Jackie Chan’s latest movie, The Spy Next Door, is for kids, but aren’t they all? Grown ups can’t take fighting with ladders and pasta dough seriously, but they should because it’s awesome. Even in the kids movie, he still brings the action with high jumps and impromptu weapons like BMX bikes. Chan explained his philosophy in a roundtable interview.

Q: On The Tonight Show, you said you like fighting and action but not violence. Why do you think other performers can’t separate the two? You do fight scenes with a smile.

Jackie Chan: Because 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. Sometimes I’d do this, now I’ll do this. 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. In the old days, I did the same thing, learn from American movies. That’s cool. But slowly, slowly, you know it’s wrong. So I don’t know if you see it or not. In so many movies, I educate all the audience. Like in First Strike, I was wanted. When I’m walking around the park, the girl sees me, she stands up and runs away. Then the newspaper drops. In the movie, I pick up the newspaper and throw it in the trash can. Look at the movie again. You throw the trashcan, boom, then you see my picture. I don’t see my picture, just no money, nothing, I see the newspaper, pick up the newspaper, put it in the trash can, the camera, boom. I don’t even see myself wanted. 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 genius, 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.

Q: Is that why you made Rob-B-Hood with a baby?

Jackie Chan: 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 cannot. 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 cannot do this. Then after they look, okay, they let me do it.

Q: Didn’t China ban your last one too, Shinjuki Incident?

Jackie Chan: No, I pulled out. Before, why I wanted to make Shinjuku is because there’s still now so many people who want to immigrate to America, immigrate there, blah blah blah but they don’t realize there’s no country better than your own country. You come to America or you go to Korea, you go to Japan, you speak no Japanese. You speak no English. You have nothing to do. You have no identity. You have to hide for so many years. After so many years, then you learn English, poor English. Then you get a green card. You get a green card, then you find a job. You waste your life. How many Chinese go to Japan, do these kinds of things? It’s so bad. I made that movie, I wanted to show the Chinese people, not only Japan, don’t go anywhere. Don’t listen that people say, “Europe is good. Japan is good, you can make money.” People give $1000 to sneak there. In Paris, in Italy, I see so many people from China. They’ve been cheated. “We cannot go back, we don’t have an identity, we have to do black market jobs.” Suppose you deliver Coca-Cola for $200. Now they give you $10. You have to do it. You have no money, but you have to hide it. And this guy gets $190. There’s so many, I wanted to make that like a message to show them. Somehow we get into the drugs, killing people, chop their hands, these kinds of things. Then I find out it’s too violent. Then I just pulled back.

Q: Considering your views on violence, what do you think of martial arts in this country with things like the UFC? Do you watch MMA? Do you respect it?

Jackie Chan: Mixed martial arts, yes. 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, 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.

Q: The striking and the ground fighting.

Jackie Chan: 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. Ba ba ba ba ba. Come on, again. We’re talking about the martial arts spirit.

via Jackie Chan on The Spy Next Door – CraveOnline.com.