Jackie Chan on his feel-good movie formula and how, with films like 1993’s Crime Story, he sought to extend from martial arts to more dramatic roles

In an unpublished interview the Hong Kong actor talks about extending his range to more dramatic roles in film such as Mr Canton and Lady Rose, and Crime Story

He also offers a definition of a Jackie Chan film: happy-go-lucky, with ‘a good guy and a bad guy’ and at the end ‘you leave the cinema with a good feeling’

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Hong Kong martial arts star Jackie Chan (pictured here in 1995) reflected on the dramatic roles he used to extend his range, and his movie formula, in a 1997 interview previously unpublished. Photo: SCMP

Published: 4:15am, 17 Apr 2022

In the last of our extracts from an unpublished 1997 interview, Jackie Chan candidly reflects on some of the films from his “golden age” in the 1980s and early 1990s.

In previous instalments, the Hong Kong action superstar talked about his early days as a stuntman, working with Bruce Lee, shaping his own fighting style, the making of Project A, inventing his Drunken Master kung fu moves, and how he made the most of every opportunity to further his career.

What inspired you to use the female African-American martial artists in Armour of God? One of them, Linda Denley – known as the “The Texas Terror” – was a karate champ in the US.

Going back to The Young Master, I had already fought with many people. It seemed like there were no more new people to fight, as I had fought all the biggest and baddest guys in Asia already.

I’m always trying to do something new, and that makes finding someone to fight for each new movie a challenge.

For Armour of God, to do something different, I thought I would fight with the four black women, who could all do karate very well.