GERMANY/FILE: Child actor Jaden Smith with his father, actor Will Smith, brings Karate Kid to Berlin

Record ID: 1534476

  • Title: GERMANY/FILE: Child actor Jaden Smith with his father, actor Will Smith, brings Karate Kid to Berlin
  • Date: 19th July 2010
  • Summary: BERLIN, GERMANY (JULY 19, 2010) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) KARATE KID PRODUCER, WILL SMITH, SAYING: "When you walk through China with Jackie Chan, you're okay. I guess the most difficult part about shooting in China was trying to point the camera in a direction that there wasn't a picture of Jackie Chan." (SOUNDBITE) (English) KARATE KID ACTOR, JACKIE CHAN ON SHOOTING IN CHINA AND CHAN OPENING SOME DOORS FOR THE PRODUCERS LIKE GETTING A PERMIT TO SHOOT IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY, SAYING "Look, when Karate Kid first released at that time, everybody was learning karate. And right now, it is a good chance to show our (China's) culture, use his (Will Smith's) fame, and Sony Picture who sit around the world. They know in China. And China right now is not like it used to be, now they are totally open and everything is open." NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (English) KARATE KID ACTOR, JADEN SMITH ON WHETHER IT WAS EMBARRASSING TO SHOOT A KISSING SCENE, SAYING "A little bit. Everybody was watching." WILL SMITH FORCING JADEN TO GIVE HIM A KISS, SAYING THAT THAT IS NOT AT ALL EMBARRASSING (SOUNDBITE) (English) KARATE KID ACTOR JADEN SMITH SAYING: "Yes, that is embarrassing." NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (English) KARATE KID ACTOR, JACKIE CHAN, SAYING "These days, the audience want to see all the real things. So I was really scared at that time that Jaden is not good enough. And after three months training, I go to his house for rehearsal and he showed me everything and I was like, wow. This young kid. How long has he been training before my boys trained him? And he said, not at all. Just some karate class. But after three months he seemed like he had five years training." (SOUNDBITE) (English) KARATE KID ACTOR, JACKIE CHAN, SAYING "I said to him (Will Smith), look, don't waste your son's talent. He is so talented. Please continue the training for me. And he said, okay." (SOUNDBITE) (English) KARATE KID ACTOR, JADEN SMITH ON THE HARD TRAINING, SAYING "Yeah, I am used to that. It was just work for me. I did train and it was hard sometimes, but I am used to most of that stuff." (SOUNDBITE) (English) KARATE KID ACTOR, JACKIE CHAN, ON WHAT HE LEARNED FROM JADEN AND HOW WELL JADEN CONNECTED TO THE MINDSET BEHIND MARTIAL ARTS, SAYING "I did learn something from him, but I think I am too old to learn these kinds of things (makes a break-dance-move). Whatever I did it was just like, oh Jackie, forget it. And the rap, ha can just rap! He has the rhythm, he has all kinds of things. But with martial arts it's not about fighting. I had to teach him the mentality, it's about respect, about respect for your parents, your country, yourself. You have to learn about the good things. Then you learn martial arts. You have to teach it step by step. I think he got it, he just got it right away." (SOUNDBITE) (English) KARATE KID ACTOR, JADEN SMITH ON WORKING WITH JACKIE CHAN, SAYING "He helped me with so much stuff. He taught a lot of people different things. It was just like, he taught the crew members stuff, he taught the people working on the camera stuff, it's crazy."
  • Embargoed: 3rd August 2010 23:38
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment
  • Reuters ID: LVA9FGXZS3FKUR2ZJO8PL0Q4XYQF
  • Aspect Ratio: 4:3
  • Story Text: Jaden Smith, the 12-year-old son of actors Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith makes his debut in a lead role in the new "Karate Kid" film - and brought his family to Berlin on Monday (July 19) for the German premiere.
    Smith plays Dre Parker, an American boy who moves to China with his mother, who is transferred to Beijing from Detroit, USA for work.
    Dre quickly finds life tough in Beijing. He is no match for the local bullies who attack him with their kung fu moves and Dre's attempt to fight them with the little karate he knows, fails spectacularly.
    He must learn how to defend himself, or continue to be bullied.
    Enter Mr Han, played by Jackie Chan. He's the maintenance man in Dre's block who just happens to be a kung fu master willing to take on a young charge.
    To prepare for the role, Smith was paired with Wu Gang, the stunt co-ordinator from Jackie Chan's Stunt Team, formed in 1983 to choreograph movie fight scenes.
    He juggled school with training in Los Angeles for three months before production began and continued perfecting his kung fu skills in Beijing for the duration of the four-month shoot.
    Speaking before the Berlin premiere of the film, Smith told Reuters he found the discipline of training tough.
    Jaden's father Will Smith said at a news conference that watching his son being so disciplined and tough was partly enjoyable for him, whereas Jaden's mother tended to worry more: "Jada and I were kind of on the opposite end to that. As a father, watching your son, there is a part of you that kind of wants it to be a little hard for him" Smith told reporters. "You know, you want him to experience what it's like to do a 17-hour-day and then have to do a fight scene and all of that. You don't want him to get hurt, but you know, if it stings a little bit, that's okay. I think it was a little more difficult for Jada."
    Because Smith's character Dre was moving to China, it was decided that he would need to learn a Chinese fighting style rather than karate, which has Japanese origins.
    The karate reference in the movie comes when Dre is teased for using karate instead of kung fu.
    The film was produced by Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith, meaning Jaden was working with his parents. It was their job, along with director Harald Zwart to give Karate Kid a modern update.
    There's no doubt the youngest Smith's family ties have helped him become the new Karate Kid, but he's already proving to be a talent in his own right, winning a Saturn Award for Best Performance by a Young Actor for his role in "The Day The Earth Stood Still". He also won several awards for his role as Chris Gardner Jr in "The Pursuit of Happiness".
    Getting Jackie Chan on board as Mr Han was important to the Smiths. Chan admitted to having doubts at first if Jaden's martial arts would be good enough- but that those doubts were destroyed quickly: "These days, the audience want to see all the real things. So I was really scared at that time that Jaden is not good enough" Chan told Reuters. "And after three months training, I go to his house for rehearsal and he showed me everything and I was like, wow. This young kid. How long has he been training before my boys trained him? And he said, not at all. Just some karate class. But after three months he seemed like he had five years training."
    Karate Kid will be released in Germany on July 22nd.
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