Jackie Chan told an audience of questions and answers in Locarno that he thought that the major Hollywood studios are suffocating contemporary cinema with what he described as their obsession with money.
“I think the old films are better than today,” said Chan.
“Right now, many major studios, they are not filmmakers, they are guys. They invest 40 million and think:” How can I recover it? “And you can’t go.
Chan spoke with the leader of Locarno Giona Nazzaro this morning during a packaged question and answer session, where he crossed his career credits, telling several lucid and very entertaining stories about his start in the company, working in Hollywood, and how he finished many of his most dangerous stunts.
The main line during the discussion was the dedication of CHAN to the cinema crafts, in particular the way in which he worked to learn each role on the set of a film, from the direction of the cascade to action and sound. Chan then joked that in Asian cinema, there were only two artists who had the same extensive skills.
“In all of Asia, only two directors can do everything: writing, realization, game, coordination of stuntmen, cassins fights and publishing. Only two,” he started. “One is Sammo Hung, the second is Jackie Chan.”
The veteran actor of Hong Kong added later: “And I am better because I can sing.”
Chan continued to tell the public in Locarno that he made a concerted effort to learn to sing because he did not see a future as a single waterfall artist. Chan specifically indicated his first appearances on American end-of-evening talk shows, where it was often asked to cascades or to fight.
“I can’t do that forever. It’s so dangerous,” recalls Chan. “Whatever I go, they ask me how to hit and kick. I thought, what should I do? I should learn to sing. Then I started trying to learn to sing. ”
Chan added that he had quickly changed his professional goals to prioritize longevity and that his work mantra was: “I want to be the Asian Robert de Niro.”
However, Chan told the public that in the early 2000s, he gave up on Hollywood films because he was unable to connect with the American public, and he did not like the quality of the scripts given to him.
Chan added that he had decided to try another project before leaving the United States entirely, and it was his film as a friend of a seminal now, Rush hour.
“”Rush hour. It was the last try. If he does not succeed, then I finish, “said Chan, adding that the production of the film was not perfect, with constraints on the budget and a smaller space for the action sequences. But it was a start, he said.
“I think Rush hour has changed culture, ”said Chan.
Hong Kong’s veteran actor added that his career goal in Hollywood has always been “to be an intercultural bridge between the United States and China”.
Chan was in Locarno this year to receive the Pardo Alla Carriera Prize from the Festival for career. His first director’s films, Project A And Police storyprojected at the festival.
Locarno ends on August 16.
