Jackie Chan is back. Not that he ever went away, but Chan returns as Han in “Karate Kid: Legends,” the latest installment in the film franchise.
This time around, he’s in China mentoring his young nephew, Li (Ben Wang). When Li is forced to move to New York City, he finds himself tussling with a bully at school, and winds up in the Five Boroughs Tournament. Han comes along to train Li in martial arts, while Danny LaRusso (Ralph Macchio), the original Karate Kid, arrives from California to teach Li karate.
“I feel like this film understands a really specific and fundamental difference between Hong Kong martial arts, which is all about the choreography and the moves, and American martial arts where it’s all about basically punching,” says director Jonathan Entwistle.
Chan, who first joined the franchise in the 2010 “Karate Kid” starring Jaden Smith, says he didn’t need any training for this new entry. The 71-year-old says, “I don’t need to anymore. I’ve been training every day for 64 years. I’ve been fighting, fighting, fighting.”
Chan has been acting since the 1960s and is a legend of fight choreography. He performs all of his own stunts “Karate Kid: Legends.” But he’s slowed down with age. Chan laughs, “I’m not liked I used to be when I was 20, and could do a triple kick in the sky. Now, I do one kick.” But, it’s still all him.
Chan says he passed on valuable advice to Wang. “I said, ‘Ben, we do have a double for you, but you should do your own thing. The audience respects you more. When you use a double, you become lazy.’”
In contrast, the 25-year-old Wang had a stricter training program. “I got a systematic ass-kicking,” Wang says.
While much of Li’s journey is about building confidence in his moves, Wang says he spent a month and half before shooting even began working with the stunt team. “We kept going. It was five days of formal training, from morning to night, and then, I trained by myself on the weekend.”
Wang says the team had 90 days to get him to the point when he could “look okay doing a fight scene with Jackie Chan.” Says Wang, “When Jackie showed up, he was nothing but helpful.”
As for Macchio, even though Netflix’s “Cobra Kai” has ended, it didn’t mean the end of Danny LaRusso. As soon as he finished that, he was on a plane to the set of “Karate Kid: Legends.”
But his training began before he even got to set. “It was a different stunt team, and they sent me videos in advance, and I worked on certain pieces,” Macchio explains.
When he finally did get to set, everything came together. He recalls that moment when he arrived. With Wang becoming the new Karate Kid, and the baton being passed on, Macchio smiles, “I helped build the foundation to this house, but I felt like I was at somebody else’s house.”
What does Chan think of Wang? Chan beams with pride, “He’s like my young Jackie Chan.”
And so, a new Karate Kid legend is born.
