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SHANGHAI NOON : Yankee Chan
and the princess
Jackie
Chan’s dream of acting in a Western was fulfilled
with this film. Here you have him riding a horse and
firing shots from his gun just like the cowboys...
 The
Wild West meets the Far East in Shangahi Noon, in which
a Chinese Imperial Guard Chon Wang (Jackie Chan) comes
to America to rescue Princess Pei Pei (Lucy Liu) who
has been kidnapped. He has for help a partner he doesn’t
trust (Owen Wilson), a wife he didn’t expect (Brandon
Merrill), a horse with a personality of its own, and
martial arts moves no one can believe. With the above
aids, Chon finds himself facing some of the deadliest
gun-slingers.
The
film marks the feature film directorial debut of Tom
Dey, who is a successful director of television commercials.
Dey was attracted to the originality of the story. Says
he, “From the first page of the screenplay it was
visually very exciting with great possibilities for
the characters.”
For
Dey, the film was an opportunity to create multiple
worlds for the audience, including The Forbidden City
in China, a Native American village, a Chinese railroad
camp, a Western town and an old steam engine train,
among others. The director set out with a very focussed
concept of what he intended to achieve with this film.
“Visually, it was very important to me to paint
as large a canvas as possible, as well as give the film
a realistic look,” Dey explains, “The anamorphic
(wide-screen) format also gives the picture a big movie
feel reminiscent of classic Westerns.”
The
concept of Shanghai Noon took root during the shooting
of the Jackie Chan hit Rush Hour. Producers Roger Birnbaum
and Jonathan Glickman were discussing with Jackie ideas
for other projects, and Chan came up with a story that
eventually became Shanghai Noon. The producers were
instantly attracted to the idea of Jackie Chan in the
Old West. “Jackie turning all of the Western icons
upside down. I thought it was a great idea,” they
say, “He is a remarkable physical comedian and
we imagined a Buster Keaton type of comedy set in the
Old West.”
Chan,
on his part, was quite passionate about the story. And
when producer Birnbaum expressed interest in his story,
it was a dream come true for the international star.
Says Chan, “I had written a draft in Hong Kong,
but it was totally Asian. The American writers made
it into a true Western. I have to admit, I knew very
little about the West and Native Americans.”
The
actor was always a fan of the western movie genre. “Being
a cowboy and living the cowboy life was always my dream,”
he says, “When I was a very little boy, I dressed
up and had my picture taken as a cowboy. I think that
the way they look is so interesting and after making
this movie I now understand why they wore boots and
chaps, the hats and the bandanas. Everyday on the set
I found my dreams of being a cowboy coming true.”
 The
audiences worldwide love Chan’s humour and vulnerability,
feels producer Birnbaum. “They respond to his humanity.
He can be very funny and extremely physical, but when
you look into his eyes, you know that there is a really
good man in there. He’s genuinely a warm and giving
man and it shows on screen,” says the producer.
Chan’s
filmmaking skills were a big help, especially his choreography
of the action sequences, besides his suggestions to
first-time director Dey. Lucy Liu, who plays Princess
Pei Pei, is all praise for Chan’s generosity. She’s
his big fan and has watched many of his films. Says
she, “Jackie is a master at physical comedy. I
pretty much jumped at the chance to work with him.”
For
Shanghai Noon, Chan had to learn horse-riding, which
wasn’t a part of his repertoire earlier. “I
was afraid of horses before Shanghai Noon,” the
actor reveals, “I would pet them but not ride them
because I was always afraid that I would be thrown off
the horse. But after 10 days of lessons, I knew that
I could control the horse, and wanted to find out how
to get the horse up on its back legs like ‘The
Lone Ranger’.”
This
action-adventure was released at the same time as the
Tom Cruise-starrer Mission Impossible 2, and it proved
tough competition for the eagerly awaited and much-hyped
sequel.
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