The movies Jackie Chan regrets making
If there’s a position that can be held on a movie production or any injuries that can be sustained therein, then there’s a distinct possibility that Jackie Chan has done it.
One of the greatest action stars in history, the actor has sent his body to hell and back in the name of entertaining audiences, with his recuperation time being severely limited by off-screen duties that have extended to writing, directing, composing, choreographing stunts, and even providing catering.
A hole in the skull, electrical burns, shattered vertebrae, a cracked sternum, shredded shoulders, lacerations, and crushed ankles are only the tip of Chan’s injury-hit iceberg, but there’s a distinct chance he’d rather suffer them all over again instead of revisiting the films from his own back catalogue he likes the least.
Even though it’s the biggest crossover hit of his entire career and launched a hugely lucrative franchise, Chan’s disdain for the Rush Hour trilogy is well-known. He’s never tried to hide it, either, admitting on multiple occasions that he only starred in three of them because the paycheques were so substantial it would be a foolish fiscal decision on his part to say no.
Sex scenes are hardly something Chan has become renowned for, which led to him distancing himself from 1975’s All in the Family, an erotically-charged comedy the actor effectively apologised for. “I had to do anything I could to make a living 31 years ago, but I don’t think it’s a big deal,” he said via China Daily. “The porn movie at that time was more conservative than the current films”. Despite that, it’s not actually a porno.
Chan was so dissatisfied with 1985’s The Protector – in particular, director James Glickenhaus – that he opted to take matters into his own hands. Adamant that the filmmaker was bungling his staging of the action sequences, he even walked off set at one stage before his contractual obligations necessitated a return. Ultimately, Chan would wash his hands of the international release, re-edit the film himself and helm additional reshoots before releasing his own preferred cut in his native China.
Beyond that, 1993’s manga adaptation City Hunter sticks out as another sore point, which he ended up disowning. It’s not his worst-ever movie, but the insistence it be released in time for the Chinese New Year left the actor unwilling to deliver his best work, especially when a double was used to film the climactic fight scene after the leading man’s injuries didn’t heal in line with the quickfire production schedule.
Chan hasn’t made a point of sweeping a huge number of his credits under the rug relative to the sheer volume he’s racked up over half a century in the business, but evidently, being placed into action beats, he doesn’t have complete control over and copulating on-camera is enough to make him shudder.
