is a brilliant actress and a beautiful woman,” Torres explains.

“She plays these parts great, but there is a part of you like, ‘Can she pull this off?’ So there is kind of a disconnect in that sense. I think what’s cool now is they are starting to use more women who actually can pull this off. Ronda Rousey is getting in movies and taking on these lead roles. It’s a great example for me to think that they do want these kinds of women who can really pull this stuff off. You can have these gritty fights that aren’t all flashy and camera tricks, but real fights. I think they are using a lot more of that in film.”

The ascent of women is also prevalent these days in pro wrestling. The term “diva” is no more where female competitors are known as superstars just like their male counterparts. It’s a moment Torres is proud to witness.

“It’s really exciting for me to watch, but at the same time it’s also hard because when I was a part of it, the movement hadn’t really started,” Torres said.

“It was always there. You saw the women trying to fight and fight. Unfortunately, it didn’t get as far as I would have liked when I was there. There was a lot of frustration with that. It was a part of why I decided to move on from WWE. So it is actually a beautiful thing to watch this finally happening because as we’ve seen with Ronda women who can be a draw in a male-dominated, aggressive sport.



“Women can be a huge draw. We can be just as talented, even more so than the men as well. They can have great matches and be something that both men and women want to see. They don’t have to be this novelty. So to see this happening and watching the women get recognized while putting on these awesome matches is really exciting as a fan of wrestling and a fan of women’s wrestling.”

Even though the 31-year-old enjoyed her run in WWE don’t expect a return any time soon.

“I sit back and am really happy for the girls in there now,” Torres said.

“I know how much it means to them because I know how much it would have meant to me at the time. But now that ship has sailed and I have a 10-month-old at home. I would have to give up a lot if I went back on the road to have that full-time gig again. So I’m engrained in my new life and new projects. I’m happy.”

She will be watching fellow WWE alum in CM Punk has also seemingly moved on and is preparing for his UFC debut. The popular Chicagoan enters the octagon in a debut fight on Sept. 10 at UFC 203 on pay-per-view.

“For Punk, I just really commend him because it’s one thing to say you want to fight, but another to actually do it,” Torres said.

“It takes so much. I know this because my husband trains top-level professional fighters every week. I see the sacrifices they make and how hard the training is. It’s like nothing else in the world. So to actually go through with it is a really challenging feat in itself.

“Just for that I tip my hat off to anyone who puts their body on the line like that to fight in front of the whole world. So for that, he has all the respect in the world. I’m really excited to see the fight and how that training paid off and how this is going to turn out. I wish him the best. I think we will see how the training translates. I think it’s going to be awesome.”

Torres and her husband Rener Gracie welcomed their first child, Raeven last September. It’s been a unique juggling act for the mom and dedicated businesswomen ever since.

“You have this person who comes in your life and changes everything,” Torres said.

“All your priorities are shaken upside down. That’s really what motherhood is. Here comes this child that is more important that really anything in your life. Making those adjustments to everything else that is important to you is a hard thing to do in the beginning. But you do reach a balance.

“For me, it’s important for me to reach a balance because I can’t be a good mother to my son if I’m miserable or not happy or not being fulfilled. So it’s important for me to feel fulfilled in my career and giving back to the community and the world and our business and to be able to spend as much time with him as I can. I think I have started to find that balance.”

[GeneChing]

Indian gossip rags are notorious for publishing Bollywood rumors like this. I haven't even heard anything about the Skiptrace sequel yet.

But still, it's a good teaser to ttt this thread this week, as Skiptrace opens in the U.S. this Friday.

Indian actress opposite Jackie Chan in Skiptrace 2!


Jackie Chan

alt DNA WEB TEAM | Mon, 29 Aug 2016-11:04am , dna webdesk
Skiptrace 2 heroine to be a desi girl. Sequel of Jackie Chan film to feature Indian actress

Martial arts superstar Jackie Chan's love affair with India continues. After working with Mallika Sherawat in The Myth; Sonu Sood, Amyra Dastur and Disha Patani in Kung Fu Yoga, he is now seeking a desi heroine for the sequel of Skiptrace, which sees him playing a Hong Kong-based detective working with Johnny Knoxville.

Chan's team has been given the brief to scout for ‘fresh faces with striking Indian features’. An insider told a tabloid, “So far, a few actresses have auditioned for the part. Shobhita Dhulipala and

Tillotama Shome are among the top contenders for this part. However, they are still looking at other options, in case someone else fits the bill better. Since Jackie is the producer of the film, he will take the final call on casting after discussions with director Renny Harlin.”

[GeneChing]

Interview: ‘Skiptrace’ Director Renny Harlin on Working With Jackie Chan and Chinese vs. American Filmmaking
Posted on Monday, August 29th, 2016 by Fred Topel



Many of us grew up watching Renny Harlin’s action movies like Cliffhanger, Die Hard 2, and The Adventures of Ford Fairlane. It would be several more years before Jackie Chan was properly introduced to America with the U.S. release of Rumble in the Bronx. The two represent quite different approaches to action, with Harlin embodying the explosive bombastic American style and Chan his own unique brand of comedic martial arts.

Harlin directed Chan’s latest movie, Skiptrace. Chan plays Hong Kong detective Benny Chan, who is mismatched with an American gambler Connor Watts (Johnny Knoxville). Chan has to get Watts back to Hong Kong, but their journey will take them from Russia, to the mainland, through the desert and the cities, all while being chased by bad guys led by Dasha (Eve Torres). Some of Chan’s trademark set pieces include a fight in a Russian nesting doll factory, and another scene has him singing “Rolling in the Deep.”

We spoke with Harlin by phone out of his Beijing office, because he’s staying put there. I had actually corresponded with Harlin on Twitter last year after the New Beverly Cinema in Los Angeles showed his maligned pirate film Cutthroat Island. 20 years later it finally played to a friendly crowd. We started out talking about the Cutthroat Island screening, and discussed Jackie Chan, American vs. Chinese filmmaking, and more.

While you were in Asia filming Skiptrace, I tweeted you that I’d been to a screening of Cutthroat Island at the New Beverly Cinema here in L.A. It was a pretty full theater and we all loved it.

That’s awesome. I do remember you sending a message regarding it and I remember feeling very happy that it was part of the series of movies that were screened there. I was actually surprised and very glad to hear that the response was good because it’s one of those things that has always remained in my mind as one of those unfortunate situations. I’m not saying that the movie is a masterpiece but it didn’t get distribution at all, so it fell through the cracks and got this really bad reputation. It’s a pity because I thought that coming years before Pirates of the Caribbean, I thought it was a fine pirate movie for those of us who would like to see a pirate movie.

It made me wonder, have you ever gotten a chance to see that movie play with a good audience? Maybe at the premiere?

I have never seen Cutthroat Island with an audience in my life. It’s a sad story.

Hopefully they’ll do it again and you can come.

Yeah, it was definitely a highlight to get your message.



I’m glad. Obviously you’ve worked with some of the biggest action stars in the world. You did two Stallone movies and Die Hard 2 with Bruce Willis. How does Jackie Chan fit in with those experiences?

That’s a good question. Jackie is in his own class. Having started as a circus performer basically [in the Peking Opera] and a stuntman and an actor and a director and a choreographer, he does it all. He has the energy of 10 guys and the ideas of 50 guys. He’s the kind of a guy who is super involved in the movie, comes to the set first guy in the morning, last guy to leave, participates in everything and is just the hardest worker. He’s not about “Okay, when do I show up and where’s my mark and where’s my trailer?” He’s there and he’s part of the process and he loves it. He loves making movies more than anything in the world. He’s always in a great mood with great energy and ready to try anything. Also I must say, he was super respectful of me as a director. He would have ideas when he showed up in the morning, but he was never pushing them. Also being a producer on the movie, he was never like, “You’ve got to do this” or “You’ve got to do that.” He would just say, “Hey Renny, what do you think of this? I have this idea.” Some of them were genius and I would say, “Great, let’s do it.” Some of them would be impossible to execute in the timeframe and constraints we had. Some of them I felt like, “Okay, that’s a good idea but it doesn’t quite fit our story or our style.” So it was a great collaboration and he was totally listening to me and following my direction. That was never an issue.

The interesting thing that I learned from him that was first a little scary and then really liberating was that in China, you can do anything. In China, nothing is impossible. He could show up in the morning and have all these elaborate ideas of an action sequence. He wanted to do an action sequence where he would break all this stuff and do all these fire gags. I’d be like, “Hey, I love your ideas but we are not prepped for that. We don’t have the breakaway chairs and breakaway walls and props and things.” He would be like, “If you like the idea, don’t worry about it. After lunch we will have it all.” The crew would go to work. We had 400 people in the crew, all Chinese. I was the only American. They’d just go to work. We’d be shooting something else and there’d be 30 guys working on this stuff. After lunch, there’d be perfect replicas of the furniture and props and all the breakaway stuff. The cranes would be up with wires. It’d be all done. I couldn’t believe my eyes. It’s kind of the same when they say they can build a high-rise building in two weeks here. If they put their heart into it, they can make anything happen. That was a huge revelation for me coming from American filmmaking where for something like that, you wo



That factory fight is a classic Jackie Chan sequence. Tell us about choreographing and filming that scene.

The story took the characters to Russia and that’s where they meet, so we wanted to figure out how do we do a sequence that could really display his crazy antics? We came up with this as we were developing the script, this kind of a Russian factory that makes these dolls which are such a Russian cliche. It was Jackie who came up with the idea of the dolls that are packed inside each other and use them in the fight. It felt like such a ridiculous idea and was actually kind of complicated to shoot. If you’re holding one doll and it breaks, how do you get a hold of the other dolls inside? How do you make them breakaways and how do you make the outer doll break and not the inner doll break? It was actually logistically harder to do than it looks, but we thought it was just absolutely funny because everybody knows these dolls.

It was all built. It was a huge warehouse in Beijing or actually a huge old factory where we built this. None of the conveyor belts or any of that was real. It would be too dangerous and complicated to shoot in a real factory so they were all built just to serve the story and the action. We mapped out the gags together and built it. I worked closely with Jackie’s stunt team and Wu Gang who is his stunt coordinator and became my very close friend. Then Jackie showed up on the day. We were shooting there probably for three or four days and then he looked at the [pre-vis] and we showed him all the gags we had designed. Then he was like, “How about this? How about that?” He started adding his ideas to it. Some of them are little and some of them are actually really big. It all worked within what we had built so there’s a lot of preplanning and a lot of Jackie’s improvisation.

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[GeneChing]

It’s true Jackie’s training in Peking Opera includes every kind of performing, including he’s a singer. I have his album. Did you include the “Rolling in the Deep” scene because Jackie’s also a singer?

It was a little bit of a revelation to me also. I had heard about the fact that he sings but the fact that he’s had several albums that are bestsellers. He can draw 25,000 people easily to a stadium concert. So I was kind of looking for a place where I could have him sing. Then when we were in Mongolia, I just loved that place and I loved the people and loved the atmosphere. I thought this would be an awesome kind of east meets west meets Mongolia meets rest of the world kind of scene. I asked around, I asked young people in Mongolia, “Are there western pop songs do you like?” They said, “Of course.” And I said, “What is your favorite?” And they said, “Adele.” I was like, “Oh my God, that’s so awesome.” Then I got this idea to include the Adele song. I asked Jackie and he was like, “Yeah, of course I know the song.” He just had to learn some of the lyrics. The crowd all knew the lyrics. So we created this scene that I thought was awesome and the audience really seems to like it because it’s kind of like western pop culture bringing all these cultures together and seeing that music and art is universal. It can really unite people in a positive way.

Did the horse poop on cue in every take?

[Laughs] That was one of those crazy ridiculous things. That horse was a goofy horse. It wouldn’t do anything that we asked him to do. The Mongolians can handle the horses and do anything with them but for normal people, it’s totally impossible to control them. So that horse never did anything on cue. When Jackie and Johnny were supposed to ride it together, the horse said, “No, thank you. No two people on me.” When it was supposed to be not moving and Johnny is trying to pull it, the horse refuses to move. That was a whole big deal because the horse wouldn’t do anything that we wanted him to do so the pooping was just one of those crazy coincidences. They happened to be doing the scene and the dialogue when it happened. I thought about it a couple of times, should I include it in the movie? I thought I’ll just go for it. Why not?



I’m glad you did! Was shooting some scenes in Mandarin a challenge for you?

It wasn’t a challenge. All the scenes that we did in Chinese, we also did in English. So all the actors were able to do them in English. Then I just chose when I was editing the movie, I felt like the Chinese actors were stronger in their scenes when they were speaking their native language, so I chose to do those with subtitles. I thought the performances were much stronger and I felt that it was justified that when there’s Chinese people with Chinese people talking, it makes sense that they use their language. Then when they are dealing with American characters, there are American characters in the scene, then they speak English.

Jackie always shows the outtakes at the end of his movies and you’ve never done that before. Now that you showed outtakes for Skiptrace do you think it could be fun for other movies too?

Yeah, I like the idea. I’ve never copied it before but since this was a Jackie movie, it felt like it belongs there. I would probably consider it. I think it makes sense the best when it’s a comedic movie. If it’s a serious movie, then the screw-ups I feel would have a different effect to show them. There are always those, but in a comedy, because you can laugh at it all, I think it works.

Was it nice to be able to film in real locations and not on a green screen?

It was awesome and it was a great introduction for me to China. We traveled to eight different locations, eight different big moves, airplanes, trains and trucks moving 400 people and all the equipment. It was a big deal. We started in Mongolia and then traveled across China, all the way to Macau and Hong Kong, shot around Beijing and did stage work in Beijing. I picked the locations based on what looks the best. There are still plenty of locations for the sequel but I just wanted to pick some of those locations that we could really show the audience how diverse and how beautiful China is.

Are there plans for a sequel or for you to direct more Asian films?

I can’t confirm it yet but there’s definitely been talk about a sequel. In terms of Asian films, definitely. I’m currently living in Beijing and I’m in preproduction on a movie for Ali Baba Pictures. It’s a big fantasy adventure movie called The Legend of the Ancient Sword. It’s based on one of the biggest video games in China. We are in full prep. We are building sets. We are casting actors. We start shooting in a couple of months so that’s going to keep me in China for more than the next year. I have my company now here. I’m developing a lot of things for me to direct and produce. Currently I’m planning to stay here and work here. I really love it here. I think the crews are great. People are great. There’s so many stories that can be told here, movies that haven’t been made here. Besides the sort of traditional fantasy movies and historical movies and comedies, I think there’s all kinds of interesting action films that can be made here. Also thrillers and horror films. I think it can be kind of a new thing here, so I’m excited about working here.

Eve Torres is a great villain in the movie. Since you directed 12 Rounds with John Cena, what is it about WWE personalities that make them stand out on screen?

Well, they are awesome entertainers. They are used to being in front of people and creating drama, comedy, insanity and are bigger than life characters. They are physically incredibly able bodied. I loved working with John and I see John having a great future also, especially in China now that WWE is becoming a big deal in China as well. I think John can be a big star here. Eve is awesome. She’s just such a great package. She’s incredible physically. She’s beautiful. She’s a good actress. So maybe not all of them but a lot of them have the charisma that it takes to be on the big screen.

It’s funny, John Cena has had a lot of success in comedy now from Trainwreck.

I know. I think he was awesome in it. He was so funny, and I know John pretty well. He’s a very funny guy. He has very funny deadpan comedic timing so I think he can do anything.

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Skiptrace is in select theaters Friday, September 2 or on DirecTV now.

Talk of a sequel confirmed.