Action Star Jackie Chan to Launch TV Program

Saturday, April 7th, Action Star Jackie Chan launched a competition on Chinese TV aimed at scouting new action heroes. More than 100,000 people have already signed up.

Jackie Chan was rigorously trained in music, dance, and traditional martial arts. A visiting filmmaker offered Chan his first (tiny) role as a stunt player. Chan took the part, and soon left the Opera to pursue the world of film. Fellow Opera students Biao Yuen and Sammo Hung Kam-Bo would also have careers in film, and the three would star in several films together in the following years. Chan's talent and enthusiasm soon saw him taking larger and more important roles, graduating first to stunt coordinator, and then to director.

Following the death of martial arts legend Bruce Lee, the search was on for an actor who could inspire audiences to the same degree; every young martial artist was given a chance. Chan decided that rather than emulating Lee (and thus living forever in his shadow), he would develop his own style of filmmaking. His directorial debut Shi di chu ma (1980) was a milestone in martial arts films, being one of the first to effectively combine comedy with action. This set the tone for many of his future films, which combined slapstick humor with high-energy martial arts action. A self-confessed fan of Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd, Chan performs all his own stunts, quite often at his own peril. His later films include outtakes of his on-set injuries run under the closing credits. He is understandably number one on the insurance blacklist.

"A lot of actors are good at fighting but (their style) is not beautiful," Jackie Chan, said in Beijing.
"If you can incorporate dance with an ability to perform kung fu, that would be better," Chan told an audience that included a selected 20 of the show's contestants and some Chinese celebrities.

The English title of the show is "The Disciple" is being produced by Jackie Chan and Beijing TV Station, known as BTV.

From March to October the show will air with 10 winners appearing in a motion picture produced by Jackie Chan. The Movie will be out in 2008, released before the Beijing Olympics.