I only just found this after posting the cast photo [below] so rather than add onto it and make one very long post I'll make this quick.
The teaming up of a Jackie Chan and Jet Li had everyone in the martial arts community salivating and smacking their lips. Things got a bit apprehensive when it looked more and more like Forbidden Kingdom would turn into a family film. While I don't think that is too far off from accurate at least there is going to be some appropriate action scenes for film-geek parents who take their spawn to the theater.
Both Jackie Chan, 53, and Jet Li, 44, said their on-screen duels were the most enjoyable ones they had shot in more than a decade, reported Sina. Jackie Chan said, "Just one fight scene would take 12 days to shoot. Before a shoot, we would say to each other, let's be slower, slower. Once the fighting started, we couldn't control ourselves, we would fight faster and faster." Their duels went by in such a quick blur, the playback had to be set a a lower speed so the moves could be seen, said Jet Li. Even Yuen Wo Ping said that they were too fast.
When Todd wrote about Fearless he noted that Li was slowing down. He was fast, but not as fast as he has ever been. And that's fine, we understand aging and growing old. But perhaps this proves nothing can be hindered by sheer enthusiasm to work together and bringing your 'A' game. Even if it is an 'A-'. But for Yuen Wo Ping to say they're to fast? One word. DANG! Just don't end the movie with a goof reel. Follow the jump to read Jackie Chan's personal reflection about fighting with Jet after the jump.
Also, we can tell you that it slipped during a press conference yesterday that Forbidden Kingdom may be meant to be one of three films [haven't we learned anything about trilogies this summer?]. Yesterday, drector Rob Minkoff declined to confirm talk that the movie is the first of a trilogy. Li Bingbing gave the game away, however. Asked about her character, she said: "Can't tell too much. We have to shoot a sequel."
I Accidentally Injured Jet Li
A long long time ago, so many people in other countries asked me “Compared to Bruce Lee, whose kung fu is better – yours or his?” I really wanted to say “mine” but after I thought about it, I would say Bruce Lee’s was better. Later on some other people asked me “If you fought with Jet Li, who would be the winner?” I thought about it for a while and again, I would say that Jet Li would win. Why did I always want to say that I’d be the winner? Because when they asked me, I was young and competitive. But when I got older, I experienced more and learned that people should be humble. Also, there’s a Chinese saying which means that when you’re judging something like writing or artwork, you can’t say that one is the best because it’s subjective. However, with kung fu or martial arts, the winner is easily identified. But for me, it’s difficult to choose the best in kung fu because it seems that there’s always someone who is better than the one I think is best. I never, ever said that I was Number One. Therefore, if anyone asks me now “Who is the best at kung fu?” I won’t say it’s me.
Today I filmed a fight scene with Jet Li. After a few shots, I suddenly found out that Jet had an abrasion from his temple to his cheekbone. Oh my God - I hurt him! But when it happened, he didn’t say anything. I discovered it by myself. I asked him if I hurt him and he said no. He said when he bowed down and I turned, the bag I was holding accidentally hit him in the face. From that minor thing, you can tell that Jet Li is a professional action star. I really appreciate him. Actually, he was really lucky because originally the bag was made of bamboo. But I thought it was too heavy, and not convenient for me to hold while I did any action and it moved without any flexibility. That’s why I changed the material from bamboo to linen. Think about how hard bamboo is – if the bag was made of bamboo and hit him, he could have had a serious injury or bleeding. That’s why I think we were lucky.
Apart from that, I really enjoyed my fight scene with Jet Li because we work together in complete harmony and the movements are very fluent. That’s such a good feeling. I haven’t had that feeling for over 15 years. It’s the same feeling I used to have when I worked with Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao and it’s good to have it back again. No matter what the rhythm, tempo, low moves, high moves, hard punches, soft punches, kicks, etc. we can master it quickly. Although this was the first time we worked together, it seemed we’d been working together forever. That’s why every shot was finished without more than five takes and some were done in only one take. This is an amazing feat when you’re filming action.
Maybe you don’t know that normally I have to speed up the camera speed to shoot action with other actors in order to make the fight look faster because not all the actors can fight so quickly and fluently. However, this time Jet and I were going faster than the normal speed of the camera. That’s why the director of photography wanted to slow down the camera speed because we were fighting TOO fast. I told them not to; that we would fight more slowly. As we went along, Jet would punch faster and faster; I would block faster and faster. I wondered if this was a case of us trying to show off to each other. I think, though, that it was more a case of respecting each other. I want to ask Jet if he had the same feeling. Just kidding. Ha ha!
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