Locarno [Switzerland], August 10 : Global film icon Jackie Chan recently received a Career Leopard award at the 78th edition of the Locarno Film Festival.
During an interactive session at the festival, he shared his views on new Hollywood films. He believes the big Hollywood studios are stifling contemporary filmmaking with what he described as their obsession with money," as per Deadline.
"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 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.
The major throughline during the discussion was Chan's dedication to cinema craft, particularly how he worked to learn every role on a film's set, from stunt direction to acting and sound. Chan later joked that in Asian cinema, there were only two performers who had the same expansive skillset.