'Karate Kid: Legends' star Jackie Chan on practical stunts vs. AI and CGI: 'I don't know CGI, I have to do my own thing'

Yahoo

2 days ago

Beloved actor Jackie Chan reprised his role as Mr. Han for Karate Kid: Legends, starring alongside Ralph Macchio and Ben Wang. An expansion of the Karate Kid cinematic universe, the new movie puts Mr. Han and Macchio's Daniel LaRusso in the roles of Miyagi-like mentors for Wang's Li Fong, a particularly skilled kung fu prodigy.
Speaking to Yahoo Canada, Chan spoke about being part of a film like that really leans into the martial arts, while many similar films being released rely on CGI for action sequences. Macchio also spoke about continuing to expand the Karate Kid legacy, while Wang takes on the role of "old day Jackie Chan."
I always tell the director, please hire me to do an Iron Man, Spider-Man, uh.
Uh, Batman.
I, I, he is Superman, uh, but no, they just hired me a rush hour, a kind of kid.
Our traditions.
I rooted in history.
Kung Fu Cloudy.
The tree grows strong.
You knew Mr. Miyagi?
I did not come looking for Seni Miyagi.
I came looking for you.
Jackie, for you, um, is it nice to see a film that really puts martial arts in like the practical front and center in a world where I think we're, we're used now to seeing more CG and more effects and those things.
But I'm really admire the, the, the, the people so clever can use this AI CG special effect to do all kinds of action.
If we, we're talking about the, the CG action, I think those kind of actions better than my real action.
But what can I do?
I don't know CG, I don't know CG I I have to do my own things.
The old day, we have no money, we have no schedule, uh, a tiny schedule.
You have to do the things.
You jump off, jump off the building, you run off the car, just do it.
Just No rehearsal, boom, you have you jump, you success, yes, you don't success.
Oh, I broke my ankle.
And because the stunt makes me famous, after that, I hire people to buy the machine.
We know the special effects, but the, the company said, Jackie, don't do it because the audience, they don't like you to do the special effect.
But I said, look, look at the whole world.
Now everybody do it.
Uh, I don't want to risk my life.
No, no, no, the audience, they like it.
OK, I just, until now, but I still do my own things.
I really, I always tell the director, please hire me to do an Iron Man, uh, a Spider-Man, uh.
Batman.
I, I, he is Superman.
Uh, but no, they just hired me a rush hour, a kind of kid.
They are all the real fighting secrets.
But honestly, my personal, I like the real things.
I like to show the, the audience what I can do like 50 years ago, I can do triple k boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom.
Then, OK, 20 years later, then OK, double kick, double kick.
But now, One k, one gig, then boom.
They're standing there, just do one gig there I let audience know this is me.
And also all those years, I tell the audience, I'm not the action star anymore.
I'm the actor, actor who can fight, just like Robert De Niro, uh, Tuckin Hoffman.
If action actor, all those years, you can tell me how many still left.
No.
If you're the actor, you can fight, you can live forever.
It's Ben's job to do double, triple kicks now.
I don't I do it.
1.5 is where I'm at right now and he pulls it off big time.
I mean, I loved Cobra Kai and I think that one of the things that that show proved was how you can take something that was so beloved and actually really effectively translate it with new characters and translate it with a new story.
And I think this is such a great continuation of that.
What did you think about just in terms of saying, We can still make something that feels like something beloved with new characters and new stories for people to feel invested in.
We landed that plane and this takes place probably 3 years, uh, after the events of Cobra Kai, which was important to me to separate some time.
So now when you find Daniel La Russo, he's gone through all those highs and lows of the Cobra Kai soap opera because it was very much a karate soap opera in the best possible way.
And now he's landed in a very Miyagi kind of grounded, um, uh, mature.
Uh, balanced place in his life and when it's time to help someone else out now we have a new story with an urban background or urban setting that we haven't seen before and a style shot a little bit different but you know we, we, we maintain the, the embrace of the nostalgia while telling a relevant story for today and families for today and young people for today so I'd like to believe that that's just the beginning of that section of this.
Ecosystem in the universe.
I have to get into right into one of my favorite scenes in this movie, which is when you're in that practice space, and then both of them are just like, let's try this or this, and you're like, hello, like over here getting knocked down every 5 seconds.
Can you, I think it's so great because it shows how much comedy was actually injected into this film.
That was a great moment, I, I think between the two of them and it's.
It's, you know, I, I feel like if you have a movie with Ralph Maggio and Jackie Chan, you gotta get them fighting each other a little bit.
So this is just fun for me.
I got to sit front row seat and just watch it happen.
It's fun having uh the humor infused into this entire film.
There's a lot of humor peppered and it was always the filmmaker's, uh, uh, conceptual idea to have that sort of young Jackie Chan.
Element brought into it and and the camera angles are inside the fight really the camera's very close all the time, very wide lenses, which is very different than how the original Karate Kid was shot a little bit more wider romantic, longer takes, um, different styles.
So but having the one upmanship where no this is how we do it in, uh, in, in Beijing well this is how we do it the Miyagi.
Well, this is how we and us bickering back and forth everything's kung fu, yeah, karate is, you know, I, I, I come across the country, so, uh, you know, uh, maybe listen to my way.
Well my way is better.
It's a, it's nitpicky and it's fun and it's enjoyable because he's in the middle of getting his butt kicked throughout and, uh, you know, it's entertainment.
We just, we sit there, we talk about how, how, how can we make the actions more a family, not violent.
And the children, most important is uh for the children.
Then we just Right now in this moment, this movie that makes me so happy is that on the roof, he training, I'm standing here.
I do nothing, just one more, one more, one more.
That makes me happy.
But because I look at Ben.
That's the old day Jackie Chan.
That's right, right now I'm becoming a, a Miyaki.