I Am Jackie Chan: My Life In Action

I Am Jackie Chan: My Life in Action

From the Back Cover"IN THE PANTHEON OF MOVIE ACTION HEROES, THERE IS ONLY ONE TRUE GOD, AND HIS NAME IS JACKIE CHAN."--The Washington Post"JACKIE CHAN'S LIFE STORY READS LIKE A JACKIE CHAN MOVIE: LOTS OF ACTION."--Entertainment Weekly"Chan is the most inventively kinetic movie star since Fred Astaire--his martial arts/acrobatic/stunt riding virtuosity is matched only by a comic ability to convert anything into a weapon."--The Village VoiceAs one of the biggest stars to burst into U.S. theaters, Jackie Chan has wowed audiences with death-defying stunts. But who really is this lightning-fast Charlie Chaplin of martial arts moviemaking? Now, in I Am Jackie Chan, he tells the fascinating, harrowing, ultimately triumphant story of his life: How the rebellious son of refugees in tumultuous 1950s Hong Kong became the disciplined disciple of a Chinese Opera Master. How the dying art of Chinese opera led Jackie to the movie business. And how he broke into Hollywood big time by breaking almost every bone in his body.Review"IN THE PANTHEON OF MOVIE ACTION HEROES, THERE IS ONLY ONE TRUE GOD, AND HIS NAME IS JACKIE CHAN."--The Washington Post"JACKIE CHAN'S LIFE STORY READS LIKE A JACKIE CHAN MOVIE: LOTS OF ACTION."--Entertainment Weekly"Chan is the most inventively kinetic movie star since Fred Astaire--his martial arts/acrobatic/stunt riding virtuosity is matched only by a comic ability to convert anything into a weapon."--The Village VoiceFrom the Inside Flape biggest stars to burst into U.S. theaters, Jackie Chan has wowed audiences with death-defying stunts. But who really is this lightning-fast Charlie Chaplin of martial arts moviemaking? Now, in I Am Jackie Chan, he tells the fascinating, harrowing, ultimately triumphant story of his life: How the rebellious son of refugees in tumultuous 1950s Hong Kong became the disciplined disciple of a Chinese Opera Master. How the dying art of Chinese opera led Jackie to the movie business. And how he broke into Hollywood big time by breaking almost every bone in his body.About the AuthorJackie has written this book with Jeff Yang, the founder and publisher of A. Magazine and the coauthor of Eastern Standard Time: A Guide to Asian Influence in American Culture.Excerpt. ? Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved."Shantytown Stakeout," Police StoryAs far as action is concerned, Police Story is my favorite movie I've ever made, a real whirlwind of slam-bang stunts and wild fights from beginning to end. To start things off right--that is to say, in an insanely exciting and dangerous way--Edward Tang King-sang and I scripted this opening sequence. My character and my fellow cops have been assigned to an undercover stakeout in an attempt to nab a notorious mobster. We set our trap along a winding mountain highway, taking up hidden positions throughout a rickety village of old tin and wood shacks. When our trap is sprung too soon, the dragnet turns into a disaster, as the gangsters try to escape by driving through the mountain village. Not "through" as in "zigzagging around the buildings," but through as in smashing into, over, and through the buildings. I quickly commandeer a car and begin a crazed chase down the slope after them. The car is smashed (as is the village), so I chase the crooks on foot. When they hijack a double-decker bus, I grab an umbrella, take a running leap, and hook its handle onto the rim ofan open window! Hanging desperately onto the umbrella, I try to pull myself into the bus, but am eventually thrown clear. Scrambling down to a lower part of the highway, I draw my pistol, order the speeding bus to stop...and it does, just inches away from my body."The Great Glass Slide," Police StoryThis is where I finally put the drop on the gangsters once and for all. Ofcourse, I had to put the drop on myself in order to do it--literally.After a glass-shattering fight inside a shopping mall, I spot my targetseveral floors bel