November 10

Working on a Day Off

Today we had a day off from filming but I worked anyway. Together with my stunt team, I drove to one of the locations to prepare and rehearse the action scenes. A very large part of any stunt or action scene is preparation and rehearsal. This insures that no one gets hurt and that the scene can be filmed in just a few takes.

While we were there I noticed something that I wanted to share with you. One of the crew members, Shani, has the messiest back seat of a car that I’ve ever seen in my entire life.  Here it is:

She told me that she can’t help it; she spends so much time in her car. Shani works on the locations crew and that's why you see some work supplies in her back seat. One of their jobs is to place direction signs near the locations so that the crew can find their way to the set.

See the sign posted at this intersection? Without these signs it would be difficult to find some locations.

This is a very important job and it’s not as easy as it looks because they have to anticipate all the different directions that people may be arriving from and make sure that the directional signs are visible. Then, when we move locations, they have to retrieve all the signs and move them to the next location. Even knowing how busy she was, I couldn’t help but tease her about the condition of her car. I wanted so badly to clean it all up, but I’d probably end up throwing away everything and then she’d be mad at me.

Tonight we had dinner at my favorite local Chinese restaurant. I asked them to make a special meal for us – dumplings. They were happy to do this and of course we were all happy to eat them. When we got there we noticed that there were no other customers in the restaurant. It turns out that their restaurant is closed on Mondays, but they came in to cook for us anyway! I was so surprised and touched when I found this out and as a way of saying thank you to them, I decided to go into the kitchen and help them cook. I made a special fried rice for everyone and my stunt team helped cook some other dishes. It was great fun to be standing at the stove cooking a big wok full of fried rice.

Stuntmen He Jun and Guan Hua help out in the kitchen.

Wu Gang.

When I was done I served it to my guests and staff and everyone said that it was the best fried rice they had ever tasted. I’m sure they were saying this just to make me happy, and of course it did. Ha ha. I’m not much of a cook, but I can put together a few things. When we were done eating, everyone helped to clean up the mess so that the couple who owns the restaurant wasn’t stuck there with loads of plates and glasses to clean up. It was a lovely evening and when we were finished, we all went back to the apartment to prepare for another week of filming.

November 11

Filming in the Middle of Nowhere

Today we drove out to a private airport where the production had rented a hangar to film some green screen scenes. It was quite cold in the morning and everyone was wearing heavy coats and hats. By noon, it had warmed up and although it was windy, it was very beautiful out in the middle of nowhere at this airport. I had to film with the children today and as usual I did my best to entertain little Alina on the set. She likes when I carry her around and she can pretend that she’s flying. She’s such a lovely little girl.

The other two children, Will and Maddy, did a really professional job while we were filming our dialogue scenes. I am very impressed with both of them. While we were waiting between scenes, I taught Will some hand movements and he tried his best to copy what I did. I think he’s a very smart guy and he always pays attention when I am showing him things. I really enjoy the time that I get to spend with the kids.

In the evening I went outside and saw the beautiful moon up in the sky. I quickly got my camera out and took a few photos for you to see:

I took a panorama of the area for you to see:

New Mexico is a very beautiful place; you can see how clean and clear the air is when you look into the distance and all the details on the faraway mountains are sharp; you feel like you could reach out and touch the mountains even though they are many miles away.

Today my Segway PTs arrived from Hong Kong and I have them outside my trailer on the set. I like to bring the Segway to the movie set because there is always a lot of room to ride around and I also like to introduce this great technology to my colleagues.

After we wrapped, we had a quick dinner and then headed back to the apartments and went to sleep.  On the way home, Walt stopped the car and showed us a beautiful view of the city from the top of a hill:

November 12- 13

Busy Busy Days

I think that these two days have been the busiest days I’ve spent since the Olympics. We’ve been filming underground and down in the tunnel it’s so loud and the noise never stops. It’s so hard to hear what anyone is saying; I was running and shouting all day…this kind of thing gives me a headache. The fog machines pump the smoke constantly and the air makes your eyes and your throat hurt. Because we were filming the action sequences, the director really needed my help, so I spent the whole day on the set with rehearsals and then filming. Sometimes the American system drives me crazy, but sometimes I think they do the right thing. It’s not like it used to be when I was making an American film – they just gave me one and a half days for the action sequence. I ask myself, “Can I finish?” Then I realize that I can. Before, I would say that I cannot finish in one and a half days; I need three days and I would yell and insist on more time. But I know that if I push myself to the limit, I can get it done. It’s not easy; and it’s a bit tiring.

Although I sometimes don’t like the American system, I understand and accept the way things work here. A system is a system, and there’s a reason for what they do. It’s important to stay on schedule; if you fall one day behind it affects all the other days to follow. I have been spoiled for so many years; like when we filmed the fight scene in Drunken Master 2. For a ten minute fight, we filmed for three months. Why did it take so long? Because if we were on the set and I didn’t like the way things were going, I would just call it a day and go home. I could do this because the labor was so cheap. A day of filming in Hong Kong could cost only three or four thousand US dollars. So cutting a day short was not a problem. In America, I think that if we miss a day it could cost half a million dollars. Not only that, but it causes a domino effect, just like the problems with the economy. When something crashes, you may think that it’s not your problem, but it really becomes everyone’s problem.

So I spent the day underground, just coming up to have lunch or use the bathroom. I spent a lot of time with the actor from Iceland, Magnus Scheving. When I first met him, I was doubtful that he would be able to perform the fight scenes. But he worked very hard and he did well. Of course the rhythm was not as good as our team, but he was willing to try everything, even the big stunts. He trusted me. Actually, he accidentally hurt me a few times, but I never let him know because if I did he would only get more nervous. So if I got hurt, I just said, “Let’s continue” and didn’t tell him that there was any problem.

This is my first time working with Brian, the director, and all the rest of this crew. After only a few days, I realized that everyone cooperated very well. The lighting team cared about the lighting, I cared about the action, and of course the director cared about everything. I was so impressed that each of the actors cared about the other characters and that I could talk to the director about things that didn’t seem reasonable (or did seem reasonable). George, the first assistant director, has learned to watch for my signal and when I raise my hand and make the motion of pulling the rope on a bell, he knows it’s time for shooting. I always call out “Ding Ding!” which means “it’s time to roll the cameras” and now everyone on the set knows to listen for “Ding Ding!” 

I will tell you the story of how I came to start saying “Ding Ding!” when I am ready for the cameras to roll. For many years, when I was ready, I would call out “Go! Go! Go!” Someone even gave me a t-shirt that had this written on it. Then, when we were working on a big set filming Rush Hour, there was a really loud bell that would ring when the cameras were ready to roll. So I started saying “Ding! Ding!” when I was ready; I think it’s more polite than calling out “Go! Go! Go!” 

Because we’ve been rehearsing and then filming action for several days, my body is so sore; all my muscles hurt. But now we’re done with that part and can move on to more dialogue and other scenes. I am very happy with this small crew; in only a few weeks I’ve gotten to know everybody. Usually when you’re making a movie there are two or three hundred people on the set and it’s impossible to get to know everyone. With this small group I can really get to know the people and that makes me happy.

Don takes care of supplying us with snacks on the set.

Tony, who is in charge of all the props for this movie, brought in a pair of Willy Wonka glasses and the crew had a little fun with them:

So everything is very good right now; I am working with a nice crew, I visited Santa Fe a few times, bought my pig. Everything is going so smoothly. Okay, one thing is not going well – I cannot get in contact with Brett Ratner; I’ve been calling him for a month but he never calls me back. Maybe he’ll read my diary and return my phone calls ha ha.

At lunchtime on Wednesday, I finally had some free time to sit down and judge the Decorate Jackie for Halloween contest on my Kids Corner. I was really happy and surprised by all of the funny and colorful designs that fans sent in. I know that this contest has been going on for a few years, and I’m really impressed that people can think of brand new designs every year. I’m always amazed at the way artists think – where do they get their ideas from? Anyway, I was very happy to see that fans still like this contest – actually, it is the one that makes me laugh the most. Every year I look forward to picking out the winners. I want to say thank you to everyone who sent in a picture and I also want to say that all of you are winners because the drawings are all very very good! I wish I could send you all a prize.

November 14

A Very Funny Five Dollar Friday

We were on the set until after one o’clock in the morning yesterday, so today we had a later pick-up time. We didn’t have any action scenes to film, but it was still a long day of hard work to get all the interior shots done at the location we went to.

Since today was Friday, we had the Five Dollar Friday drawing at the end of filming. To make things more interesting, I donated some extra money into the pot and I also added two special prizes – down jackets from my JC collection. Since there was $1,700 in the pot, I decided that I would draw four names this time. Two would split the cash and the other two would win the down jackets. You are not going to believe what happened next, but I swear that it’s true. George Parra, the 1st Assistant Director drew the first name out of the bag to win the down coat and you’ll never guess whose name he drew. My staff member Katharine! I told her that I’d give her a down jacket when we got back to Hong Kong; that she should let someone else win the coat, and she agreed. So George Lopez picked the second name out of the bag and incredibly he drew my staff member Osumi’s name! Ha ha! Osumi couldn’t believe it and neither could I. Of all the names in the bag, what are the chances of drawing two of my own team members? Well, it gets better because the third name that we drew was Alan, one of my stunt guys. Everyone in the room was laughing by this time and saying that it was a set up, but of course there is no way I could have made this happen. I told everyone that if I were the one picking out the names, I could understand if someone thought I was choosing my own staff, but I wasn’t the one choosing the winners! So we put Alan’s name back in and drew a fourth name and…..the next name picked out of the bag was….JACKIE CHAN! One of my staff had put my name in as a joke; I usually don’t include myself in the drawings.

I think that the chances of this happening are probably a million to one, and my staff said we should all run to Las Vegas while our luck was so high. Ha ha! Can you believe it? Happily, that was the last of my staff members’ names to be drawn…one of the coats ended up going to Shannon, our basecamp assistant, another coat went to the production assistants, and the cash was won by Tyler, our video technician, and one of the stand-ins. By the time we finished, everyone was laughing over the incredible coincidence of having all my staff members’ names chosen one after another!

By the time we got home it was very late, and all of us were happy just to relax and have a good night’s sleep.

November 15 - 16

My Weekend

On Saturday I went to the next location with my stunt team to rehearse the action sequences that we will film next week.

On Sunday, I slept late and then went shopping at a store named Lowe’s. This store is beautiful; very much like Home Depot and they have just about everything you can imagine for your home. I go there and buy things and send them back to Hong Kong. I don’t know why I buy some of the things that I do….that’s just me.

When I came back, I went jogging for an hour…and that was my weekend.

On Sunday night we went back to the Chinese restaurant for a quiet dinner and then we went to the supermarket. As I walked around looking at all the things on the shelves, I was amazed by the choices that they had. Instead of having just two or three brands of something, they have a dozen. This makes choosing very difficult. Still, it’s fun to walk around the supermarket.

When we were finished we went back to the apartment to get ready for another busy week.

Here are a few more photos from this week:

Playing volleyball on the set at 1:00 in the morning.

Trying out our set photographer's camera.

And now....you will see how hard I work:

First I cook the food in the catering truck:

Then I have to get in line to wait my turn for lunch:

Lunch:

Dessert:

Of course I'm only kidding....I don't have to cook my own lunch or stand in a line. We just wanted to take some funny photos.

I thought I looked like a giant in this hallway. What do you think?

Teaching our cameraman Casey a lesson.  

I signed an autograph for the crew of the coffee truck. They wrote "We Love JC" on all the coffee cups one night.

Text and photos Copyright 2008 The JC Group.

All Rights Reserved

Nov 10 (星期一)

          今天是剧组的休息日，可是我还是要开工。我跟我的武师兄弟开车去下一个拍摄场地，为下一场动作场面做准备功夫和彩排。大部份的动作和惊险场面都花了很多时间在准备和彩排上，那就可以确保不会有人受伤，而这场戏可以拍几次就可以完成了。

          我到了场地，发现了一些东西，我想与你们分享一下。剧组其中一位工作人员珊妮（Shani）的汽车后座真的乱作一团，我从没有看过这样的情况。她说没办法，她有很多时间都在车上。珊妮在现场工作，她其中一个职责是在现场附近放好指示牌，让工作人员可以按指示牌去到现场。这个工作是非常重要的，而且并不容易，因为她需要考虑到人们可能从不同方向来到现场，她要肯定那些方向指示牌是清晰可见的。然后，当我们转到下一个场地，她就要收回所有指示牌，把它们搬到下一个场地。话虽如此，我也不禁取笑她车厢的情况。我想把它彻底清理好，可是我想最后我会把所有物品丢掉，而她就会恼怒于我呢。

          晚上，我们在我喜欢的中国餐厅吃饭。我请求他们为我们做一个特别的食品：饺子。他们很乐意为我们做饺子，而我们当然很开心可以吃到饺子。我们到了餐厅以后，发现里面没有其它客人。后来我发现原来他们星期一是休息日，只是店主回来为我们做菜而已！知道了以后，我很愕然和感动，为了表示我的感谢，我决定走进厨房帮助他们煮菜。我做了一个特别的炒饭给大家吃，而我的成家班就帮忙弄其它的菜。站在火炉前，炒大镬饭，感觉很有趣。弄好了以后，我给我的客人和员工吃，每一个人都说这是他们吃过最好吃的炒饭。我肯定他们这样说是为了使我开心，当然我也是很开心的，哈哈！我并不是厨师，但是我还是会弄几个菜的。吃过晚饭，每一个人都帮忙清理东西，那餐厅东主夫妇就不用呆在这里清理一大堆的盘子和杯子。今天大家度过了一个美好的晚上，我们清理过后，就回酒店睡觉，为下星期的拍摄工作做好准备。

Nov 11 (星期二)

          今天我们开车到一个私人机场，制作部在那里租了一个飞机库，我们就在那里拍一些绿布景场面。今天早上挺冷的，每一个人都穿上厚厚的大衣和帽子。中午的时候，在机场的一个不知名的地方，虽然是多风，但是气温暖和了，天气很好。今天有我和小孩子们的戏份，我如常的在现场逗着小阿莲娜。她喜欢我把她抱着四处走，那他就装着会飞的样子，她真是一个可爱的小女孩。另外两个小孩子伟和麦迪在拍对白戏的时候，两人都表现得很专业，我对二人留有很深的印象。当我们在等下一个镜头的时候，我教伟一些手的动作，他尽力模仿我的动作。我想他非常聪明，每一次我向他展示什么，他都会很留心的看，我真的很享受与小孩子一起的时间。

          傍晚时份，我看到天空上挂着美丽的月亮。我马上拿来照相机，拍了几张照片给大家看。新墨西哥是一个很漂亮的地方，你看到远处的时候，你可以看到这里的空气有多清新，而且远山的细致景象也是清晰可见，虽然它们是遥不可及，可是你感到就像自己可以到达和触摸得到它们的。

          我的思维车（Segway PTs）今天从香港运抵这里，我把它停泊在现场，我的休息车外面。我喜欢把思维车带到拍摄现场，因为那里有很多地方可以开思维车，而且我也喜欢把这个很捧的科技介绍给我的同事们。

          下班以后，我们很快的吃了晚餐，然后就回酒店睡觉。

Nov 12 - 13 (星期三至四)

          我想这两天将会是我继北京奥运之后最忙的两天了。我们在地底进行拍摄工作，并走到地底管道里去，这里很嘈杂，噪音没有停过，很难听到别人说什么。整天我都在走来走去和叫喊着．．这都令我感到头痛。那部放烟机持续的把烟雾放出来，这些都使我的眼睛和喉咙受到伤害。因为我们正在拍摄动作场面，导演需要我的帮忙，所以我整天都在现场彩排，然后拍摄。有时候，美国的制度使我烦恼，但是有时候我想他们是做对了。当我拍美国片的时候，跟我习惯的方式不一样，他们只给我一天半去拍动作场面，我问自己：「我能完成吗？」，然后我知道我做得到的。以前，我会说我无法在一天半之内完成，我需要三天，而且我会大声嚷着，坚持要多些时间。可是，我知道我推动自己，我是可以做得到的。这并不是一件容易的事，而且是有一点儿累的。

          虽然有些时候我不喜欢美国的制度，可是我明白和接受这里的工作方式。制度就是制度，这是他们做事的理由。根据工作排程进度是很重要的，如果迟了一天，就会影响往后所有日子的工作排程了。我已经给宠坏了很多年了，像以前拍《醉拳2》的打斗场面的时候，十分钟的打斗场面，我们拍了三个月。为什么要那么长的时间呢？因为如果我们在现场，我不喜欢那些方式或者是情况，我就会取消当日的拍摄工作，回家去了。我可以这样做是因为工资便宜。在香港拍摄电影一天的开支大概是三至四千美元，所以把工作日删短不是大问题。在美国呢，我想如果我们迟了一天，这会浪费了好几百万港币。不单是这样子，还会有骨牌效应，就好似经济问题一样，当有什么事情垮下来或是破产，你可能想这不是你的问题，但是这真的会变成每一个人的问题。

          所以，我整天都在地底，只是上地面吃过午餐和上厕所而已。我大部份的时间都跟来自冰岛的演员麦乐斯．士芬（Magnus Scheving）一起。我第一次跟他见面的时候，我就怀疑他可不可以演出那些动作场面，可是他很努力工作，也做得很好。当然，他的节奏没有我们动作组做得那么好，但是他乐意尝试，就算是大的惊险动作也愿意去试，这都是因为他信任我。实际上，他意外地伤了我好几次，然而我没有告诉他，因为如果我让他知道，这只会令他更加紧张。所以，如果我被伤了，我只会说：「继续吧．．」，不会告诉他有问题。

          这是我第一次跟白赖仁导演和这些工作人员合作，工作了几天以后，我知道每一个人都合作得很好。灯光组的人管理灯光、我着眼于动作，那导演当然要关注所有事情。我印象最深刻的是每一位演员都关注其它角色，而我可以跟导演提出一些我认为不合理的地方（或是似乎是不合理）。第一副导演乔治学会了看我的指示，当我举手并做出拉钟的动作，他就知道是拍摄的时候了。我经常呼叫出‘叮叮’，意思就是“是开摄影机的时候了”；所以，现在现场的每一个人都懂得‘叮叮’的意思了。

          我将要告诉你们我怎么会开始用了‘叮叮’作为开摄影机的指示呢。很多年前，当我一切就绪，我就会叫‘去！去！去！’，更有人把写着这些字的汗衫送给我。后来，我们在一个大的场景拍《尖峰时刻》的时候，那里有一个很响亮的钟，当准备开始开摄影机时，它就会响，所以从那时开始，当我准备就绪，我就说‘叮！叮！’，我想这比高呼出‘去！去！去！’比较有礼貌。

          因为这几天我们都彩排和拍摄动作场面，我的身体都很痛，所有的肌肉都受伤了。可是，现在我们完成了这个动作部份，跟着可以开始拍其它和讲对白的戏份了。跟这一个小小的工作组合作，我很开心，只是几星期，我已经认识了每一个人了。平常在现场拍戏都是有两百到三百个工作人员，不可能认识到每一个人。跟一个小工作组呢，我就可以认识每一个人，这让我很开心呢。

          所以，现在所有事情都很好，我跟一群友善的人合作，我到访过圣达菲几次，买了那个猪，所有事情都进行得很顺利。然而，有一件事情却不是太好：我无法跟布莱特．拉特纳（Brett Ratner）联系上，这个月我都在打电话找他，可是他没有回复我。可能他看过我的日记以后，就会打电话回复我吧，哈哈。

          星期三吃中饭的时候，我终于有时间坐下来，为我的儿童网站的万圣节为成龙打扮的比赛作评选。我真的既开心又惊讶，竟然有那么多影迷寄来有趣和富有色彩的设计。我知道这个比赛已经举办了多年，而我真的感到惊讶是参赛者仍然可以每年想到不同的设计。艺术家的思想常常令我感到惊讶，到底他们的构思从何而来呢？不管怎样，我很高兴影迷们仍然喜欢这个比赛，事实上，这个也是让我笑得最多的比赛，每一年我都期待着选出优胜者。我想在这里谢谢每一个寄图画来的人，我也想跟大家说，你们都是优胜者，因为所有的设计都非常非常好！但愿我可以把礼物送给你们所有人。

Nov 14 (星期五)

          昨天，我们一直开工到深夜一点钟，所以今天我们的通告是晚一点的。我们没有动作场面需要拍，但是我们今天整天都要很努力的拍室内场景的戏份。

          由于今天是星期五，完成拍摄工作，又是‘星期五五元抽奖’了。为了增加趣味性，我多给一些钱，而我又多加了两个特别奖：两件成龙系列的羽绒衣。这一次有一千七百块，我决定抽四位得奖者，两位瓜分一千七百元；另外两位各得一件羽绒衣。你们不会相信跟着发生的事情，但是我发誓是千真万确的。第一副导演乔治柏拿（George Parra）抽出的第一个得奖者将会得到羽绒衣，而你们永远都不会猜得到他所抽到的人是谁，就是我的员工Katharine！我跟她说回到香港才给她羽绒衣，现在让出羽绒衣给其它人，她同意了。那乔治从袋中抽另一个名字，不敢相信，竟然抽到的又是我的员工Osumi！哈哈！Osumi不敢相信，而我也是呢。袋中有那么多名字，要两次都抽中我的员工的机会是多少呢？噢，第三个抽中的名字比较好，是Alan，我的武师兄弟。这个时候，大家都在笑并说这是一个骗局，但是，大家当然知道我是不可能设这个局。我跟大家讲，如果是我抽的，我会明白为什么别人会认为我选自己的员工得奖，但是我不是负责抽奖的那个人呀！所以，我们把Alan的名字放回袋中，另抽第四个名字．．下一个从袋中抽出的名字是．．．成龙！我的其中一位员工开玩笑的把我的名字放到袋中，平常我只让工作人员抽奖，自己不参与的。

          我想这种情况出现的机会率是万分之一，我的员工说当我们的运气高涨的时候，我们应该全体到拉斯韦加斯去，哈哈！你能相信吗？很开心，后来已经没有抽到我的员工名字了。其中一件羽绒最终由大本营的助手莎朗（Shannon）夺得；另一件则由制作助理得到；现金就由视像技术人员太拿（Tyler）和一位替身瓜分。抽奖完结后，大家仍为意外地接二连三抽到我的员工而发笑。

          回到酒店已经很晚了，我们怀着愉快的心情睡觉去了。

Nov 15 - 16 (星期六至日)

          星期六，我和成家班到下一个拍摄场地为下星期的动作场面进行彩排。星期天，我很晚才起床，然后就去了一间叫路域士（Lowe’s）的商店购物。这所商店很漂亮，跟Home Depot很相似，你能够想象在家里的东西，在商店里面都可以买得到。我来到这里买东西，然后运回香港。我不知道为什么我会在这里买东西．．．这就是我。

          回到酒店以后，我跑了一小时的步．．这就是我的周末。

          星期天的晚上，我们到中国餐厅享受一个宁静的晚餐，然后我们去了超级市场。我看到架上的物品，惊讶有那么的选择，不是两、三个牌子，而是十二种牌子给你选择，多选择也是一种困难。可是，逛超级市场仍是很有乐趣的。

          购物完毕，我们回到酒店休息，为下一个忙碌的星期作好准备。

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