"Shanghai Knights" is David Dobkin's second directorial credit. His first film, "Clay Pigeons", was very different, being a dark, psychological thriller. He chats here about directing Jackie Chan and Owen Wilson in this action comedy sequel to "Shanghai Noon".
When it comes to directing the action in this film, how much did you rely on Jackie Chan?
It's really a collaboration. It's Jackie's style. I was lucky because I was a really big Jackie Chan fan and I was familiar with how he works. So, when I came into the movie, I really wanted to listen and I wanted to learn. But I also wanted to push him to do his best work.
I think we did something in this movie that he hasn't done in his American films yet, and which he does all the time in his Hong Kong films. We used these long, more dance oriented, action scenes which are much more choreographed. The scenes are less about the action than they are about the movement.
Why did you cast Irish actor Aidan Gillen as the villain, Rathbone?
Because of his attitude and his focus. And that he was willing to take direction. I think there are a lot of British stars who are such great actors and who think they can't completely give in to making Hollywood films - you meet them and there's a reservation. But Aidan was all for going for it and giving it his all. He knew what kind of movie it was. It's Saturday matinee entertainment. He brought everything from his stage work as a thespian to the role.
Tell us about recreating famous London landmarks in Prague...
It was hard after 9/11. It's hard enough to shoot in any of these locations because they're so famous, but after 9/11 it became impossible. So we had to build Big Ben, the House of Lords, and Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum. It was fun because we also got to stylise them a bit. But we pretty much destroyed England! There's nothing historically accurate in this movie!
How does this film compare to "Shanghai Noon"?
We changed the genre of the film. This movie is much more of a comedy. We didn't have as many rules and I don't think we could have done it if the first film wasn't as good as it was. The only rule we really had was, if it's funny or it's entertaining, then do it. It really shows what Jackie does and what he loves to do. It was refreshing for him to be able to get in and do it the way he really used to do it. In Hong Kong they have 30 or 40 days for an action scene. Here we have two or three days. So it came down to scheduling the movie. I tried to find an in between. I gave him six days and all of a sudden you end up with something good.
