Jackie Chan is "scared" of stunts and fears he will die on set
The 71-year-old movie star - who started his career as a stuntman before turning to acting - has admitted he always gets nervous before filming a big scene and regularly worries that he will meet a nasty end if an ambitious action sequence goes wrong
13 August 2025
During an appearance at the Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland, he explained: "I'm no Superman. I am scared. Before a stunt, I go: 'Am I going to die this time?'"
Chan went on to insist he's still capable of doing his own martial arts scenes now he's in his 70s and he always wants to make his movies the best they can be.
He said: "The audience doesn't know about the rain or the producer, or that the budget was cut. They just want a good movie.
"I always remember that, so I try to make every scene perfect. I think old movies were better than [what we have] today.
"Now, these big studios, they are not filmmakers - they are business guys. It's very difficult to make a good movie these days."
Chan previously experience a stunt going wrong on the set of his 2020 movie Vanguard when he became trapped underwater while filming a Jet Ski chase scene.
Behind-the-scenes footage showed the actor emerging from the water and saying: "Wow, this scared me to death."
The film's director Stanley Tong later told USA Today: "We wanted to show the outtakes to prove that even though Jackie is 66 years old, he's a professional actor and loves action.
"He still wants to try anything himself. That's his passion and dedication and devotion to the film industry."
Tong added of the Jet Ski scene: "He was stuck under the water because of a big rock behind him. And he couldn't come up. I was very scared.
"But as the safety people picked Jackie out of the water. I saw him breathing and move. I said: 'Thank God!' I was crying at that time.
"Jackie said that the current was so strong he couldn't move and he got pushed against the big rock. Jackie said that all he could think of was: 'Stay calm' ...
"But that night at the hotel, after dinner we had coffee. He was holding onto the coffee cup and his hand was shaking. He told me he was really scared."
© 2025 Bang Showbiz, NZCity
