Bonus: The Taking of Tiger Mountain

We talk about Tsui Hark’s adaptation of a Cultural Revolutionary model play, The Taking of Tiger Mountain (2014), with five-time guest, reigning champ, last King of Scotland, conqueror of all the mountains, poet Yi Wu.

Mask On (The Iron Mask)

We close season two with 2019’s Russian-Chinese, Jackie Chan-Arnold Schwarzenegger co-production, The Iron Mask. Lead actress Anna Churina remembers Arnold getting punched so hard he bled. Stuntman Mathieu Jaquet says Jackie’s stunt double got plastic surgery to look more like him. And stuntman and actor Paul Allica compares working on Wolf Warrior 2 to working with Jackie Chan.

PS2 Deja Vu (Knight of Shadows)

This week we talk about Jackie Chan’s 2019 monster hunter fantasy The Knight of Shadows with Larson DiFiori, Visiting Assistant Professor at Brown University’s Religious Studies department. He helps us decipher the magical reality of this loose adaptation of Pu Songling’s Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio.

Ferric Andre (Bleeding Steel)

We’ve got a packed lineup: Three-time guest Lauren Teixeira picks apart the mystery of Roger Rick. The film’s composer Peng Fei tells us about how scoring for new genres in the Chinese film industry compares to playing the Royal Albert Hall. Keir Beck, stunt coordinator and second unit director, shares his insights on the making of the Sydney Opera House fight. And Sammy the Dwarf describes what it was like to play the witch’s helper.

Indian Jones (Kung Fu Yoga)

We talk about Jackie Chan’s 2017 whirlwind through Asia, Kung Fu Yoga. We’re joined by film critic Harris Dang, legendary composer Nathan Wang, the man behind the iconic score for Rumble in the Bronx, and Tomer Oz, an actor and stuntman who’s been in nearly a third of this season’s movies.

Talk Less (Railroad Tigers)

We talk about Jackie Chan’s epic runaway train chase in 2016’s Railroad Tigers with four-time guest, reigning champ, last King of Scotland, poet Yi Wu. Then we’re joined by Michael C. Pizzuto, dubber extraordinaire, who tells us about voicing more roles in this movie than he can remember.

Bonus: We Got The Lion King Guy

We talk with Rob Minkoff, director of Forbidden Kingdom and co-director of The Lion King, about what Rafiki learned from Bruce Lee, working with Jackie Chan and Jet Li, and how Chinese-American co-productions have evolved since 2008. 

American Prick (Skiptrace)

We’re talking about 2016’s Jackie Chan-Johnny Knoxville buddy adventure Skiptrace. We delve into the American grifter mindset with John Maringouin, director of Ghostbox Cowboy, hear from Michael Gorevoy about a lifetime playing the bad guy, and learn how Gregory Joseph Allen prepared for the role of “American Prick.”

Parthians in the Outfield (Dragon Blade)

This week we’re talking about Jackie Chan’s peacekeeping on the Silk Road in 2015’s Dragon Blade, featuring John Cusack and Adrien Brody as The Romans. We hear about the crew’s hellacious time in the desert from the film’s composer Henry Lai and, frequent JC collaborator, actor and stuntman Brahim Chab.

Fuck The Police Story: Lockdown

We talk with Bosco Lam, Hong Konger and political science graduate student at University College London, about Police Story: Lockdown(2013) and Jackie Chan’s abhorrent long standing support for police brutality. All cops are bastards. Black lives matter. Hong Kong protests matter. Abolish the police everywhere.   

General Jackie (1911)

In 1911, Jackie Chan’s centennial tribute to the revolution that established China’s first republic, he plays Huang Xing, the general leading the uprising on the ground while Sun Yat-sen jets around the world in search of diplomatic and financial legitimacy. We’re joined by Chinese nationalism expert Edward Friedman and three-time guest, reigning champ, poet Yi Wu.

Ask Mr. Han (The Karate Kid)

The 2010 Karate Kid is the inevitable clash of the Jackie and Jaden universes. We’re joined by the film’s production designer, François Séguin, Jaden’s Beijing nerf buddy, Luke Carberry, and young filmmaker Jason Chiang, who passionately vouches for this karate-less remake.

Unity Candidate (Little Big Soldier)

Jackie Chan plays a simple soldier who forages through the calamity of the Warring States period in search of a way back to his farm. We’re joined by novelist, journalist, author of The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires, co-founder of New York’s Asian Film Festival, and Jackie Chan super fan Grady Hendrix, as well as scholar and translator of Warring States texts Jennifer Dodgson for this week’s episode on 2010’s Little Big Soldier.

Chestnut Tycoon (Shinjuku Incident)

We’re joined by Street Fighter star Kenya Sawada, who walks us through his cinematic rematch with Jackie Chan as Nakajima in Shinjuku Incident, as well as returning guest journalist Lauren Teixeira who helps us break down Jackie’s model immigrant-turned-yakuza boss story in 2009’s Shinjuku Incident.

The Monkey King and I (The Forbidden Kingdom)

We kick off The Jackie Chan: Post-Rush Hour 3 season with 2008’s The Forbidden Kingdom. To start, we have former Jackie Chan stunt team member Allen Keng, followed by a discussion of the religious and historical iconography in the movie with ‪returning guest and Assistant Professor at Brown University’s Department of Religious Studies, Larson DiFiori. Finally, we talk with one of the movie’s bad guys (who almost takes out Jackie’s Miyagi-in-Southie character) Morgan Benoit. ‬

Silk Brute (Wolf Warrior 2)

On the season finale, we talk with Carl Zha, host of the podcast Silk and Steel, about the joys and wonders of Wolf Warrior 2. Then, we have two interviews that probably constitute the most comprehensive source in English on the making of the film. First, we talk about the making of the film’s score with composer, Joseph Trapanese, whose work has previously appeared in Tron: Legacy, Oblivion, and The Greatest Showman. After, we talk with action director Sam Hargrave, whose stunt coordinating can also be seen in the Avengers films and Atomic Blonde, about working with Wu Jing and flipping a tank.

Lighting up Jupiter (Wandering Earth)

First, we talk about the state of Chinese Sci-fi before Wandering Earth with writer Anna Wu, whose work has appeared in English translation in the Chinese sci-fi anthology Broken Stars. Then, Lauren Teixeira, a Chengdu based journalist whose work has appeared in Vice, Foreign Policy and the Economist, joins our conversation about the variety of Wandering Earth viewing experiences. Finally, we’re joined by Mike Sui, one of the stars of The Wandering Earth. He told us more than we ever imagined there was to know about the mechanics of celebrity in China and about the massive machine that director Frant Gwo mobilized to get the movie made.


The Chinatown Vote (Detective Chinatown 2)

We talk about Detective Chinatown 2 with our first returning guest, poet Yi Wu, and speak with Larson Di Fiori, a visiting assistant professor in the religious studies department at Brown University, about the philosophical, religious, and folk traditions that play into the plot of the film.