By Chinese Zodiac, Jackie Chan’s 101st film, will also be his last big action movie. At a Cannes news conference he said the world is too violent and that he’s very tired. Chan added that he’d still do Karate Kid Part 2 and Rush Hour 4, but those are hardly big action movies, at least not on the scale of Chinese Zodiac. It’s the third film in the Armor of God series, sort of a Hong Kong equivalent to Indiana Jones.
Given how much he’s pushed his body and that he’s 58 now, it makes sense for Chan to retire from action movies. As a long-time fan (you may remember my list of the 12 best Jackie Chan fight scenes), I hope he’ll still do them in some capacity, even if he’s just the wizened old drunkard a la Simon Yuen.
I also hope he does some kind of reunion movie with Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao. It could be a comedy with some light action. In fact, I sincerely think Chan, Hung, and Biao should do a remake of the Gene Kelly film It’s Always Fair Weather. You get Chan in the Gene Kelly role, you cast Maggie Cheung in the Cyd Charisse part, and so on. Seriously, it just might work, and I’ll tell you why later tonight.
[Via BBC News, The Telegraph]