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The One Feature Article - Part 2 |
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Jet, the Great Soothsayer
i-weekly, Nov 2001 by Yeo Lay Leng
Jet Li vs Jet Li
Perhaps, it was rare for Jet to meet his compatriots, for from afar, happiness was written all over his face. The publicity personnel, on seeing that there were Malay reporters, whispered to Jet, telling him to speak English. Jet smiled, shaking his head and pointing to his assistant, he said, "No, I speak Chinese, he translates to English."
"Hmmm... ... My English is so-so. In the beginning, I worked very hard in learning English. Now, I am spending more time on Buddhism."
"I feel great shooting this movie. But it's also very difficult to shoot. In the beginning, I thought it was fun, and that the computers would be of great help to me. Maybe, I just needed to sit there, looked for two doubles and let them do the fighting. After that, my face would be pasted over them, and it's done. I would be so relaxed. It turned out to be otherwise. It wasn't as easy as I thought and was in fact twice tougher than ordinary action. I have to rush about, change clothes 12 times when my schedule is tightly packed. The special effects might help in certain areas, but not everything. Moreover, special effects are very costly."
On camera, he was so serious. Yet when off-camera, he behaved like a hyper-active kid, who would occasionally twitch his body impatiently as he spoke.
"I have never done any science fiction films before. I acted as many different kinds of person in the show. It is very interesting. It's something I have never done before. There are many American and Hong Kong movies where an actor or actress acts as two different persons. However, what they do are only the dramatic parts, but not the real action. I believe this is the first show where you actually see a person fighting against themselves. This is a big challenge to an actor or actress. When I first received the offer for this movie, the script was very much a classic American Science Fiction-Action Film. With agreement from the production company and the directors, I hired someone to rewrite some of the script. I feel that an action movie should also convey some Eastern philosophies or ideals. I don't want the Western youngsters to only say, "Hey, Jet's kicking somebody's behind!"
As Corey Yuen had mentioned, when touched upon a topic that he likes, the usually taciturn Jet Li would be able to go on endlessly.
"We re-wrote two characters. The bad Jet uses Xing-Yi Quan. He is driven by the desires to possess power and everything material in the world. He's an extremist. The Good Jet has a heart-warming family, and is satisfied with a peaceful, ordinary life. He is constantly in search of circle in life, which is what we called Ba-Gua. He feels that true love is to answer to making the circle more rounded.
He spoke very enthusiastically, as if giving a discourse on his philosophies.
"My personal philosophy is to be contented." He nodded his head, and let off a laugh.
New Career Path
Jet was asked to shoot a scene. He told everyone to wait for him to return. He ran around to and fro for three times.
"I have quite a handful of work to do. The First King is still being scripted. Now, I want to do a Lama movie, Lama in New York. I believe this is an interesting story, and it relates very much to action too. After you have practised Buddhism, you'll know that the world is not everlasting. There is no end to what you can seek materially."
"I am teaming up with Mel Gibson to produce a 2-hour telemovie, Invincible. We spent $8 million, and even invited Ching Siu-Tung to be the action director."
His career in America is pretty smooth sailing.
"It's rather amazing. When I first came to America to shoot Lethal Weapon 4, practically everyone who had worked with me was keen to work with me again. For example, the aforementioned TV programme with Mel Gibson. Beside that, Joel Silver (Romeo Must Die's producer) and I are co-producing The First King. I am also working with Richard Donner (Romeo Must Die's director) and his wife to produce another movie, First Son."
"You must have a strong bond with them?"
"It's just fine. Ha, ha! Why am I producing so many movies? Actually, I lead a good life, and I don't have many desires. In the past, my wish was to spread wushu through movies; But now, I think movies should not just be a showcase of action: It should also incorporate some philosophies, some Buddhism thinking. A movie without bodily contact would be the best action movie. Actually, Once Upon a Time in China carries such a thinking, but it should be further developed. My motivation for doing a movie is not for personal gains. I believe that each movie should contain a message. That is why my website, including my future games, would never stop conveying religious messages. Of course, I am not forcing on anyone to pick up Buddhism. It's just that there ought to be a way to lessen your burdens in life, and I am introducing you to the way, hoping it would be of help to you."
Each of us is given human life only for the purpose of realising God. If we forsake this duty, we will never be happy in this life or in many other lives. If we realised how we struggled in our mother's womb, how we repented our past lives' mistakes, and how we promised God to utilise this present life in a very meaningful way to serve Him, before we were born, then we would never waste one second to think of anything else but try our best in all our leisure time to realise God! ~ Supreme Master Ching Hai |
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