Showing posts with label chinese zodiac. Show all posts
Showing posts with label chinese zodiac. Show all posts
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Roc Chen Composer for Chinese Zodiac

Film Composer Roc Chen blends several unique elements into Orchestra and lead you into a Journey of JC team's route around the world.After the film is released in Asia, the switching bronze head montage song "Unstoppable" and "One Two Three Profite de ta Vie!" music quickly becomes one of the hottest music in China. Thousands of people are asking/searching/downloading these music. The montage song "Unstoppable" connects several scenes of JC team switching the bronze head(Rooster) and JC team sailing for South Pacific Island.
 Here're the words from Composer Roc Chen about this album:
"Last year October, with the cold wind howling, I drove my car to Asia's biggest film studio-China Film Group Hua Long Film Base.And after I walked thru several gigantic film studios, I finally entered a film studio with a large boiler inside.I saw a man wearing black jacket and white t-shirt, who were busy at taking care of everybody and everything, and this man is superstar Jackie Chan. He is shooting his 101st film "Chinese Zodiac" here.
 Later when we returned to the hotel room, Jackie and I started the conversation about film music. Needless to say all those creative,fantastic ideas we talked and shared, I noticed that there're some tiny red lines in Jackie's eyes-who would not be tired after a day with so many action moves? But Jackie still continued to tell me his ideas about the film with his full passion. Then I understood how important Chinese Zodiac is to Jackie. I felt great pressure, I also felt energetic and inspired-I guess one of the good things about Roc is that I can transform pressure to power.
 After several working holidays and sleepless nights,and several demo revisions,Jackie finally approved my motif “1 2 3 Profite de ta vie!”(French, meaning make the most of your life!). Later on, a song with dynamic groove and sweet melody was born.Finally, the song appeared when JC team switch the bronze head(rooster) and sail to the island in the film.It connects lots of cuts and scenes. It is what we call "Montage Song".
 July 21st, Rainstorm in Beijing. after driving through several puddles which are deep enough to drown a car, I came to the meeting place,where the crews and investors were watching the rough cut of the film. To my surprise that everyone in the room were curious and happy about the montage song and the motif “1 2 3 Profite de ta vie!”.Therefore, the scoring journey for Chinese Zodiac began.
 Though I've scored over 200 projects before, Chinese Zodiac is a very unique project. No matter when I was composing melodies,or orchestrating,or programming sound,or grouping instruments, I was always laughing out loud from my head to my foot. The film is so exciting and fun! Even now, I wonder: how can I complete the job at that time when my fingers had no strength to touch the piano keyboard? ?:-)
 In order to make the film even more splendid,I processed the motif “1 2 3 Profite de ta vie!” with digital audio workstations and made them fit into the scenes like Body Blading,Skydiving,Flying Parachute,etc.. When JC mistakenly entered the garden labyrinth, there's a high angle shot scene like video game Pac-Man. So I used some 8 Bit old electronic sounds for these scenes.Being a composer who has scored 100+ video games including some big titles like Heroes of Might and Magic series, I'm frequently asked about the relationship between film music and video game music. I guess the score of Chinese Zodiac could be a great example.
 December 12th,heavy snow,National Gymnasium, World Premiere of Chinese Zodiac. When Jackie called my name and appreciated my work on the stage, when the title of CZ12 appeared with “1 2 3 Profite de ta vie!” music and audience's applause, when my 8 Bit music sounded and audience laughed out loud, I suddenly understood that the contributions, sacrifices, endeavors, etc. of Jackie and I and all the film crew members are worthy."
 -----Roc Chen, music composer of Chinese Zodiac.


SOURCE: CDBABY - ROC CHEN
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Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Nominations

The final nominations list for the Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Awards has been announced.

Jackie has a nomination for 'Best Actor' and Zhang Lan Xin has a 'Best Newcomer' nomination for Chinese Zodiac.

The film awards are being held in Lanzhou. This year the festival will feature 60 domestic Chinese films and 30 foreign films as well as a special Ethnic movie exhibition.

SOURCE: CCYP.COM (also for the full lists of nominations)
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Good News For CZ12!!

Chinese Zodiac IS coming to a big screen near you!!

Jackie and JJ Productions has sold the distribution rights to CZ12 / Chinese Zodiac to Universal Pictures International Entertainment (UPIE) for distribution in the US, UK, Eastern Europe, Africa, Australasia, France, Italy, Portugal and Spain.


AFM: Universal Takes Jackie Chan's 'Chinese Zodiac'

Jackie & JJ International has sold Hong Kong action star Jackie Chan's Chinese Zodiac to Universal Pictures International Entertainment (UPIE) for a raft of territories including North America, UK and Eastern Europe.

The movie is directed by and stars Chan and opened in China in December 2012, and so far it has earned more than $180 million around the world.

UPIE has also acquired the globetrotting action film for Africa, Australasia, France, Italy, Portugal and Spain. Jackie & JJ also signed up with AMC for theatrical release.

"It has made more than $9 million in Russia, $5 million in Singapore, $6 million in Malaysia and $5 million in Japan, it's breaking records in Vietnam – it's doing better than Rush Hour," Jackie & JJ International's Ramy Choi told The Hollywood Reporter at the American Film Market.

Choi is attending the AFM to show them scenes from Chan's latest project, Police Story 2013, which is to be released on Dec. 24. The movie is directed by the Little Big Soldier director Ding Sheng and stars Chan, Liu Ye and Jing Tian.

"We pre-sold the movie in Berlin and Cannes without even a synopsis or a single photograph. Now we have something to show to European and U.S/ clients. They just want Jackie, he has a big fan base here," said Choi.


SOURCE: HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
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The Talk Clips

Clips from Jackie's apprearance on The Talk to promote Chinese Zodiac





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Assorted CZ12 Interview Videos

Enjoy:








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An Assortment of Articles

Following the premiere of Chinese Zodiac here are a few of the more interesting interviews that have been published.

STUNTS ARE A PIECE OF CAKE

Jackie Chan is aging athletically, if not gracefully.

Now 59, the irrepressible Chinese superstar is back with “Chinese Zodiac,” a big-budget action adventure he co-wrote, produced, directed, stars in and, don’t forget, served as stunt director.

“For me, it’s a piece of cake. I’ve been doing films for 53 years,” Chan said from Beverly Hills, Calif., earlier this week.

For “Chinese Zodiac,” in which Chan leads a team of mercenaries to recover Chinese artifacts, he was dropped 900 feet from a helicopter into an active volcano.

“For this, I called my student from Australia to the volcano, where we can only do six shots.”

For that 900-foot air drop, “He just let me fall.”

After?

“I hurt all over. Doing a stunt always hurts, but anytime I don’t go to the hospital means I’m not ‘hurt.’ People call me fearless. No, I am scared, but I have a responsibility — for the movie, for the audience, for myself.”

So those reports that said Chan, legendary for doing all his death-defying stunts, was giving that up?

“That happened when I announced at the Cannes film festival that ‘Chinese Zodiac’ is my last big action movie. Everyone the next day said, ‘He’s not going to do any more stunts.’

“Not true. I might use stunt doubles. I’m getting old — you can say it.

“But for now I just want to push my body to the limit to see how far I can go until one day I cannot do it. Probably sometime if I wanted to do something and I break my leg again, then I would totally stop.

“I do my stunts very carefully now: Test, test, test. Not like the old days where I’d just do it. Now I say, ‘You’re not young anymore. You have to take care of yourself.’ ”

As for “Chinese Zodiac,” which filmed on five continents, “You can believe how important this movie is to me. It’s my baby. I wrote the script for six years, shot it for a year and a half with the biggest budget ever in China.

“I’m glad it broke the all-time action movie record in China. This movie is probably more important than ‘Rush Hour’ because I produced it, I financed it.”




SOURCE: BOSTONHERALD

I'M NOT JUST AN ACTION STAR


Chan, who wrote, directed and starred in his latest film, talks to THR about wearing multiple hats on set and reveals the only role in an American drama he was ever offered.

At the Huading Awards show in China in early October, Jackie Chan met Nicole Kidman and told her that there was once a chance they could have starred in a film together.

While Chan, one of the most well known action stars in the wold, has accomplished a lot in his career, starring in more than 100 films, he says he's only offered action roles because of his past work. Now that he says he wants to slow down on doing his own stunts, he says he'd love to do more drama or comedy. However, in the U.S., he isn't offered those types of roles.

Chan can only remember one time a drama script came to his desk -- for The Interpreter, the thriller that was directed by Sydney Pollack and starred Kidman and Sean Penn.

"I got the script, but I told my manager, 'No -- [there's] too much dialogue,' " he says.

At that time, he didn't know it was going to star Kidman, but he let her know about their almost-collaboration when he met her earlier this month.

"I told her, 'I almost made a movie with you! One, I'm glad I didn't make the movie, but two, I'm sad I didn't make the movie -- because of you.' "

Chan said at that time his English wasn't strong enough to handle such a dialogue-heavy role. And while he doesn't get the offers from the American film industry, he is able to flex his drama and comedy muscles in films made in China.

"I want to prove to my audience that I'm an actor -- I'm not just an action star," he says.

What Chan has proven is that he can wear multiple hats and succeed. For his latest film, Chinese Zodiac, Chan wrote the script, co-produced, directed and starred. The film, which hits theaters in the U.S. on Oct. 18, opened in China and around the world this past December and January and has already broken several box-office records. It's earned $138 million at the Chinese box office, making it the highest-grossing action film and the second-highest-grossing Chinese film ever in that market.

Chan spent six years writing the script, doing so while he shot other movies including Rush Hour 3 and The Forbidden Kingdom. The film, which follows a group of treasure hunters as they travel the world to collect 12 bronze animal heads representing each sign of the Chinese zodiac, displays Chan's skills as an action star who does his own stunts, combined with some lighter comedy moments.

"I want to show the audience, yes, I'm not young anymore, but I still move faster than you," says the 59-year-old actor with a smile.

Chan has always been wearing more than one hat it seems. Often employed as the fight choreographer or stunt coordinator on his films, he had a lot of input even when he wasn't the director.

When he was shooting 1998's Rush Hour, he was also the stunt coordinator and said that at one point he almost got in a fight with a crewmember during a scene because he was insisting that a black gun be switched out for a silver one.

"I said, 'Change [to] the silver gun,' but they said, 'No, we can't because of continuity,' " he says. But Chan knew that because both he and Chris Tucker were wearing black clothing, the gun wouldn't be visible in the shot.

Convinced, Chan took the gun and sprayed over it with silver spray paint, winning the argument when the gun sparkled as it flew through the air.

Now, 15 years later, Chan says he focuses on using his massive worldwide popularity to spread his message to his many young fans.

"When I was young, I didn't know. But now that I've grown up -- as a producer, director, actor -- we have a responsibility to society," he says.

Looking back on films like 1994's The Legend of Drunken Master, Chan says he wasn't happy with the glorification of drinking and violence. He uses the film Jackie Chan's First Strike as an example of a time he was able to make a small change to the film in order to share an important life lesson.

In the film, his character is at one point unaware that he's a wanted man. Then he sees a woman reading a newspaper with an article about Chan's character being a fugitive. She leaves, dropping the paper. Instead of just picking up the paper to look at it, Chan's character then walks over and puts the paper in the garbage can. "I wanted to teach the young people that if you're walking on the street and you see something, you pick it up," he says. "If everyone just picked up one piece of paper, the city would be so clean."

"Young children learn so quick, from computers, from movies, from video games -- we do have a responsibility," he says.



SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER


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Chinese Zodiac Premiere AMC Theater

Chinese Zodiac premiered in North America at the AMC Theater in Los Angeles on Wednesday 16 October 2013. Jackie was accompanied by Yao Xingtong and Laura Weissbecker. Rob Steinberg, Tzi Ma and Kaitlin Dechele were also present at the premiere.












SOURCE: WEIBO and XINHUANET
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Zodiac Heads to Be Returned

Announced in Beijing today was the news that the rabbit and rat zodiac heads will be returned to China by the current owners later this year.

Jackie's reaction on weibo:

I was busy with arrangements for disaster relief work, when all of a sudden a lot of friends phoned or sent a text message this morning to tell me that the Pinault family from France said they would return the Rabbit and Rat to China! I cried on the spot three times, this is really a happy thing during these days of sadness! Whether or not CZ12 can take credit for it, I will take it, ha ha! I sincerely hope that each country can have their displaced national treasures returned!




正在忙着安排赈灾的工作,忽然很多朋友打来电话发来短信,告诉我今天上午法国的皮诺家族表示将兔首和鼠首归还中国!我当场大叫三声,这真是最近这段苦闷的日子唯一值得高兴的事了!不管有没有≪十二生肖≫电影的功劳,我就当是有吧,哈哈!真心希望各个国家流落在外的国宝都能回到它们原来的国家!




A rat's head and a rabbit's head which were looted from the Summer Palace in Beijing in 1860 will be returned to China by its current French owner, the owner's representative announced today in Beijing.

During a meeting with State Culture Relics Bureau officials, French PPR Group CEO Francois-Henri Pinault said on behalf of his family, he will donate the two bronze relics to Chinese government.

Pinault expects to return the relics in August or September, while the Chinese officials hope they can be sent back to their home country in July.

"The rat's head and a rabbit's head will be collected by the National Museum," said Song Xinchao, vice director of the State Culture Relics Bureau. He expressed gratitude to Pinault and his family.

The plundered pieces, part of a clepsydra or water clock, are considered Chinese national treasures and China wants them back. The issue of stolen antiquities is highly charged. The heads are among 12 zodiac animal heads that adorned the elaborate timekeeping device.

They were designed by the Italian Jesuit missionary Giuseppe Castiglione for the Emperor Qianlong in the mid-18th century. The Summer Palace was looted by British and French troops in 1860. The heads belonged to several European collections before they were acquired by French businessman Pierre Bergé and the late Yves Saint Laurent in the 1990s.

The Pinault family purchased the rat's head and a rabbit's head from their previous owner in 2009 after an auction failed.



SOURCE: SHANGHAIDAILY.COM
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Jackie and CZ12 win at Okinawa Film Festival

CZ12 was entered into the Okinawa Film Festival which closed yesterday 30 March 2013. The theme of the festival was [Laugh and Peace]. The Laugh Grand Prix prize went to CZ12 beating 9 other entrents.

Jackie was unable to collect his prize in person, but did send a message saying that it was "great news, very encouraging to me and wonderful gift before my birthday".

Staff who collected the prize on his behalf expressed joy and hoped that Jackie would have an opportunity to visit Japan and meet fans with the movie.

SOURCE: SOHU.COM and MANTAN-WEB.JP
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Jackie Rewards CZ12 Success in Malaysia

Jackie took approximately 70 staff as well as Zhang Lanxin and Yao Xingtong to Malacca City in Malaysia to celebrate the success of CZ12. Amongst the various activities planned over 2 days Jackie prepared lucky red envelopes for every one as well holding a lucky draw at dinner.



SOURCE: WEIBO
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Red Carpet for CZ12 in Korea

Jackie and Kwon Sang Woo attend a red carpet premier of CZ12 in Korea as part of the promotions for the film which opens in Korea on February 28th.















SOURCE: ZIMBIO.COM
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Videos: Jackie in Korea

Assorted video clips of Jackie in Korea:









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32 HK Film Awards Nominations

The nominations for the 32nd HK Film Awards were announced today. CZ12 has received 4 nominations:

BEST ACTION CHOREOGRAPHY (Jackie Chan / He Jun)

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS ( Han Yeong-u,  Victor Wong, Patrick Chui, Jang Seong-ho )

BEST NEW PERFORMER (Zoe Zhang Lan Xin)

BEST FILM EDITING (Yau Chi-wai)

SOURCE: SINA.COM

The full list of Awards and Nominations is:

HONG KONG FILM AWARDS NOMINATIONS 2013

Best Film

The Bullet Vanishes
Cold War
Motorway
The Viral Factor
Vulgaria

Best Director

Soi CHEANG 鄭保瑞 (Motorway)
Pang Ho-cheung (Love In The Buff)
LO Chi-leung 羅志良 (The Bullet Vanishes)
Dante LAM 林超賢 (The Viral Factor)
Longman LEUNG 梁樂民, Sunny LUK 陸劍青 (Cold War)

Best Screenplay

Pang Ho-cheung, LAM Chiu-wing 林超榮, Jody LUK 陸以心 (Vulgaria)
Pang Ho-cheung, Jody Luk (Love in the Buff)
Lo Chi-leung, YEUNG Sin-ling 楊倩玲 (The Bullet Vanishes)
Longman Leung, Sunny Luk (Cold War)
Alan MAK 麥兆輝, Felix CHONG 莊文強 (The Silent War)

Best Actor

Nick CHEUNG 張家輝 (Nightfall 大追捕)
Chapman TO 杜汶澤 (Vulgaria)
Lau Ching-wan (The Bullet Vanishes)
Tony LEUNG Ka-fai 梁家輝 (Cold War)
Tony LEUNG Chiu-wai 梁朝偉 (The Silent War)

Best Actress

Zhou Xun (The Great Magician)
Miriam YEUNG 楊千嬅 (Love in the Buff)
Sammi CHENG 鄭秀文 (Romancing in Thin Air)
Elanne KWONG 江若琳 (Love Lifting 高舉・愛 (2011))
Zhou Xun (The Silent War)

Best Supporting Actor

Ronald CHENG 鄭中基 (Vulgaria)
LIU Kai-chi 廖啟智 (The Bullet Vanishes)
Gordon LAM 林家棟 (Cold War)
Chapman To (Diva)
Alex MAN 萬梓

Best Supporting Actress

Susan SHAW 邵音音 (Vulgaria)
Dada CHAN 陳靜 (Vulgaria)
JIANG Yiyan 江一燕 (The Bullet Vanishes)
Elaine JIN 金燕鈴 (The Viral Factor)
Mavis FAN 范曉萱 (The Silent War)

Best New Performer

ZHANG Lanxin 張藍心 (CZ12 十二生肖)
Joyce FENG 馮文娟 (The Last Tycoon 大上海)
Jayden YUAN 袁曉超 (Taichi Zero 太極1 從零開始, Taichi Hero 太極2 英雄崛起)
Alex Tsui 徐家傑 (Cold War)

Best Cinematography

Andrew LAU 劉偉強, Jason KWAN 關智耀 (The Last Tycoon)
CHAN Chi-ying 陳志英 (The Bullet Vanishes)
Kenny TSE 謝忠道 (The Viral Factor)
Jason Kwan, Kenny Tse (Cold War)
Anthony PUN 潘耀明 (The Silent War)

Best Film Editing

YAU Chi-wai 邱志偉 (CZ12)
David RICHARDSON, Allen LEUNG 梁展綸 (Motorway)
KWONG Chi-leung 鄺志良, Ron CHAN 陳忠明 (The Bullet Vanishes)
Azrael CHUNG 鍾煒釗 (The Viral Factor)
Kwong Chi-leung, WONG Hoi 黃海 (Cold War)

Best Art Direction

YEE Chung-man 奚仲文, Eric LAM 林子僑 (The Last Tycoon)
Timothy YIP 葉錦添 (Taichi Zero, Taichi Hero)
LAU Sai-wan 劉世運 (The Guillotines)
Silver CHEUNG 張世宏, LEE Kin-wai 李健威 (The Bullet Vanishes)
MAN Lim-chung 文念中 (The Silent War)

Best Costume & Make Up Design

Yee Chung-man, Jessie TAI 戴美玲 (The Great Magician)
Timothy Yip (Taichi Zero, Taichi Hero)
Dora NG 吳里璐 (The Guillotines 血滴子)
Stanley CHEUNG 張世傑 (The Bullet Vanishes)
Man Lim Chung (The Silent War)

Best Action Choreography

Jackie CHAN 成龍, HE Jun 何鈞 (CZ12)

Sammo HUNG 洪金寶 (Taichi Zero, Taichi Hero)
CHIN Ka-lok 錢嘉樂, WONG Wai-fai 黃偉輝, Thomson NG 吳海棠 (Motorway)
Dante Lam, Chin Ka-lok, Wong Wai-fai, Thomas Ng (The Viral Factor)
Chin Ka-lok & Wong Wai-fai (Cold War)


Best Original Film Score

Comfort CHAN 陳光榮, Yu Peng (The Last Tycoon)
TEDDY Robin 泰迪羅賓, Tommy WAI 韋啟良 (The Bullet Vanishes)
Peter KAM 金培達 (Cold War)
Eman LAM 林二汶 & Veronica LEE 李端嫻 (Diva)
Comfort Chan (The Silent War)

Best Original Film Song

The Last Tycoon
The Guillotines
Romancing in Thin Air
Lan Kwai Fong 2 喜愛夜蒲2
Diva

Best Sound Design

Kinson TSANG 曾景祥 (The Guillotines)
Benny Chu & Steve Miller (Motorway)
Phyllis CHENG 鄭穎園 (The Bullet Vanishes)
Kinson Tsang (The Viral Factor)
Kinson Tsang (Cold War)


Best Visual Effects
HAN Yeong-u 한영우, Victor WONG 黃宏逹, Patrick Chui, Jang Seong-ho (CZ12)
Chas CHAU 邱志盛, Kim HO 何培堅, NG Yuen-fai 吳炫輝 , A Law 老A (Tai Chi Zero, Tai Chi Hero)
Victor Wong (The Guillotines)
Law Wai-ho & Hellowing Cheung (Motorway)
Cecil Cheng (Cold War)

Best New Director

Roy CHOW 周顯揚 (Nightfall)
Brian TSE 謝立文 (McDull, the Pork of Music 麥兜當當伴我心 )
Andrew FUNG 馮志強 (The Bounty)

Best Film from Mainland and Taiwan

Back to 1942 一九四二
Gf*Bf 女朋友 男朋友
Love Is Not Blind 失戀33天 (2011)
Painted Skin: The Resurrection 畫皮Ⅱ
Love 愛
0

CZ12 on Pre-Order!

CZ12 is on pre-order at YesAsia! Expected release date for the Hong Kong version (VCD, DVD and BluRay) is 7 March 2013.

http://www.yesasia.com/global/search/cz12/0-0-0-bpt.48_q.cz12-en/list.html
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Jackie Thanks Singapore

Jackie thanks Singapore in this short clip in both English and Chinese for the success of CZ12 at the box office.


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CZ12 Highest Grossing Chinese Film

Having achieved domestic figures of 850 million RMB making it the highest grossing action film and second highest grossing film in China, CZ12 is on its way to becoming the highest grossing Chinese language film of the past decade in foreign sales.

The release dates for Europe and USA have not been set yet but are expected to be in the second quarter of this year.
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This is not a Review of CZ12

This is not a review of CZ12 but rather just some of my thoughts for others who have seen the movie or will be seeing the movie.

  1. This is a "Jackie Chan" movie ie it has all the elements that make up a traditional Jackie Chan movie - great stunts, lots of action, lots of humour BUT Jackie's style has matured and evolved. In a recent interview Jackie spoke about how he has reviewed his traditional fights. His fight scenes evolved from being him dissatisfied with the old way of fighting one-on-one while the rest of the group waited for their turn to fight. Jackie showed the world intricately choreographed fight scenes with many opponents attacking him at the same time. However he spoke about how that isn't realistic either. Many opponents would simply over power one person. So he has evolved back to fighting only 1 or 2 opponents for the sake of realism.

    So be warned don't look for that old Jackie style of fighting.

  2. There are a lot of messages in the movie where Jackie takes the opportunity to express his point of view. Look out for them. One of them in particular explains something that was misrepresented in the press recently.

  3. There are a LOT of references to both previous Armour Of God movies. Look out for those too.

  4. Watch out for a number of notable guest appearances.

  5. Watch the outtakes at the end carefully - there is one in particular that is a surprise!
Enjoy the movie! 

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Assortment of Videos of Yuanmingyuan









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NEW POSTER AND STILLS FOR CZ12

As promotions for CZ12 start swinging into high gear we have the first series of stills and a new poster for CZ12. Any one getting excited about this movie yet?
























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Toronto International Film Festival

Jackie and Chinese Zodiac will making an appearance at the Toronto International Film Festival on Sunday September 9th. TIFF runs from September 6 - 16 2012 TIFF is a charitable cultural organization with a mission to transform the way people see the world through film.

In Conversation With... Jackie Chan

Actor, director, martial artist, comedian, action choreographer and entrepreneur - Jackie Chan has done it all. This unique interactive session will showcase clips from Chan's impressive oeuvre and give the audience an exclusive sneak peek at his upcoming project, Chinese Zodiac.

Programmer's Note

The artistic heir to Harold Lloyd and Bruce Lee, actor, director, writer, producer, comedian, stuntman, action choreographer and martial artist Jackie Chan is a force to be reckoned with just attempting to list his various roles as a filmmaker leaves one breathless. We will thus be sure to save up plenty of energy for our very special Mavericks session with this uniquely charismatic and inexhaustible multi-hyphenate, who'll discuss his life and career on the eve of the release of Chinese Zodiac, his forthcoming film as actor, writer, director, producer, et cetera.

Chan was born in Hong Kong in 1954. Already exploding with vivacity as a small child, he was nicknamed "Cannonball." He attended the China Drama Academy, where he studied under the great Yu Jim-yuen, along with such future luminaries — and collaborators — as Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao. Chan appeared in films as far back as Big and Little Wong Tin Bar in 1962, when he was only eight. In 1971 he appeared in the martial arts masterpiece A Touch of Zen, and soon after was working as Bruce Lee's stuntman. When his first starring roles failed to impress at the box office, Chan went to Australia, where he briefly attended college and worked construction. However, by 1978 Chan found his commercial breakthrough under legendary director and fight choreographer Yuen Woo-ping. Yuen gave Chan the title role in Drunken Master, and Chan gave a startling performance buoyed by an unprecedented blend of comedy and lightning-fast fighting prowess. A one-of-a-kind star was born.

The Drunken Master, Police Story and Armor of God franchises brought Chan international success. His Hollywood stardom was then cemented with Rumble in the Bronx and the Rush Hour series. In these films Chan would deftly play fish-out-of-water roles, yet his characters were uniformly dignified and dazzling. During this period he also began his career behind the camera; appeared on various television shows; launched a successful recording career as a singer; and founded the Jackie Chan Charitable Foundation, which offers scholarships to young people, and the Dragon's Heart Foundation, designed to assist children and the elderly in remote areas of China.

Here's a question for our Mavericks session: Is there anything Jackie Chan hasn't done? Give the man some time. He isn't even sixty yet. And he moves like a man half his age. Not that anyone moves like Jackie Chan.

Cameron Bailey

SOURCE: TIFF SCHEDULE