October 27

Location Scouting

Today we had a busy day of location scouting planned, but it didn’t start until the afternoon, and it wasn’t necessary to wake up too early. So I began my day in a happy mood after a good night’s sleep and a relaxing outing yesterday in Santa Fe.

Before beginning the work day, I walked to a pizza restaurant not far from our apartments and because the weather was so nice, we sat outside. It was really beautiful with blue skies, puffy white clouds, and warm sunshine. Although some of my staff were complaining about how dry the air is here in New Mexico, I think they are getting used to it because all of them seemed to be really enjoying the weather as we sat and ate our lunch.

After lunch we drove to the first location so that my stunt team and I could begin planning the action sequences and stunts with the American stunt coordinator. Brian, the director, and other crew members joined us and as we walked around discussing the action in the movie, I felt very relaxed and happy. Things in my life are getting back to normal – location scouting, rehearsals, filming. I’m so happy to see the JC Team together again; every day they’ve been arriving from China, Korea, Australia, and Hong Kong. I feel very lucky to be working with such a nice director. From the first moment I met him, I felt like he knew me; I felt the same way when I met the hair and make-up people and other crew members. Of course people in the movie profession know each other. The prop guys all talk together; the hairdressers from one movie know the hairdressers from another movie. Lucky for me they said nice things and so when I came to this production, everyone was happy to work with me. When I work on a movie, I come to the set on time, and I’m told that I don’t act like a spoiled superstar – I respect that everyone on a movie set has a job to do and I want to be cooperative to make the whole experience pleasant.

Planning a stunt.

A long time ago when I first began working on American films, I was very nervous. But now I feel comfortable and relaxed; much more confident. So far everything has been very easy – location scouting, rehearsals, even choreographing the stunts. Because this is a family movie, we cannot have any action that’s too violent. Actually, I love this kind of movie.

Before I tell you about what happened next, I should first tell you that for the entire time it takes us to film this movie, we have a driver – a very nice gentleman named Walt. He was hired by the production to pick us up in the mornings and take us home at night and he also drives us wherever we need to go in between. So on this day it was Walt who was driving us from one location to the next, and I was sitting in the passenger seat. Unfortunately, the windows weren’t tinted and two women spotted me as we were driving down the road. One woman - the driver of the car - started screaming my name and waving her arms at me – she was paying no attention at all to the road. I rolled my window down and tried to tell her to be careful, but I think that made matters worse because when the window was lowered, she started screaming even louder “Jackie Chan! Jackie Chan! Oh my God! OhmyGodohmyGod!!”  I really didn’t know what to do – I was so worried about her and all the cars around her. When the truck in front of her stopped suddenly, she nearly rear-ended him. I was very happy when we finally lost her in traffic. Just as I let out a sigh of relief and began rolling up my window, I heard a shrill and ear-splitting scream coming from outside. Oh no, I thought. I can’t be!  But it was. The woman was back, only this time she was holding a camera in her hand and shouting out the window, “Can I take your picture?!!?  Can I take your picture?!”  I honestly didn’t know what to do. Should I let her take a quick picture and hope that she’ll stop chasing me and pay attention to driving the car? Should I roll up the window and crouch down in my seat so she can’t see me anymore?  I decided that the best thing to do was to just keep screaming out the window, “Drive!!  Drive!!” and let her take the quick photo, which she did. Luckily for everyone on the road that day, this woman was able to drive, scream, and take photos at the same time.

The next day Walt had the side windows on the car tinted.

October 28

Planning the Action Sequences

Today we went to more locations to have a look around and plan the action sequences. As I surveyed the place, my head was full of ideas and when I shared them with the director, I could see that he was happy and excited about my input. He’s a very easygoing guy and I feel really comfortable with him. He was glad when I told him that it wasn’t necessary to build any elaborate set-ups for the action; I told him that we could save money by just using what was there. Because I planned stunts and action for so many years, it’s easy for me to look around and imagine how the existing environment can be used. There’s no need to waste anyone’s time or money by building new things.

Cleaning up after my haircut.

After work, coffee break at a nearby bookstore.

In the evening, my staff and I went out for a nice relaxing dinner. I have found a local Chinese restaurant where the food is fresh and delicious. It’s not a fancy place, but I feel very comfortable there and I will definitely go back. Tomorrow I will meet the children and we will rehearse. Then, the next day we start filming. I can’t wait to start this movie!

October 29

Meeting the Children

Today I met the children and we had a quick rehearsal. Of course I immediately fell in love with the kids - they are adorable and they all have really charming personalities.

I am shaking hands with Alina Foley. You can see Will Shadley and Madeline "Maddy" Carroll also in this photo.

After rehearsals we went for a nice relaxing dinner and everyone went to bed early to prepare for the first day of filming.

October 30

Filming Begins

On the first day of filming, the little five year-old girl (Alina Foley) talked so much! She was running all around and finally when she stopped, I asked her if she was tired and she said, “No, I’m not tired. I’m VERY very tired” and she just laid down right on the floor on the set to sleep; she wouldn’t get up! Ah, children!  I tried to help get her energy up – you know, throw her around, make her laugh.  I thought to myself, “This is only the first day – I’ll be doing this for the next two months! Oh my God!  I think I’ll be carrying this little girl around for the next two months.” But really, I’m not complaining. Actually I love children and it’s all okay with me. They are lovely children; in fact, everyone on the set is nice and everything is very very good.

You see Alina laying on the floor? 

"I'm not tired, I'm very, very tired."

Here's Alina checking me out. I think she decided that I am an okay guy, because now we are best friends.

The filming took place at an actual middle school here in New Mexico, so there were kids all over the place. I saw some gymnastics students practicing in the gym and as I stood there watching them, I thought of how lucky they were. They have teachers who care about them and never hit them; they just talk to them. This is not the way I was taught – our teachers would hit and beat us. I think these kids are very lucky.

Watching the gymnasts reminded me of when I was young.

These are some of the gymnasts.

Spotting one of the girls for her handstand.

When we were done for the day, I handed out some souvenir keychains to the kids.

Here's our  very patient and friendly director, Brian Levant. Don't you love his t-shirt?

October 31

Filming on Halloween

Today we filmed at the middle school again, and I saw many of the students dressed up for Halloween. I told Katharine, who is an American, that I didn’t really understand this holiday and thought it was kind of peculiar. When I was growing up, we didn’t have this kind of holiday, although now I see more and more people in Hong Kong celebrating it. We didn’t celebrate Christmas, Valentine’s Day, or Thanksgiving; the only holiday I really remember was Chinese New Year. When I looked at the children, I could tell that they took a lot of time to create their costumes and they were having a lot of fun. So even though I don’t really understand this holiday, I appreciate that American culture is very different from Chinese culture. We have holidays that may seem unusual to Westerners and vice versa.

Filming at the school was a little difficult because there was nowhere for me to hide; all the children wanted to take a photo or have an autograph. I was trying to concentrate on rehearsing my dialogue, so it was difficult for me. I didn’t want to disappoint the kids, so I signed about a hundred autographs. I couldn’t help but enjoy looking at all the children in their costumes and smiling when I saw how much fun they were having.

We took some photos of the kids to show you:

When we were filming outside, we found this little puppy dressed as a pumpkin, so we borrowed her for a photo.

This young girl was standing across the street from where we were filming and when I saw her beautiful sign, I invited her over to say hello. When she was ready to leave, she thought she was going to take her sign with her, but I asked her if I could keep it for my museum. (She said yes!)

This is me teaching Maddy some hand tricks. She's a terrific girl and a quick learner.

After we finished filming, we went to have dinner at a Korean barbeque restaurant not far from our apartment. I was really impressed at how delicious the food was – very authentic Korean. After a long day of filming, it was so relaxing to sit with my staff, talking, eating, and just enjoying each others’ company. Since it was Halloween, there were a lot of people walking around town with costumes on and a few of them came into the restaurant. I thought they looked really funny, so I took a few photos with them. While we were eating dinner, two people who were working as volunteers for one of the presidential candidates came over to our table and gave me a t-shirt, a bumper sticker, and some buttons. I told them that I’d wear the shirt only if the guy won! Ha ha ha.

When we got back to the apartment after dinner, we took a walk since all of us had eaten too much. I think it’s important to get a little exercise after a big meal, so every night after dinner, we take a walk. When I got back to my room, I watched television for a while and then went to bed. Although the next day was Saturday, we would be rehearsing the action sequences, so I wanted to make sure I got a good rest.

Text and photos Copyright 2008 The JC Group.

All Rights Reserved.

Oct 27 (星期一)

看场景：

          今天我将会很忙碌，因为计划了中午去看场景，由于是中午开始，所以我不需要太早就起床。昨天去圣达菲轻松了一整天，还有昨晚睡得很好，今天一开始心情就很好了。

          在开始工作前，由于天气很好，我步行到酒店附近的一间薄饼餐厅，我们就坐在餐厅外。那蓝蓝的天空，饱满的白云和温暖的阳光，这一切都很美。虽然有些员工埋怨新墨西哥的空气很干，但是我想他们会习惯的，因为我们坐在餐厅外面吃午餐的时候，他们似乎都很享受。

          午餐以后，我们开车到第一个场景，那我和武师兄弟们可以与美国的动作指导一起计划连续的动作镜头和惊险动作。导演白赖仁（Brian）以及其它工作人员都参与，大家边走边讨论戏中的动作，这都令我感到很轻松和愉快。我的生活又回复到正常了　－　去看场景、试演排练和拍戏。我很高兴又看到成家班走在一起，每天都有人从中国、韩国、澳洲和香港来到美国。可以跟一位这么好的导演合作，我感到很幸运。我第一次跟他见面的时候，感觉就像他已经认识我；而当我与发型师和化装师以及其它工作人员见面的时候，我也有这个感觉呢。当然，在电影界的专业人士都互相认识的。道具手足全都一起聊天；发型师又会从一部电影认识另一位发型师。幸运地他们对我的评语都很好，所以当我参与影片的时候，每一个人都说很开心跟我合作。当我投入拍摄工作的时候，我会准时到达现场，而他们告诉我，说我不像一些被宠坏的大明星，因为我尊重在现场工作的每一个工作人员。而我呢，我想尽力配合，好让整个工作经验都是愉快的。

计划动作场面

          很久以前，当我第一次开始拍摄美国电影的时候，我是非常紧张的。但是现在，我感觉很舒服和轻松，而且更有信心。到目前为止，所有事情都很容易　－　去看场景、彩排，甚至设计动作场面。因为这是一部家庭电影，我们不能够有一些太过暴力的动作。事实上，我是喜欢这类家庭式的电影的。

          在我告诉你跟着发生的事情之前，首先我要告诉大家我们有一位司机，这一次拍戏他负责接送我们，他是一位很好的人，他叫华士（Walt）。制作品聘请了他，每一个早上他都会来接我们，晚上送我们回酒店；而且，在我们需要的时候，他都会车我们。所以在这些日子里，都是华士接送我们到现场，我就坐在乘客的座位。不幸地，车的窗户颜色是浅色的，当车子经过的时候，两位女士看到我。其中一位是开车的司机，她开始尖叫我的名字，然后向我挥手，完全没有顾及路面安全。我打开窗，试图叫她小心开车，却弄巧成拙，因为当窗户缓缓向下的时候，她开始更大声的尖叫：「成龙！成龙！我的天呀！我的天我的天！」我真的不知道应该怎样做，我很担心她，也担心所有在她附近的车辆。有一辆货车在她的车前停下来，她的车差点儿碰上货车的尾部。我很开心，因为最后她都在繁忙的交通中消失了。当我松一口气的时候，开始把窗关上，我听到一声刺耳和震耳欲聋的尖叫声从车外传来。我想，千万不要，我不能接受！但是，这正是，那女士又出现了，这一次她手拿着照相机，在窗外大叫：「我可以拍你的照片吗？」。坦白的说，我真的不知道怎样做。我应该让她快快的拍几张照片，希望她不要追着我，然后小心的开车？还是把窗关上，蜷缩在座位里，那她就不能再看到我？我决定了最好的方法就是向车外放声大叫的说“开车！开车！”并让她快快的拍了照片，而她也是这样做着。那天街上的每一个人都算走运，因为这位女士能够同时间开车、尖叫和拍照的。

          第二天，华士把车窗的玻璃着色了。

Oct 28 (星期二)

计划连续的动作镜头：

          今天，我们去看了很多个场景并计划了一些动作镜头。在我审视这些地方的时候，我脑海里有很多构思，当我跟导演谈及我的构思，我看得出来他对于我的贡献是很开心和兴奋的。他是一位很随和的人，跟他合作真的感到很舒服。我告诉他无需为动作建造任何精巧的装配，他听到很高兴。我说我们可以用这里已有的东西，就可以省一点钱了。因为我设计了危险动作场面和动作多年了，只要我审视四周的环境，就很容易想象到现有环境如何运用。这是不需要建造一些新的建筑物，不需浪费任何人的时间和金钱。

          晚上，我跟员工去吃了一顿很好和令人轻松愉快的晚餐。我找到一间本地的中国餐厅，那里的食物很新鲜和美味。这里不是很别致的地方，但是我感觉很舒服，我是一定会再次光顾的。明天我要跟一群小孩子见面了并跟他们一起彩排。然后，大后天我们开始拍摄工作，我非常期待投入拍摄电影。

Oct 29 (星期三)

与小孩子见面：

          今天，我见了很多小孩子并与他们来了一个很快的彩排。当然，我马上就爱上了这些小朋友了　－　他们很可爱，他们的个性都很迷人。彩排过后，我们去吃一顿好的晚餐，然后大家都回去睡觉，为明天第一天的拍摄工作做好准备。

Oct 30 (星期四)

开始拍摄：

          第一天的拍摄工作，一个五岁的小女孩名叫阿莲娜．霍莉（Alina Foley），她说很多话！她周围走，最后当她停下来，我就问她累不累，她说：「不，我不累。我是非常非常的累．．」，她说着马上的躺在地上睡觉，没有起来！啊，小孩子！我尝试帮助她充电，其实就是，把她抛来抛去，弄得她开怀大笑。我想：「这只是第一天而已，接下来的两个月我都要这样做！我的天啊！我想跟着的两个月我都要带着这个小女孩。」但是真的，我不是抱怨，事实上我喜欢小孩子，我跟小孩子合作是没有问题的。他们都很可爱，在现场他们都很好，所有事情都非常非常好。

          拍摄场地是新墨西哥的一所中学内，这里到处都是小孩子。我看到一些体操学生在体育馆内练习，我站着看着他们，我想他们真的很幸运。有老师在照顾他们，而且从不体罚他们，只是跟他们讲。这跟我以前的状况很不同，我们的老师会体罚我们，所以我觉得这一群孩子很幸运。

Oct 31 (星期五)

在万圣节进行摄制：

          今天完成了中学的拍摄工作，我看到很多学生都为了万圣节打扮一番。我跟Katharine说，我真的不大明白这些节日，更认为这些节日有点儿奇怪。我成长过程中，是没有这一种节日的，虽然现在我看到越来越多香港人庆祝万圣节。我们不会庆祝圣诞节、情人节、或是感恩节；唯一我真正记得的假期就是农历新年。当我看着这些孩子，我可以看得出他们花了很多时间在制造他们的服装，而他们也得到很多乐趣。所以，就算我真的不大了解这个节日，我欣赏美国与中国不同的文化。对西方人而言，可能我们中国的文化也是很奇特的。

          在学校里拍摄是有一点儿困难的，因为我找不到一个地方可以把自己藏起来，所有小朋友都想跟我拍照和拿签名。我试图集中精神背台词，而这却是很困难的。我不想让孩子们失望，所以我签了一百多个名呢。当我看到孩子们欢天喜地的样子，我没有办法不看着这些孩子们的服装，以及他们的笑容。我们拍了一些孩子们的照片给你们看看。我们在外面拍摄的时候，我们看到一头小狗装扮成一个南瓜，我们把牠借来拍了一张照片。在拍摄场地的对面街上，我看到一个女孩子拿着的美丽标语，我就邀请她过来，跟她打招呼。她准备离开的时候，她以为带着她的标语离去，但是我问好可否把这个标语放到我的博物馆内？（她说：可以！）

          拍摄完毕，我们去吃酒店附近的一间韩国烧烤餐厅吃晚餐。那里的食物很好吃　－　非常纯正的韩国菜，这些食物给我留了一个很好的印象。拍了一整天的戏，跟员工轻松的坐下来，聊聊天，吃东西，是挺轻松愉快的。由于是万圣节，有很多人打扮一番在城里走动，有些人来到餐厅里。我觉得他们很有趣，所以我跟他们拍了几张照片。我们吃晚饭的时候，有两位总统候选人的助选义工来到我们的面前，给了我一件汗衫、一个汽车保险杠的标贴和一些小徽章。我跟他们说，那位候选人能胜出，我才会穿这件汗衫的！哈哈哈！

          晚饭后，我们回酒店去，我们散步的回去，因为大家都吃得太饱了。我想大吃一顿以后，做一点儿运动是很重要的，所以每一个晚上，吃过晚餐，我们就散散步。我回到房间，看了一会儿电视，我就睡觉了。虽然明天是星期六，我们将要为一连串的动作镜头作彩排，所以我想肯定要好好休息。

文本和照片版权属于成龙公司（JC Group）所有。

未经许可，不得擅自使用。