JACKIE CHAN

Recently seen in The Iron Mask, the action dynamo’s limber skills and comic charm have been ill-served lately. Anyone got a musical to cast?

The meeting of Jackie Chan and Arnold Schwarzenegger is the kind of encounter retro-action fans dream of. Alas, the dream should perhaps have remained a dream. Despite top billing, Chan/Arnie only briefly appear in The Iron Mask. When they do, their creaky tussle suggests they might be secretly quoting an infamous Danny Glover line to themselves.

Chan admitted as much in 2012, when he declared an intent to retire from action. He sort-of qualified the claim later but his stunts had, he lamented, brought him worlds of hurt. Plus, ambitions lingered: “Action stars’ life is so short. Actors’ life is very long. I want to show audiences I can act.”

Despite few opportunities to show it, evidence exists. Available on Netflix UK, Martin Campbell’s revenge thriller The Foreigner (2017) showcases an affecting, controlled intensity from Chan, even if the scenes involving Pierce Brosnan suggest it might have worked better as a Chan vehicle than a two-hander.

It’s similar for many of Chan’s US films, where two types of typecasting figure. Chan has complained the roles he gets offered are always “police from China, from Hong Kong”. Meanwhile, he often shared buddy-ish billing with US stars – Chris Tucker in the Rush Hours, Owen Wilson in Shanghai Noon/Knights

– when he was not treated as a kick-ass clown-for-hire in tat like The Tuxedo.

In earlier action-coms like Drunken Master, Chan emerged as a superlative physical comedian bending action cinema to a charmingly mock-macho tune: the Buster Keaton of bust-ups. Lately, he has become a victim of that legacy and of industry perceptions about his range. Since The Karate Kid (2010), his battle to break the mould has left him looking lost amid ill-received actioners and epics, animation voicework aside.

Occasionally, glimpses of the old style shows: a scrap with a knuckle-duster’d Eve Torres and some nesting dolls here (Skiptrace), a brawl atop the Sydney Opera House there (Bleeding Steel). But one clue to a possible career twist sits in his films. In interviews, Chan asks why he doesn’t get offered roles in romances or musicals, like Mamma Mia! or La La Land. Sounds far-fetched? Maybe, but Chan’s song-based scenes in Skiptrace and Kung Fu Yoga say otherwise. Filmmakers looking for an attentiongrabbing casting gambit – with charm to spare – might want to take a chance on the idea. KH