Jackie Chan heats up Locarno Film Festival

According to CenterCinemaPress , citing Variety, Jackie Chan received the Locarno Professional Achievement Award, the prestigious Pardo Alla Carrera Award, on Saturday

At the ceremony, Nazzaro, Locarno’s artistic director, referred to him as a “true genius” and emphasized: “He literally reinvented the action film. In action films, there is an era before Jackie Chan and an era after him”

At the event, Jackie Chan played hi role in Bruce Lee’s film “Enter the Dragon” on stage and admitted: “I’m not Superman. I’m scared too, and every time before I do a stunt, I ask myself: Am I going to die this time”

Jackie Chan, who held a master class at the Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland, spoke about his early career and described it as a long and detailed journey, saying: “I was lazy, naughty and didn’t want to study, so my father sent me to a martial arts school. I loved fighting when I was young”

He jokingly added that he also loved school because he could kick the teacher and punch everyone else

Chan began his career as a stuntman, appearing in Bruce Lee’s film “Fist of Fury” and eventually turning to acting

The actor, who thrilled the Locarno audience with his passionate presence, sometimes asked them to help him find the right words or titles. He also spoke about his father sending him tapes of his voice, saying: “If I were to listen to them now, I think I would cry”

Chan recalled that he liked to learn filmmaking from scratch and even did his own makeup to show the director that he was good enough, and after a while, he decided to take on directing duties as well

He said, “I do everything myself. Now I tell filmmakers: If you just learn how to direct, it’s not enough”

“The audience doesn’t know about the rain or who the producer is or whether the budget has been cut. They just want a good movie. This is my passion and I try to make every scene perfect,” he added

Jackie Chan, pointing out that old movies were better than what we have today, said: “These big studios are no longer filmmakers, they are businessmen, and that’s what makes it very difficult to make a good movie these days”

On the Locarno stage, Chan also recreated some fight scenes from his films, and in his excitement, he even forgot his microphone

“At that time, I was the king of Asia and I thought I was going to conquer America, so I went there and said, ‘I’m Jackie Chan.’ They said, ‘Jackie what? Who? Another Bruce Lee?’ No one knew me. They didn’t even care about my fighting skills. They wanted me to throw a punch, like Clint Eastwood,” he said, referring to the “sudden punch.” But I’m not Clint Eastwood!

Chan continued, “I said I’ll show you. That’s why I came back to Hong Kong to make ‘Police Story’; because sometimes you can’t just talk about it, you have to prove it”

He finally said, citing his many frustrations, that “Rush Hour” helped him play a Hong Kong police officer and didn’t require him to speak perfect English. “I wanted to be a cultural bridge between China and America and now Switzerland,” he added

Emphasizing the script as the most important thing, the popular actor said that the fight scenes will come next. We analyze the script to figure out how to combine it with action,” he said.I see American movies, even Chinese movies, where characters fight and then… they fly. Why? Because the first and second characters don’t agree with each other. So they’re superheroes?! That kind of action makes me angry

Chan, emphasizing that at least his films are coherent, added: I’m always thinking about change

He said he wasn’t even afraid to sing because “it’s easier than fighting,” and sang for the audience, admitting that he wanted to be an all-rounder, emphasizing that he was an actor who could fight, not just an action star

Jackie Chan, saying that the life span of action stars is very short, asked: “How many of them are still alive? That’s why I decided 15 years ago to be the Asian Robert De Niro, and that’s why you gave me this award”

When accepting the award, Jackie Chan recalled a conversation he had with his father, saying that he once asked him, “Can you still fight when you’re 60?” and Chan didn’t know what to tell him. “But now he’s 71 and I can still fight,” he added