Jackie Chan is one of the best action-comedy actors of this generation, and the actor has been part of successful movies, especially in the martial arts genre. The actor is renowned for his acrobatic fighting style, stunts, and comic timing. He gained recognition and an international fan base after working in films such as Police Story, Drunken Master, Rush Hour, and many more.
The Vanguard actor has worked with many legends one of them is another martial arts actor Jet Li, the two actors are great friends and they have even worked together in films, but there was a point in their career when Jackie Chan became negative towards Jet Li after his work in High Risk.
Why Does Jackie Chan Dislike Jet Li’s High Risk?
Jackie Chan and Wong Jing worked together in City Hunter in 1993 which was an adaptation of the manga of the same name, the film was a smash hit, and everybody loved it. However, the actor did not like it and he went to the point of disowning it because it had some perverted jokes, which is an assessment for being faithful to the source material.
Wong Jing was so annoyed by the actor’s behavior that the filmmaker made High Risk in 1995 starring Jet Li mocked the legendary action star. Even though all of the jokes were about Frenkie, there were some instances in the movie which mocked the actor and it was extremely mean, such as Frenkie yelping with fear was used in a fighting scene and the parody character, Frenkie wore a jacket similar to Jackie Chan.
The Skiptrace actor didn’t like the film as some of the jokes were targeted at him, and despite he was not happy with the film, there was nothing he can do about it.
“Wong Jing always want to make quick money, everything quick. Of course I’m not happy, but what can I do? I cannot say, ‘Stop! Don’t do it.’ Naw, let them do it, let it be. People will know what happened. And later I found out I am right, nobody sees [the movie].”
The actor pointed out that even though Jet Li and Jackie Cheung did the film, they were embarrassed to meet him in the eye.
I’m so happy. A lot of people ask Jet li and Jackie Cheung, ‘Why you doing this?’ I think they very embarrassed, even now they look at me they like this, [Jackie pretends to bow head in shame]. I’m so happy. Before they look at me, ‘Yes, yeah!’ But now they look at me like this [bows head again].”
Even though Jet Li did a film mocking Jackie Chan, it is safe to say that the two actors are back to being great friends as the two appeared in films together.
Jackie Chan and Jet Li’s Friendship
Jackie Chan is an impactful action star and there are very few actors who have made an impact in this genre like the actor. The actor had humble beginnings and during the early stages of his career he used to work as a stunt double in Bruce Lee’s films, the actor became a star in Hong Kong Cinema and became a global star once he started working in Hollywood, that showed his fancy stunt work, as well as his humor.
Similar to Jackie Chan, Jet Li also worked in martial arts films which enabled the actor to gain, the actor did his own stunts but unlike Chan, he preferred a no-nonsense form of action, over time the two actors became close friends, and many years the fans of the action stars wanted to see them together on the big screen but it was not possible for a long time due to a number of factors. Even Jackie Chan talked about this incident during an interview with MTV.
“We’ve known each other for more than 30 years, and 20 years ago we tried to work on a movie together. I called him, and we sat and talked, and he agreed, and I wrote the script and he agreed to the script. I told my company to do it, then somehow it [didn’t come together]. I said ‘Why?’ and they said, ‘Because they want to own the rights.’ ‘Who owns the rights?’ ‘Golden Harvest wants to own the rights.’ ‘China Star wants to own the rights.’ ‘Who owns the DVD rights?’ ‘Who owns the video rights?’ I said, ‘No! Who cares? Just make the movie.'”
The two actors were able to make this dream a reality as they appeared together in The Forbidden Kingdom which was a hit and made $129 million at the Box Office, the film was loved by fans and critics alike because of the inclusion of Chinese mythology and fantasy elements.
Source: YouTube
