Jackie Chan feels ‘lucky’ to be from post-A.I. era

Jackie Chan is reflecting on how different his legendary career might have looked if he had started out in today’s era of artificial intelligence and special effects. 

The 71-year-old action icon, known around the world for doing his own daring stunts, shared that he feels fortunate to have built his name before digital tools began replacing real-life physical performances.

Speaking to Page Six at the Karate Kid: Legends premiere in New York, Chan admitted, “If, today, I was working in this age, I don’t think I would do [stunts] myself. Why? Because of A.I. special effects, [green screens].”

He explained that in modern filmmaking, it’s not just about what the actor wants to do, there’s a lot more caution from the people behind the scenes. 

“You want to do [the stunt work], but the studio, the stunt coordinator, the director, they won’t let you,” he said. “Because if anything [went wrong with a stunt and the star were injured] it could shut down the whole shoot; it could cost a lot of money.”

Looking back on his early days, he credits his hands-on approach to his rise in the industry. “In the old days,” he said, “I had to do it myself and so I became ‘Jackie Chan.’ So I was lucky.”

Still, he acknowledged that actors working today might be lucky in their own way, since technology allows them to avoid the physical toll he endured throughout his career. 

Chan famously racked up a long list of injuries while filming over the years, broken fingers, toes, cheekbones, hips, ribs, ankles, and even a dislocated pelvis, just to deliver the kind of real action scenes that earned him global fame.

His comments come amid ongoing discussions in Hollywood about how far A.I. should go in replacing traditionally human contributions, not just in action scenes, but also in voiceovers, animation, and other areas of filmmaking.