From Shanghai Noon to Saturday Night
May 25, 2000
Jackie Chan wins new fans across America
By Sam Chu Lin
Dressed in an all-white suit, shirt and necktie, Jackie Chan hosted Saturday Night Live this past weekend. And during the opening monologue, Chan rubbed his hands together and confessed to the audience, “I’m scared!”
But he is anything but that in his new movie, Shanghai Noon. In the Touchstone film set in the late 1800s, Chan plays Chon Wang, a member of the Chinese Imperial Guard, who comes to America on a rescue mission and is transformed into a cowboy in the frontier West. Packing six guns, Chon Wang tries to rescue the kidnapped Princess Pei Pei, played by Lucy Liu (Ally McBeal and the upcoming Charlie’s Angels).
“When I was young,” Chan said, “I just loved watching western movies—cowboys and Indians. I liked John Wayne. When I had a chance I would keep writing about a western story. This movie is my dream come true.”
Shanghai Noon is filled with many beautiful scenes, with opening frames shot in China’s Forbidden City, and much of the later scenes shot in Calgary, Canada. At the banks of the Bow River on the Morley reservation, Chon Wang saves the son of a Sioux chief by using his martial arts skills against a band of Crow warriors. En route to Carson City, Nev., where the kidnappers are holding Princess Pei Pei hostage, Chon Wang meets up with gunslingers, gets into a number of brawls, marries the daughter of an Indian chief, and avoids the hangman’s noose.
“It’s like dancing,” said Chan commenting on his martial arts stunts. “I’m not beating up somebody. Violent fighting in the movies is easy to do. When you make fighting like a dance, that’s difficult.”
Shanghai Moon director Tom Dey compares Chan to comedic legends Harold Lloyd and Charlie Chaplain. “I think Jackie is one of the last great ‘silent film stars,’” Dey said. “He is one of the most incredible, physical comedians that I have ever seen. I think one of the reasons why he has so much broad appeal is because he can play the ‘everyman’ very well. He’s got this amazing ability with his body and with his face to communicate story. He doesn’t need dialogue to communicate what he’s thinking.”
Martial arts fans may wish to find out what style of fighting Chan now uses in his films, but even the actor has difficulty explaining that. “My style is like a chop suey. Fried rice. Everything together,” he said. “I use everything as a weapon—a chair, glasses. I use clothes, t-shirts, a bra. I use shoes, telephone, everything as a weapon.”
In Shanghai Noon, Chan performs a number of dangerous stunts. For example, logs are unleashed from a moving railroad car with Chan atop the moving mass. He prides himself for not using any stunt doubles. “When I first became an actor,” Chan explained, “I said I have to do my own stunts. My trademark, when I am doing my own stunts, no matter if the camera is in front of me or behind me, I have to turn around and look at the camera. Everybody knows it’s me. I believe the audience is coming into the theater to see Jackie Chan, not a double.”
For co-star Liu, working with Chan came after years of watching his movies. “I have seen all of his movies before he came to America,” she said. “I used to go to San Gabriel and watch the movies there. I rented all of his tapes. I was a big, Hong Kong movie buff. It’s pretty exciting to be in this movie with him.”
Owen Wilson, who plays Roy O’Bannon, a reformed stick-up artist who partners with Chon Wang to rescue Princess Pei Pei, has only words of admiration for the Hong Kong star. “He has this appeal,” Wilson said, “where he is able to combine this action stuff with a certain vulnerability. He’s not like he’s the Terminator or someone who’s unbeatable. His face will register pain. You think that he’s overmatched at times. So you, as a movie-goer, are rooting for him.”
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