Gillian's kids think Bob's a mild-mannered pen salesman and a real wimpy guy. The kids have no idea he's one of the best spies in the business, but that changes when Gillian has to go out of town and Bob volunteers to babysit.
At the LA press day for the Lionsgate Films comedy, Jackie Chan said it wasn't the action or the acting that proved to be the most difficult part of filming The Spy Next Door. "English," declared Chan, "English is very difficult, especially when all the children don’t follow the dialogue. They just speak so fast, and also the dialogue coach and director wanted me to speak all the S's, D's. Sometimes in conversation it’s okay. You don’t care. But in a movie with the children, 'No, no, no, wiTH, wiTH. You missed an S.' The more your emphasize, the more it drives me crazy. Suppose I’m very natural, 'Ba ba ba ba with.' 'No, WITH,' the more nervous I get. Stunt choreography is easy. I’ve been doing it so many years."
Chan's resume is loaded with action films, and The Spy Next Door provided him with plenty of opportunities to show off his skills. "Now there’s more safety," explained Chan, comparing his current films to working on movies such as Police Story. "They make sure inside I have a wire and it’s stronger, then it goes away [in post-production]. There are so many things. I’m just so confident to just jump. Yes, you’re scared but it’s safe. Police Story, you die. You’re going to die. At the end, I’m yelling, 'Agh!!' That’s dying. I go, 'Okay, it’s suicide. I’m just going to [commit] suicide. When I get up, get down, 'Waaaa!' Wow, you survived. It’s just stupid. It’s really stupid."
Separating Action and Violence
Chan's approach to choosing films has changed over the years. He's become fully aware of how his movies affect audiences, particularly kids who try to imitate his moves. Chan still loves action scenes, but tries to show that being into action doesn't mean you can't make films that put out positive messages to their audiences."There was a long time when I realized, when I went to Africa, Egypt, still now the children do these kinds of things. They learn from me. Then I said, 'Wow, I have to be careful. There’s so many children who learn from me, I have to do something.' Whatever I do, whatever I make, I think about the children. Before I might do some dirty movement, but now I don’t do this," said Chan. "Maybe I’d say a bad word. Okay, no more F word. Slowly all those years changed to today. Okay, make an action comedy, humor, movement, use all kinds of things, make comedy. Even sometimes I use a gun like in a serious police story. 'Boom! Cut.' You don’t have to show boom, a guy pow, psh, pfsh. Making a movie, there are so many ways to introduce [action]. In the old days, I did the same thing, learn from American movies. That’s cool. But slowly, slowly, you know it’s wrong."
"Slowly, bit by bit, I hope the audience can recognize what I’m doing. If they don’t, okay, it’s still entertainment. If they do, I’m really happy. If some people say, 'Oh, I like that movie. My son really [loves it].' That makes me happy. Yes, I help children. I don’t only give you action, comedy, humor. I give the children education. In every movie I do have a dialogue. Not in American movies - I don’t have the right to change the lines - but when I’m making a Chinese movie, you can tell there’s so much philosophy inside. I believe that’s my responsibility. I have to do it. So that’s why I’m happy with what I’m doing right now."
In fact, one of Chan's latest Hong Kong movies even had a baby in it as his co-star. "See, there’s a lot of message inside. The funny thing is when I made Rob-B-Hood, the Chinese government refused. 'No, you cannot do this. Jackie Chan cannot be a thief.' I said, 'Please, look at the script.' After they slowly looked at the script, [they realized], 'Okay, good education.' Sometimes I want to do something and I can not. Even the government won’t let me do it because you have the image of, not 1.3 billion people, but at least 500 million children that watch you. You can not do this. Then after they look, 'Okay, they let me do it.'"
Asked about his opinion of martial arts (including Mixed Martial Arts) in America, Chan replied, "I sometimes just don’t like to see the Ultimate Fighting. I just find it, as a martial artist, I just find it too violent. They’re put in the cage. At the end, it’s not a fight anymore. It’s like this [rolling on the ground]. That’s not martial arts. Martial arts is about respect. If somebody’s knocked down, stop. So that’s why I really respect someone like Sugar Ray Leonard and boxers. Look at Sugar Ray Leonard - 'Ba ba ba ba ba, boom! Come on, stop. Come on, stop. Yeah, don’t fight. That’s the spirit.' It’s not like, 'Boom! You’re down, ba ba, ba ba.' No, you knock somebody down, 'Come on, get up. I’ll grab you up. You okay? You want to continue?' Make sure [then], 'Okay, come on.' That’s the martial arts spirit. That’s what I want. Boxing, yes. Mixed martial arts, okay if it’s just competition. I just don’t like those kinds of things."
Chan added, "We learn martial arts as helping weakness. You never fight for people to get hurt. You’re always helping people. Respect, we learn these kinds of things. It’s not somebody gets in two more kicks. No, when you look at Gorgeous, when I fight with the guy, I go down and the bad guy has a lot of bodyguards. 'Oh, Jackie’s down. Let’s go get him.' 'No, stop.' Every movie I have my philosophy. I say, 'This is not the hero. That’s a coward, just yelling at the bodyguards.' You see inside what I’m doing. My students give me the glove, then I tell them, 'Come on, wait. Come on, wait. Okay, come on. Come on, again.' We’re talking about the martial arts spirit."
