Jackie Chan is upping the ante for Mainland blockbusters with Dragon Blade. Certified Hollywood A-listers John Cusack and Adrien Brody have juicy roles and the film is aiming to be the talk of Spring Festival when it opens on February 19.
Set during the Han Dynasty, Chan plays a commander in the Protection Squad of the Western Region who is framed and must go on the run. While in the desert, he encounters Cusack’s Roman general Lucius, who himself is fleeing from Brody’s vicious Roman general Tiberius’ army of 10,000.
With a record USD65 million budget and an international cast, Dragon Blade was a boon for foreign actors based in the country, with roles available as part of each star’s onstage entourage.
“Fan Bingbing was in the X-Men movies, and that shows how American movies are going to open to different markets,” notes Jim Bennett, who plays an engineer in Cusack’s crew. “China is trying to be more like America, and say ‘we’re so big of an industry that we’re going to make quality films that warrant international distribution deals.’”
With the Mainland box office reaching a record-breaking gross of nearly RMB30 billion last year, its films are truly going global. Hits like Breakup Buddies make their way to cities with large Chinese populations, while online streaming services like Netflix and Hulu have greatly expanded Chinese films’ access to new audiences.
Although Dragon Blade’s North American release date is still up in the air, Bennett rhetorically asks, “Why would you double down on John Cusack and Adrien Brody?” The trailer has become a viral sensation, serving as introduction for many to the increased internationalization of the Chinese film industry.
“It’s going to get better,” says Joel Adrian, who plays a weapon expert in Cusack’s crew. “There are more and more co-productions and Wanda is opening a new studio in Qingdao targeting foreign movies.”
Adrian and Bennett share plenty of memorable stories from the set. While he may have lost his fight scene with Cusack
on screen, Adrian gained the star’s respect who offered to trade acting lessons for some fighting tips. Bennett raves about Chan’s legendary on-set humility while remaining in disbelief that he was unable to cry on cue with Cusack during a scene.
“I think it’s going to be a good movie, and I got to do some cool stuff, but it was pretty rough,” he says.
Filmed at Hengdian World Studios in Zhejiang Province and in the Gobi Desert, Dragon Blade’s shoot was filled with 17-hour days with its cast donning heavy armor in the heat. Conceding that Mainland productions “get more bang for their buck,” Bennett recalls the freewheeling chaos on-set where even the script was being made on the fly.
As a martial arts guy, Adrian had to overcome the machismo inherent to the trade. Two weeks after breaking his foot, he was back on-set to film a scene. “Luckily, it called for an injury,” he says. “Jackie gave me a lot of respect for that.”
The biggest issue that both actors faced was crooked agents cutting into their wages. “It’s their job to keep you in the dark. Since you sign with the agents and they sign directly with the producers, they might take the same wage as you,” Bennett sighs. “If you know the actual production crew, you’re in a much stronger position to bargain.”
Shanghai-based MMA trainer Tomer Oz enjoyed that perk. Recently back from Thailand where he was shooting The Mechanic 2 with Jason Stratham and Tommy Lee Jones, Oz plays a member of Chan’s crew in Dragon Blade. It’s the third film he’s done with the action legend, which has bolstered his unlikely new career.
“Jackie’s stunt coordinator came to my gym and invited me to a film,” he recalls, also mentioning that three of his students were recruited for Dragon Blade. “I was interested in doing fight performances but never considered acting. Now, every time that I work with Jackie, I study how he makes movies.”
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Despite the mixed experiences shooting Dragon Blade, all three are excited to see themselves on the IMAX screens. Their biggest concern is scoring an invitation to the premiere.
“Jackie told us that we were invited,” Bennett says, conceding, “We were in the desert though, so it might have been a motivational speech.”
// Dragon Blade opens across cinemas on February 19.
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