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

Record ID: 589053

  • 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) (*** FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY ***) VARIOUS OF KARATE-KID-ACTORS JADEN SMITH AND JACKIE CHAN AT PHOTOCALL NEWS CONFERENCE WITH JACKIE CHAN, JADEN SMITH AND PRODUCERS WILL SMITH AND JADA PINKETT SMITH (SOUNDBITE) (English) KARATE KID PRODUCER, WILL SMITH, SAYING: "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. 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."
  • Embargoed: 3rd August 2010 13:00
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  • Reuters ID: LVAA4QFNAS99W3NH7UZHJVIAHC4C
  • 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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