Jackie Chan’s fateful missed call from Michael Jackson: “I didn’t get to speak to him”
When he wasn’t busy being the ‘King of Pop’ or indulging in the sort of eccentric behaviour that became so tightly woven into the fabric of his public persona, Michael Jackson was known to be a massive fan of cinema.
Most actors would kill for the chance to collaborate with John Landis, Martin Scorsese, John Singleton, David Fincher, or Spike Lee, all of whom directed at least one of Jackson’s music videos. Francis Ford Coppola wielded the megaphone on the sci-fi short Captain EO, and Sidney Lumet helmed his first feature-length performance in The Wiz, too, so it was obvious he knew an auteur when he saw one.
A self-deprecating cameo appearance in Barry Sonnenfeld’s Men in Black II was about the sum of his contributions to the big screen, but it turned out Jackson and Jackie Chan had formed a mutual appreciation society without the other one even realising.
It’s fitting in a way, with the singer being a lifelong fan of Charlie Chaplin, who himself played a huge part in shaping Chan’s unique approach to melding physical comedy, slapstick, and sight gags with the trappings of the martial arts genre, a technique that helped him become one of the most prominent action stars on the planet.
Jackson enjoyed Chan’s movies, and Chan enjoyed Jackson’s music. Still, they were destined to be ships in the night, until the perfect opportunity presented itself. 1998’s buddy comedy Rush Hour partnered the Hong Kong native with the motormouthed Chris Tucker for a box office smash hit that launched a franchise and transformed Chan into an international superstar, and his sparring partner also happened to be a friend of Jackson’s.
It was the ideal time to facilitate a meeting, with Tucker acting as the man in the middle who provided a direct connection to both. Once Chan discovered that his co-star was an acquaintance of the ‘King of Pop’, he asked him to set it up. Tucker wasn’t entirely sure if the notoriously reclusive Jackson would reciprocate those feelings, but he nonetheless put the plans in motion.
While the two never did get around to meeting face-to-face, Jackson did at least try to call Chan once word reached him that he was keen for a chinwag. In a moment that stung him forevermore, he was asleep at the time. Surely, under most circumstances, somebody would be woken from their slumber when it turned out one of the most famous people on the planet wanted to talk to them, but Chan’s assistant wasn’t having it.
When he woke up and was informed that he had a missed call from Jackson, he couldn’t believe it. After his death in 2009, The Guardian quizzed Chan on which names he would invite to his dream dinner party. There was only one, it was Jackson, and he remained tinged with regret. “He called me once,” he sighed. “I didn’t get to speak to him.”
Although nobody knows for sure, it wouldn’t be surprising in the slightest if that ended up being the last day on the job for the assistant who inexplicably let Jackson go straight to Chan’s voicemail.
