Through a career spanning over 50 years, Jackie Chan, both on-screen and off-screen, has evolved significantly. Through a career spanning over 50 years, Jackie Chan, both on-screen and off-screen, has evolved significantly from being a moot point to a ready-to-go self. His transformation has crossed several paths and hence is worth taking a look. Every time, Chan’s swing wasn’t quite catching up with the climate, his innate method held him up. His career features not one but several instances where Jackie-typical style helped him narrowly escape failure and one of them comes early on.
Chan Could Not Be Another Bruce Lee, He Had His Own Style.
Chan started off his career as a stuntman in Chinese films, notably against Bruce Lee in movies like Fist of Fury and Enter The Dragon. But Chan’s path wasn’t destined to be straight, he had to put on several hats before getting started in mainstream cinema applying his formidable innovation. Post Bruce Lee’s death, Jackie was cast in a few Kung Fu movies but none of them seemed to blow the magic. In the wake of failure, he left Hong Kong to join a construction company in Australia as a construction worker. Chan couldn’t go miles long as a construction worker as he knew in the back of his head that there was something that he left untouched – giving his own style a shot.
After a few years of toil, Chan made his way back to Hong Kong, returning to the cinema. This time Chan put an end to copying Lee rather he developed his own style combining slapstick comedy with Kung Fu. As a consequence, in the year 1978, he struck a set of blockbusters in the form of “Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow” and “Drunken Master.” Whoa, that played out well! Within two years of his return to Hong Kong, Jack had become the highest-paid artist in all of Asia. This was just an initial feat of a dazzlingly luminous career.
Chan’s Run In Hollywood Wasn’t An Easy One.
Chan’s Hollywood career has been phenomenal featuring several all-time favorites like Rush Hour and Shanghai Noon. Placing a star of his name in Hollywood was nothing short of a herculean task, it took him more than a decade to solidify himself as a mainstream Hollywood Star. The fact that he was a grand star in the east didn’t quite push his way into West. Like most stars, Jack had an American dream and the corruption overflowing in the Hong Kong film industry pushed him to follow the same, leaving the current. Looking for an opportunity for years, finally, he came up with The Big Brawl, an action/comedy. The movie didn’t seem to do any wonders, except encouraging Jack to pack his bags and make a move back to Hong Kong.
Jack recontinued his operations in Hong Kong for 5 odd years. This 5 years’ worth of duration, Jack wrote and directed some of his finest movies in Hong Kong.
At the heights of his career in the East, Jack thought it was the best time to have another crack of Hollywood. The attempt two was nothing different from the first one, he flew back to his native. Movies were hard to sit through, even Jack believes that. Determined to live what he always envisioned, Jack couldn’t just bite the dust and hide away.
His final attempt, in 1995, he brought on the big screens the Rumble In The Bronx, a home-run hit that busted the questions about his potential of being a Hollywood Superstar once and for all. As mentioned earlier, it was his own method that gave him his way. The guess was right! Jackie Chan took control of the action for the Rumble In The Bronx as Action Director, unlike his previous flops. What happens further is all a part of glorious history.