Arriving in Shanghai

After I got on the plane in LA, I feel asleep immediately and when I opened my eyes, I saw that we had arrived in Shanghai . Someone picked us up at the airport and drove us to the hotel. I wasn’t able to rest when I got to the hotel because I had to go right away to a wardrobe fitting for the Mitsubishi commercial I’ll be filming and then I met with the crew. They wanted to know my opinion about the storyboard for the commercial. Honestly, I had no idea what to say. I had just flown in from LA and falling asleep in one place and waking up in another makes me feel confused. I take flights like other people take taxis. How could I have an opinion? I know that the Japanese crew wanted to make a good commercial and they sent more than 10 people to China to film it. They are so professional and very nice, but they’re so serious! I think there’s no need to be so serious. For example, when I tried on the clothing, there were ten people around to take care of me. When we looked at the storyboard, there were ten people again. I’ve been working with Mitsubishi for so long, I guess I should be used to their work methods.

The Story of Mitsubishi and Me

After the Mitsubishi crew left I was supposed to have another meeting with some local people, but when I saw them I realized how tired I was; I had no energy to continue. I asked them if we could all go to bed and have the meeting another time because I had to get up at 6:00 in the morning for the commercial shoot. Why so early? Mitsubishi is worried that they won’t complete the whole thing on time, so they arranged for an early shooting. The shooting location was an abandoned airport. Before we started everyone kept saying that it had rained a lot recently. They were worried because the old saying is “When the tiger moves, the wind blows. When the dragon moves, it rains.”  The poor dragon, always getting blamed for the rain. Why not say “When the dragon moves, the sun shines!” Ha ha ha! I was happy that when arrived there was no rain. The weather was great and everyone was very comfortable.

Shooting this commercial brought back so many memories. I can’t believe that I’ve been with Mitsubishi for so many years! I wonder how many stars have been with the same company for over 30 years. From Cannonball Run until now I have worked with them on and off as a spokesman. Over the years, whenever I’ve needed cars for my movies, I just have to call them and they are eager to help.

I remember the first time I’d completed a contract with Mitsubishi, another car company contacted me and asked me to be their representative. I refused at once because I felt a responsibility and loyalty toward Mitsubishi. I think that if you are a spokesman for a product, you shouldn’t do it just to make money, you should try the product and if you endorse it, you should remain loyal. I have been driving Mitsubishi cars for so many years! I own several cars and I have to say that I love my Mitsubishis. My favorite is the Pajero – I like to call it the “King of SUVs.”

After work I had a script meeting with Frankie and Ricky. When they were done reporting the progress to me, I went to bed.

Another Day

Today we continued with filming the Mitsubishi commercial. This Japanese director can speak fluent English. His mother is British and his father is Japanese, and he speaks English with a British accent. This new director has a lot of great ideas. For this commercial, he is playing scenes from my old movies in the background. As I watched them I could remember filming each scene even though some of them were done nearly 30 years ago! I was so impressed that this director was able to buy the rights to use these clips for his commercial.

The shooting went smoothly and during the break I had a meeting with a business associate from Beijing . We talked about future plans and projects involving ten different directors. I’m so glad that one movie is already complete, another is in pre-production, and another is awaiting approval from the government.

Next Day

Today I had a costume fitting for the J and J Project (The Forbidden Kingdom). The producer, director, and scriptwriter were all there. I’m not trying to act like a big shot having everyone come to me for meetings, it’s just that my schedule is so tight that I have no time and the meetings, costume fittings, etc. all have to be matched with my schedule. Some people came from Beijing for meetings, others came from Dun Huang and Heng Dian. Some of them spent 3 hours on a plane or drove for 6 hours to meet with me in Shanghai . I want them to know that I really appreciate it and that’s why I give them my whole day. I met my old friend Shirley Chan who is the art director for The Forbidden Kingdom. She is so talented and I was so happy to see her again.

Costume fittings are easy for me, but script readings are not. The hardest thing for me is reading through the script. I sat for over six hours reading the lines over and over and I became really tired and annoyed. During the process I found some of the lines were so difficult and unreasonable. The writers had to change some lines or delete them completely. Even though I was so tired when we were finally finished, I think the meeting was very useful. I want to say thank you to Casey Silver (the producer), Rob Minkoff (the director), the scriptwriter, and the dialogue coach. I worked for six hours but I think they probably worked about ten.

When I left I was really exhausted but I couldn’t rest because I was waiting to have another meeting. Why am I working so hard? Because I have to leave tomorrow and I want to use all my time in Shanghai to get everything done. Then, when I leave, everyone can continue working on these projects while I’m gone.

When the meeting ended it was already 2 a.m. When I finally was able to lie down on my bed, I felt so happy and comfortable and soon fell asleep.

Next morning when I opened the door, I saw so many people sitting and waiting to meet with me! They were all scriptwriters and after we were introduced, I was amazed to hear that one of them was a Jackie Chan Charitable Foundation scholarship winner! Every time I hear this kind of story I feel so happy to know that the scholarships that we sponsor are really helping. Once I was walking down the street and someone came running up to me to tell me that he’d won a JCCF scholarship. I don’t know his name, but I was so happy to meet another recipient. After I met with the screenwriters, I said goodbye and rushed to the airport. I fell asleep soon after I got on the plane and when I woke up we were already at our destination.

When I reached my next destination, I had a costume fitting for a commercial I will do for a shoe company. People ask me why I would be a spokesman for another shoe when I have my own shoe brand. When I tell you the story, you will understand why I do what I do. Here is the story:

There is a shoe company named Funny Dragon and the owners are three brothers who built up their company from nothing. They started out making parts for shoes and later on they established their own brand. When they were first starting out they were trying to think of a name for their brand and since they were all fans, they chose Funny Dragon. (You know, my name in Chinese is “dragon” and of course some people think I’m funny! Ha ha!) For years they asked me to be their spokesman but I had to say no because I had my own brand. However, when I finally met them and heard their story, how could I say no? The first time I met them, they were so excited they were shaking. They said they’d been fans for so many years and I was so touched by their feelings and their “rags-to-riches” story. They told me that they were also interested in investing money into films – not for big productions, but for small ones. Movies starring Andy Lau, Tom Cruise, or Jackie Chan are big productions, but small productions have potential too. In China there are many people who want to make a small film and although they have talent and passion, they have no money. These brothers wanted to help those kinds of filmmakers and give them a chance.

I told them that they should invest money into film, but that it didn’t mean I’d be their spokesman. Then they told me that they’d give me some of their shoes to try and if I liked them then maybe I’d be their spokesman. Well, they invested in movies and I liked their shoes. So I agreed to be their spokesman!

I got up at six o’clock and started working right away. We have scheduled two days for shooting but in the back of my mind I kept thinking of all the work awaiting me in Hong Kong so I asked them if we could shorten the schedule so that we could complete everything in one day and I could take a night flight back to Hong Kong . After everyone agreed, we started shooting and after that we went to a press conference. Then I signed photos and when we were done with that we went back to the location to finish shooting the photos.

A friend of mine loaned me his Bentley and we had a police escort to get from one place to the other, otherwise we would have been stuck in traffic for hours. I told the driver to be careful driving in all the traffic with my friend’s Bentley because even with the escort, there were so many cars! Luckily we got back quickly with plenty of time to finish.

Because we were shooting still photos, everything went faster than originally scheduled. Still photos are a piece of cake for me because I’ve done it so many times. All the photographer has to do is say “Ready!” and I can do whatever poses he wants. Eventually the photographer wanted to take a break, but I said I wanted to keep going. So we kept going until we were forced to stop when the camera broke down!

When we finished I had dinner with my Beijing staff. I told you that I had given lai see (“red pocket” money) to my Hong Kong staff, and now it was time to give to my 30 Beijing staff members. I was happy to have dinner with them and make them happy with lai see. 

My original plan was to go back to Hong Kong after dinner, but there was a delay. My friend suggested that we go to his club to relax and talk and I thought that was a very good idea. It turned out that the delay gave me a good chance to talk with another director and the Beijing scriptwriter for a while.

Recently I have met with so many scriptwriters from different provinces to discuss projects. I am always amazed by how knowledgeable these people are. If I mention Iran , for example, they will be able to tell me about an Iranian movie. If I mention Cambodia , they know about a Cambodian film. After talking to them I realize that they see so many films and read so much that they’re supremely knowledgeable!

(When Jackie was dictating this diary to Fibe, he told her that it’s impossible to put into words how much these guys know. He said “You just have to talk to them yourself!”)

These guys have such a great passion for movies and I’m so glad I met them. I think that all filmmakers should work hard. The situation today reminds me of a Chinese expression which says “the back waves push the front waves forward.” If there are no waves pushing the front wave toward the shore, it will die out. Right now in the Hong Kong film industry there aren’t enough “back waves” and even those who have potential as actors, directors, or stuntmen are going to China to develop their careers.

During my conversation with these scriptwriters, they called me “teacher” and I was so humbled. I can’t accept that I am their teacher because I learn so much from them!

Car Crash!

Finally I said goodbye to them and headed to the airport. On the drive to the airport, the car we were in – my friend’s Bentley – was hit broadside by a dump truck and the nearly six million dollar car was severely damaged. Luckily nobody was seriously hurt and to be honest I have to tell you that it was our driver’s fault. We came out from a side alley and the truck driver was just driving down the road. However, after the crash, the truck driver jumped out of his truck and ran away down the street as fast as he could. We all figured that maybe he had been drinking or maybe he was driving a stolen truck. But then I thought, “Who would steal a dump truck?” and wondered what the real story was. I felt really terrible about my friend’s car.

[Interesting note: We talked to Osumi, who was in the car with Jackie when the accident happened. She said that during the entire Shanghai trip, every time they got into the Bentley, Jackie sat in the same seat. The day of the car accident, Jackie moved to the opposite side of the car for no apparent reason. The car was struck right where Jackie would normally have been sitting. Jackie's business associate, who was sitting in Jackie's regular seat, was slightly injured.] 

Finally we arrived at the airport and after check-in I sat down to read the newspapers and a few magazines. I don’t know how long I sat there before my assistant came to tell me it was time to board.

On the plane there were only 12 passengers and in first class there were only four: my assistants and myself. I continued to read on the plane; I didn’t want to sleep because I would be arriving in Hong Kong early in the morning and if I slept too much on the plane it would cause me all kinds of trouble.

The plane arrived in Hong Kong at 4:00am. When I got home I really wanted to play with my dogs but because it had rained heavily, my yard was full of mud and I knew if I played with them I would get really dirty and muddy and it was, after all, nearly dawn. I decided to play with them in the morning.

 
Jackie walking through the airport at 4:00 AM!

When I got up it was drizzling rain and I still wanted to play with my dogs, but there were people already waiting to meet with me. I had a script meeting with Derek Yee, a meeting with Matt McGuire, my Segway partner, and then I had to record my diary. Sometimes when I stop and sit down for a minute, I ask myself why I am so tired.

*Fibe adds: Every time JC has nothing to do and sits down, he asks, “What should I do?” and although he is tired, he is a man who can’t slow down!

After all the meetings my webmaster Katharine and Fibe asked me to come into the conference room to see the birthday cards sent from fans. Wow! When I saw all the beautiful cards and so many donations for the school project, I was so touched. I want to send you my deepest thanks. I love you all!!

Text and photos ©2007 The JC Group. All Rights Reserved.

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