#SHOWBIZ: 'Not worthy': The brutal rejection that drove Jackie Chan's rise to stardom
HONG KONG: Datuk Jackie Chan may be one of the world's biggest action icons, but there was a time when he was hardly considered leading-man material.
Jackie Chan, a globally renowned action icon, faced a brutal rejection early in his career that significantly shaped his rise to stardom. Hong Kong filmmaker Ng See Yuen revealed that Taiwanese actress Pearl Chang Ling once snubbed Chan, believing he was unworthy of pairing with her. Chang, a major star in the 1970s, was set to star in a new film directed by Lo Wei, who brought Chan to Chang's dressing room to pitch the project.
When Chang asked who would play the male lead, she turned to Chan and said, "Is someone like you even worthy of being paired with me?" Despite Chan's initial embarrassment, he remembered the incident vividly years later, stating he would never forget it. Chan's early film career was fraught with challenges, with his movies often struggling at the box office.
Even renowned author Gu Long mocked him. When director Yuen Woo-ping wanted to cast Chan in the 1978 action comedy Snake in the Eagle's Shadow, Ng, the film's producer, was initially hesitant due to Chan's poor box-office record. However, Yuen persisted and eventually prevailed, taking the financial risk that would pay off immensely.
Snake in the Eagle's Shadow turned out to be a massive box-office hit, catapulting Chan to worldwide stardom and solidifying his place in cinema history.
Written by urgent.news from New Straits Times's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
