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It’s one thing to flip in the air any time you feel like it. “I can wake up and do
the somersault right away,” says 46-year-old actor and martial-arts whiz Jackie Chan,
currently starring in The Legend of Drunken Master. But it’s that business about
scaling walls that really gets to us.
Question: How in the hell do you do that? How do you climb up a wall?
Answer: You just go up. I don’t know how. I just do it. You’re just born like this
where you know how to. You just climb up.
Q: You’re very good at it, you know.
A: Yeah, kind of.
Q: Kind of?
A: Yeah, I’m very good at it. I’m not only good for the stunt. I can (do) everything
good like stick fighting, kicking, punching, jumping, acrobatics. And everything around
me—a telephone, a sofa, a computer—becomes a weapon.
Q: You’ve adopted some silent screen greats such as Harold Lloyd as mentors.
A: Not only Harold Lloyd, but Charlie Chaplin. And Buster Keaton—I think he’s the
best. And (during) their time they didn’t have protection—elbow pads, knee pads or
special-effects computers. They really surprised me. They did all (their own) crazy
stunts—that’s why I learned everything from them.
Q: Which exercise works the best for you?
A: I love to jog. Not up and down hills—level like a park—for eight kilometers. You
see, most good is the park. And I wear three layers of clothes—light inside pants and then
short pants and then the suit—to make the sweat. Every day I like to see the sweat to keep
thin.
Q: And what do you eat to stay thin?
A: I eat everything. Sometimes five meals a day. Sometimes none. I’m not careful about a
diet. Sometimes I eat a lot of meat. Sometimes I eat a lot of vegetables. It really doesn’t
matter. I like every good food. I like chocolate and ice cream. Everything. Every time I eat, I
just control it. Not too much. I just don’t want to waste food.
Q: Have you developed a routine specifically for your movies?
A: I must keep my body very flexible. I can’t deal with the muscle (being) too big because
too big and I can’t move so fast. I lift light weights, 20 kilos, for the chest, shoulders
and arms for 1 1/2 hours—including talking, you know. Talking and drinking water.
Q: You go through a lot of water?
A: Yes. Natural water from the faucet.
Q: Then what do you do after the weights?
A: Punch and kicking. I watch (myself in) the mirror. With my trainer (the workout is) like a
practice, like spar fighting but we’re not really hurting each other. We touch but not
hard.
Q: What about the kicking?
A: We do it together—kicking for about another 45 minutes. Very difficult—stretch the
leg and kick and (then a) side kick.
Q: There’s dancing in your movements. Did you ever study dance?
A: No, no, no. Never. Never. I learned a lot of things from Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire.
Actually, I totally copied from Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire.
Q: How did Kelly inspire you?
A: The dancing and rhythm. I like the fighting rhythm. It goes boom! boom! boom! boom! boom! Not
bangbangbangbang. This way, (the) audience, they see I’m fighting just like dancing.
Q: And Astaire?
A: When he’s dancing, it’s not only dancing. He can move the light post and slide to
the piano and dance with a chair. I try to use everything around me. When I’m not
punch-kicking, I will fight with the refrigerator and the television and the
radio.
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