Jackie Chan Talks RUSH HOUR 4

Multifaceted international action star, Guiness World Record holder and filmmaker Jackie Chan attended a press interview this past Wednesday at the Ritz-Carlton Kuala Lumpur to promote his newest film, Police Story 2013. It has been speculated that Chan was possibly nearing the end of his career as an action star while leaning toward an interest in more drama-oriented or musical roles. And while this is mostly true, Chan eventually clarified things back in October expressing the facts a little bit more to The Wall Street Journal‘s Don Steinberg regarding what some believed was his wish to retire from action in general. “No, I never said that!” he exclaimed. “I was in Cannes Film Festival and said ‘Chinese Zodiac’ is my last big action movie. All the media, they skipped the ‘big.’. Probably they misunderstand my English. Now I have to say that’s my last BIIIIG action movie. I’m still doing them. If I jump off a building or doing a very dangerous stunt, I might use a double now. My body tells me: you are not young anymore.”

That said, while at this week’s press interview in Malaysia, Chan answered a broad range of questions ranging on various subjects from the style of action fans may expect from his upcoming film compared to his previous efforts in CZ12, to inquiries about his career in the last thirty years, hopefully working again with fellow Police Story 3 star, international action star and actress Michelle Yeoh, and engaging his perspective on how the constraints and cost-cutting causes creativity to suffer while designing action for action movies. Chan also expressed how difficult it has been to come up with the right script to sequelize his previous work, including drafts for Drunken Master 3 and Project A 3, despite all the fan support he has received.
The same issue regarding a good script was also brought up when discussing where things were regarding Rush Hour 4. While it seems things are actively in development for the film, which would evidently see Chan returning to the set with actor and comedian Chris Tucker, coming up with the right story has been an entirely different… well… story. Chan tells the press, “We just finished meeting last month in L.A. with Chris Tucker and two writers. The first draft, I don’t really like it. It’s just boring. Nothing is exciting anymore. I know Warner Bros. really wanted to do ‘Rush Hour 4’. Both Chris Tucker and I agreed to do another one, but we need to see the script first. So far, it’s Jackie goes to Hong Kong, no, Jackie goes to America… Chris Tucker goes to Hong Kong. Then we go to Paris. What’s next? It’s difficult.”

While it’s nice to know that Chan and Tucker are just a few steps closer to doing this particular movie than Chan with any of the titles mentioned two paragraphs earlier, time is always an issue, and anything can happen between now and the next several years as Chan maintains his focus on his next three stated projects, Skiptrace, DragonBlade, and another big action movie which he adamantly says he would be the one producing, directing and choreographing. And if that wasn’t enough, Chan also says he plans on starting his own action academy to personally instruct all action and stunt actors and pass down his knowledge to future generations of martial arts screenfighters.

In any event, hopefully there is sometime between all these projects for Chan, Tucker and the RH4 team to get the script fine-tuned and prepped for production. Besides, all three films grossed to a total of nearly $850 million dollars worldwide since the first film debut in 1998, and with the right talent added to the Chan/Tucker duo, Rush Hour 4 could very well beat the traffic in time to bring this franchise another commercial hit for a what could be memorable quadrilogy.

Police Story 3 arrives in theaters across Asia on December 24, 2013 in 2D/3D and IMAX, while Yeoh is currently tapped to star in Yuen Woo-Ping’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon 2: The Green Destiny, with actor Donnie Yen and casting hopefuls, Zhang Ziyi and Huang Xiaoming for filming this Spring.

Stay tuned for more updates. In the meantime, check out two new character featurettes for Police Story 2013 featuring co-stars actor Liu Ye and Tian Jing, in addition to a new viral action featurette from China Movie Report via YouTube.

H/T: Yahoo Singapore