Jaden Smith & Jackie Chan in 'The Karate Kid'

In Columbia Pictures’ The Karate Kid, 12-year-old Dre Parker (Jaden Smith) could have been the most popular kid in Detroit, but his mother’s (Taraji P. Henson) career takes them both to China. Dre has a hard time making friends at first but he does make a connection with his classmate Mei Ying – and the feeling is mutual – until cultural differences make such a friendship impossible. Even worse, Dre makes an enemy of the class bully, Cheng. Dre knows only a little karate, and in the land of kung fu, Cheng puts “the karate kid” on the floor with ease. Feeling alone in a foreign land, Dre has no friends to turn to except the maintenance man, named Mr. Han (Jackie Chan).

  
Columbia Pictures presents an Overbrook Entertainment / Jerry Weintraub Production, in association with China Film Group Corporation, The Karate Kid. The film stars Jaden Smith, Jackie Chan, and Taraji P. Henson. Directed by Harald Zwart. 

ABOUT THE FILM

“Dre Parker is a cool American kid who’s left Detroit and now is just trying to make it in China,” says Jaden Smith, who previously starred alongside his father in the worldwide hit The Pursuit of Happyness and now takes the star reigns himself, headlining The Karate Kid. “He’s definitely having a rough time – he feels like he just doesn’t fit in. He doesn’t mean to, but he gets on the bad side of some bullies. He’s got no friends and nowhere to go, and that’s when he finds out that his building’s maintenance man, Mr. Han, is a kung fu master. Mr. Han teaches him kung fu, and they end up having a special bond between them.”

It’s a theme that has long resonated with audiences – and explored in the hit movie of the same title that starred Ralph Macchio and Noriyuki “Pat” Morita. Morita’s portrayal of the stoic sensei, Mr. Miyagi, earned an Oscar® nomination and passed into legend.

The new film couldn’t be a remake – it would have to capture those themes while standing on its own. “The key for anybody in touching material like this is to make sure that you pay homage and respect to the original but somehow find a way to expand upon it and bring it to 2010,” says Zwart.

Perhaps the biggest challenge was in casting the role of the mentor. The filmmakers would need an icon—and they found one, in Jackie Chan. “Really, who else could do it?” says Stovitz. “Jackie is the only man who fits the bill. When I would say to myself, ‘We’re making Karate Kid with Jackie Chan in the Mr. Miyagi role,’ well, frankly, that was a movie I wanted to see.”

“The reason the movie is called The Karate Kid is that at the beginning of the movie, Dre thinks he can fight the bullies with a little karate he knows,” says Stovitz. “But in China even the kids know kung fu and they’re experts. So if Dre is going to survive, he has to learn kung fu.”

Of course, calling the movie The Karate Kid also seemed like a good way to honor the movie that came before. “The first movie has the famous wax on, wax off sequence,” says Zwart. “In our movie, Mr. Han tells Dre to put his jacket on and take it off a million times. If you’ve seen the first movie, you get the reference.”

Of course, the part required Smith to learn kung fu. He would learn from the best: Wu Gang, the stunt coordinator of the Jackie Chan Stunt Team. Because Chan performs most of his own stunt work in his films, Chan formed his Stunt Team in 1983 as a way to facilitate the fight choreography.

“When I first met Jaden, I liked him, but you can never be sure. I wasn’t sure if he’d really be up to the task,” says Wu. “He proved himself: he is very talented and he worked very hard. And it wasn’t easy. I loved training Jaden.”

Of course, in addition to the invaluable training from Master Wu, Smith had another way of learning kung fu. “I watched a lot of Jackie’s movies and even copied some of his moves,” laughs Smith. In fact, an entire sequence – in which Mr. Han and Dre train and spar with sticks – is a reference of sorts to one of Chan’s earliest and most famous fights.

Smith’s relationship with Chan really did mirror their characters’ in the film. “He is amazing. He was always teaching me things,” says Smith. “How to stretch correctly, how to be in a scene, how to focus. He was right there with me the whole time.”

Harald Zwart says that the young star dazzled the filmmakers with his performance. “Jaden is charismatic and charming, but he’s also a fantastic actor,” says the director. “He fully committed to every aspect of the part. Not just the kung fu – which he worked very hard to learn – but the emotional story of the boy who becomes a man.”

The director has equally high praise for Smith’s veteran co-star. “Jackie is just fantastic to work with,” notes Zwart. “He never stops, and he loves the process of filmmaking, so he helps out with every practical aspect. For example, if an extra didn’t get a particular message due to the language barrier, he went over and respectfully whispered direction to them. He’s just wonderful and so helpful.”

The story tells the tale not only of a master and student but of the bond that’s formed between a lonely, childless man and a fatherless boy. Says Chan: “At first Mr. Han thinks he is only helping this bullied boy, but in the end, his life is also transformed.”

“Dre is like boys everywhere – they want to kick something, a way to get revenge,” says Chan. “But kung fu is not about hurting people. It’s about helping people.”

Chan observes of his young co-star: “I’ve never seen a child that’s as clever as Jaden is. He learns whatever I teach him. I mean, I’d show him something and, boom, he got it right away. He’s amazing!”

Zwart recalls one poignant moment from the shoot: “I saw Jackie and Jaden relaxing between set-ups sitting on a little beach, you know, skipping stones in the water, and I was thinking if I was 11 years old and just hanging out with Jackie Chan, that would be a dream come true.”

Portraying Dre’s mother, Sherry, is Taraji P. Henson, who received an Academy Award® nomination for her stunning performance in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Henson says she was attracted to the role because it reminded her of the relationship between she and her own son. “We’re great friends, because it’s just the two of us, and that’s the thing that spoke to me when I read the script,” she says. “The new film also gave Sherry a larger ‘parental’ role. You really get to know Dre by watching his interaction with his mother,” Henson continues. “She’s a strong yet supportive woman.”

Henson was impressed with how open the Smiths were in allowing her to form a credible relationship with their son. “We had three weeks of rehearsals before we went to China. Both Will and Jada created such a comfortable environment for Jaden and I to bond,” she says.


“THE KARATE KID” LEARNS KUNG FU

When the filmmakers decided to open up the movie and go to China, one change that became necessary was the fighting style that Dre would learn. He would learn a Chinese fighting style, rather than karate, which originates from Okinawa and Japan.

So the karate kid would learn kung fu. In one scene, the bullies mock Dre, calling him “the karate kid” for trying karate in the land of kung fu. If Dre is going to survive, he will have to learn kung fu.

The word kung fu has several different meanings, but it is not specifically a martial arts term. The word might be literally translated as “work,” “skill,” or “time and effort” – a writer might have good kung fu at storytelling. At the same time, this term has a special meaning when applied to martial arts, and outside of China, kung fu can be used to describe the gamut of Chinese martial arts and a range of techniques.

In The Karate Kid, Dre learns wushu martial arts, a physically demanding, active kung fu sport taught and practiced in China. He was trained by Wu Gang, the stunt coordinator for the Jackie Chan stunt team, which is responsible for the stunts in the films that Chan directs.

They were starting at the beginning. “Whenever I teach anyone kung fu, but especially a kid, the first thing I teach them is respect for other people. Kung fu isn’t about fighting, but about helping people,” says Wu.

Of course, Smith and all of the other kung fu kids would be taught how to fight for the camera in a choreographed match and look good doing it on the big screen. “All of the kids in the film are full time wushu students, but none of them had movie fighting experience,” Wu notes. “It’s not easy to get the timing, the rhythm, and the reaction when you get hit. Also, the drama and the acting in the fight are just as important as the action – the kids needed to tell the dramatic story of the fight with their faces and bodies. It’s very challenging. But the big difference with this movie is that the movements are real.”

FILMING IN CHINA

In adapting The Karate Kid for modern audiences, the filmmakers sought a location that would place as many obstacles in Dre’s path as possible. “We wondered, could we find a location that would be like dropping Dre in another world?” says Will Smith. “When we cast Jackie Chan as Dre’s mentor, it struck us – China. We knew we’d be asking for a challenge, but in the end, the setting not only made the theme stronger, but made the film epic. I couldn’t be more proud of what we accomplished in China. When you see Jaden and Jackie training together on the Great Wall, it strikes you – there’s no way we could have made this movie in L.A.”

The decision to take the entire production to China was not taken lightly. Because many of the desired settings in the story are off-limits and difficult to access, the producers turned to the China Film Group, the largest and most influential state-run film enterprise in the country, to assist in securing locations.

For Chan, this film was both a homecoming and a dream-come-true. “I am so thankful to the production company for filming in China. We may have a five thousand year old history but our government is only sixty years young, a new government. This movie will give audiences a chance to learn about Chinese culture as well as Chinese martial arts. Such a wonderful promotion,” he exclaims.

“China is extremely unique, and this has been a really powerful experience for us as a family, working together in a place like this,” she continues. “It’s one of those once in a lifetime opportunities, one we’ll always remember. And of course, we’ll have a wonderful film to remember it by.”

One visually stunning scene in the film was shot at the prestigious Beijing Shaolin Wushu School and highlights 400 students dressed in traditional red gi doing their morning lawn routine. Established in 1991, the school features education – primary through senior high – with a wushu-style philosophy.

Smith enjoyed working alongside his Chinese costars. “I learned a lot of kung fu from them, and I taught them their first English words: ‘Yo. What’s up.’”


The Forbidden City

Shooting at the Tiananmen Gate and inside the Forbidden City was a thrilling yet daunting experience for both cast and crew alike. Very few productions are permitted access and this is the first company to film here in over 20 years.

Zwart says, “We had to rush everything because we only had two hours to shoot the entire scene. Fortunately, we had an extremely flexible crew, and being able to shoot there was incredible.”

The Forbidden City was the home of the Emperor of China and seat of power from 1420 until 1912, when the last emperor of China abdicated. It received its name because no one could enter or leave the palace without the express permission of the Emperor. Today, the Forbidden City, which covers 7.8 million square feet and 960 structures, houses the Palace Museum; it was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1987. The Tiananmen Gate is often referred to as the front entrance to the city.

The company also filmed at The Golden Buddha, overlooking the entire Forbidden City. This sacred shrine, located at the highest point in Beijing, offers an unobstructed 360 degree view of the entire city.

The Tournament

Everything that Mr. Han is instructing leads up to the tournament, the final showdown between Dre and the bully, Cheng. The interior of Beijing’s Feng Tai Sports Arena represented the “People’s Auditorium” where the huge competition takes place.

In order to allow Jaden Smith and his castmates to have as much training as possible, the production scheduled this scene over an eight-day period at the end of the shoot. The Jackie Chan Stunt Team choreographed the finale, combining their cinematic techniques with authentic martial artistry. “Everything you see is Jackie’s interpretation,” says Wu Gang.

In addition, the Stunt Team was responsible for auditioning hundreds of kids to perform in the key scenes. They searched through thousands of kids at various wushu schools around China. “A lot of these kids had good skill but no movie fighting abilities. I had to train the kids five to eight hours every day for timing, rhythm and reaction when they got hit,” Wu says.

Over 800 extras were brought in daily to simulate the Tournament’s crowds and high energy atmosphere. Moreover, dozens of extras posing as photographers and videographers were also on hand.