Jackie Chan Interview: Hollywood Wouldn't Give Him Chance At Dramatic Roles Until 'The Foreigner'
- Details
- Category: Interviews
- Created: Monday, 09 October 2017 23:08
- Published: Wednesday, 11 October 2017 09:06
- Written by Lupe Rodriguez Haas
Jackie Chan gets to show off more of his dramatic side in THE FOREIGNER along with kicking butt. At a press conference in Los Angeles, Chan said he was tired of being offered the same roles over and over, but THE FOREIGNER offered a different kind of opportunity. Watch the interview below.
Jackie Chan fans will be surprised to see the action star flex his dramatic muscle in THE FOREIGNER. In the movie also starring Pierce Brosnan, Chan plays Quan, a grieving father who lost his daughter to terrorism. He’s hell bent on finding the group responsible for the bombing and he goes after a British government official (Brosnan) for answers.
We’ve never seen Chan quite like this in a movie before. While we get to see him in action, the fighting is much more subdued as he plays an aging man whose past tragedies in his life have taken a toll on his body and mind.
At the Los Angeles press conference with Chan, THE FOREIGNER director Martin Campbell (CASINO ROYALE) and screenwriter David Marconi, Chan revealed the director kept having to remind him that he’s playing a different type of character in this movie.
“ ‘You’re not Jackie Chan. Your Quan, said Chan of Campbell’s direction. “Move slower. Jackie too quick, slow down.’ I don’t why he made me so old.”
Chan welcomed the challenge because for years, he’s been trying to get Hollywood to look beyond his action comedy skills. He’s now focused on longevity of his career and he looks up to Robert Redford for his career choices. “I want to be an actor,” said Chan in the interview below.
“In Hollywood, I receive so many scripts. Police from Hong Kong. Police from China. Secret police from Hong Kong. Secret police from China. I look at so many American movies and that is suitable for me (pointing at a screen). And that’s suitable for me but why nobody hire me for this kind of movie.”
He mentioned LA LA LAND jokingly as wanting to be in that kind of movie, but why not he said. In Asia, he’s known as an actor and not just an action star like in America. There he’s been allowed the freedom to play in several genres but in America he’s typecast.
When THE FOREIGNER came along, it was the opportunity he’d been waiting for. He was told the screenwriter could only see Chan playing this role which made the Hong Kong star even more excited. “I’m so happy to do it.,” Chan said with a smile.
Jackie Chan’s Dying Wish And Other Confessions From The Cast Of The LEGO NINJAGO MovieTHE FOREIGNER is in movie theaters October 12.