Jackie Chan's 'Karate Kid' kicks acting career into higher gear
By Scott Bowles, USA TODAY
BEVERLY HILLS — Jackie Chan's body is a road map of misery.
He touches the back of his head, where his skull was fractured during one martial arts scene. The nose, which he tweaks, has been broken twice, along with his cheekbones, jaw and every rib. Both kneecaps were cracked, two ankles have snapped, and he has broken most of the bones in both hands.
"If it's on my body, I probably broke it," Chan, 56, says at the rooftop restaurant of the Beverly Hills Montage Hotel. "But you have to remember: I've been acting for 48 years. You're going to break bones."
Acting and injuries usually aren't a package. Robert De Niro or Al Pacino would never win a scar-off with Chan. Instead, Chan wants to become more like De Niro and Pacino. The Karate Kid features the least amount of fighting Chan has logged in a movie.
And he hopes the trend continues.
"I've been fighting, fighting, fighting, until no one thinks I can do anything different," Chan says. "But I can. I'm not just a fighter. I'm an actor."
He gets to convince audiences on Friday with The Karate Kid, a movie that Chan says he was reluctant to make until he learned it would be produced by Will and Jada Pinkett Smith and star their son, Jaden.
"When I first heard about it, I was thinking 'How am I going to play the kid?' Because that's who does all the fighting," Chan says with a laugh. "When Will says it was for the teacher part, I said yes right away."
Karate Kid director Harald Zwart says he didn't realize how much Chan wanted to act until he got on set.
"We knew we were going to have great fight scenes, because you've got the greatest fighter in your movie," Zwart says. "But he isn't who he appears to be on camera. He's very respectful, looks you in the eye, wants to learn. I realized he was the complete actor."
Chan is hoping that some scenes — including one in which he breaks down — will draw attention.
"Directors are asking me, 'Do another Rush Hour, do another Rush Hour,' " Chan says. "But that doesn't help you grow as an actor. That's boring. I know how to do that. What am I supposed to do? Star in Rush Hour 20?"
Chan says he learned there was more to do in 1982, when he saw An Officer and a Gentleman.
"I was expecting a big fight scene," Chan says. "You know how many (punches) are thrown? One! And it's a great movie. That's what I want to do."
He gets to do a little of that in his native China. "I can do some acting there, but it's not the same," Chan says. "American actors, they can work so long on a single scene. That's how you get better."
In China, he is Brad Pitt or bigger. He usually has to eat lunch in his car to prevent a mob scene.
Here, "people know who I am, but they want me to show them a fighting move."
Jaden Smith wanted to learn a few. The 12-year-old worked for three months with Chan and continues today. "I lucked out," Jaden says. "How many people get to learn to fight from the best?"
Chan takes over the Pat Morita role but plays Mr. Han, not Mr. Miyagi.
"All I've wanted is this chance," he says. "The Smith family gave that to me. Now I can show I'm not just Mr. Miyagi. I'm Jackie Chan."