EntertainmentPosted at: Aug 10 2025 5:20PM


I think old movies are better: Jackie Chan criticises Hollywood filmmaking vision

Locarno (Switzerland), Aug 10 (UNI) Martial arts legend Jackie Chan did not hold back during a spirited Q&A at the Locarno Film Festival, telling attendees that big-budget Hollywood has lost touch with true filmmaking.
“I think the old movies are better than today,” Chan said.
“Right now, a lot of big studios, they’re not filmmakers, they’re business guys. They invest 40 million and think, ‘How can I get it back?’ And you can’t go over. It’s very difficult to make a good movie now.”
Chan, 71, was speaking with Locarno head Giona Nazzaro this morning at a packed-out Q&A session, where he ran through his career credits, telling multiple lucid and highly entertaining stories about his start in the business, working in Hollywood, and how he completed many of his most dangerous stunts.
“In all of Asia, only two directors can do everything: the writing, directing, acting, stunt coordinating, stunt fighting, and editing. Only two,” he began. “One is Sammo Hung, the second one is Jackie Chan.”
The veteran Hong Kong actor later added: “And I’m better because I know how to sing.”
Chan revealed that his decision to train vocally was strategic, a safeguard against the inevitable toll of physical stunt work. “I cannot do this forever. It’s just so dangerous,” Chan recalled thinking. “Whatever station I would go to, they ask me how to punch and kick. I thought, What should I do? I should learn how to sing. Then I started trying to learn how to sing.”
Chan added that he quickly switched his professional goals to prioritise longevity and his working mantra was: “I wanna be the Asian Robert De Niro.”
By the early 2000s, Chan had grown weary of Hollywood. Mediocre scripts and cultural disconnect left him disillusioned and he contemplated withdrawing entirely from the U.S. market. His final attempt came with "Rush Hour". “Rush Hour. It was the last try. If it doesn’t succeed, then I finish,” Chan said, adding that the film’s production wasn’t perfect, with constraints on budget and smaller space for action sequences. But it was a start, he said.
“I think Rush Hour changed the culture,” Chan said.
The veteran Hong Kong actor added that his career goal in Hollywood has always been to “be a cross-cultural bridge between the US and China.”
Chan was in Locarno this year to receive the festival’s Pardo alla Carriera award for career achievement. His early directorial films, Project A and Police Story, screened at the festival, reports DEADLINE.
Locarno's 78th edition concludes August 16.
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