Jaden Smith set for 'Karate Kid' redo

[Ale]

Robert Pattinson And Jaden Smith In 'Breaking Dawn'? 'Karate Kid' Star Says 'That'd Be Amazing'

Tom Cruise, Sandra Bullock, the Situation — the stars were out in force at the MTV Movie Awards at the Gibson Amphitheatre on Sunday night. But after walking the sun-baked red carpet with "Karate Kid" co-star Jackie Chan, 11-year-old Jaden Smith only had one thing on his mind: "Twilight."

And if he found himself in a conversation with Robert Pattinson during the show, Smith knew exactly what he'd ask the Brit actor.

Watch Video here!

http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2010/06/10/robert-pattinson-and-jaden-smith-in-breaking-dawn-karate-kid-star-says-thatd-be-amazing/

"I've never met Robert Pattinson before, but I will just say that we should make a vampire movie together," he told MTV News.

Well, you know "Breaking Dawn" is gearing up to shoot in the fall. Perhaps Smith, whose action flick credentials are in full display in the new 'Karate Kid," should throw his hat into the casting ring.

"That'd be amazing," he said, not quite convinced the movie hasn't already wrapped. "I don't know, maybe they already shot it, but that'd be amazing to be in."

Hit play on the video to check out Smith and Chan shortly before they took the Movie Awards stage with Shaun White to present the award for Biggest Badass Star.

[Ale]

Jaden Smith Swings Into the "Late Show"

Easing in to his new fame quite well, Jaden Smith was spotted arriving at “The Late Show” with David Letterman in New York City on Thursday (June 10).

The 11-year-old actor looked cool in jeans and a jacket with a red t-shirt underneath and graciously waved to all the adoring fans that had gathered to get a glimpse of him.

In other news, Jaden recently paid a visit to “Today” and chatted with host, Matt Lauer, about his first kiss on the big screen.

Smith told, “That was interesting, it was a little bit weird, a little bit weird.” He followed up and jokingly said, “It’s kind of awkward.”

http://celebrity-gossip.net/jaden-smith/jaden-smith-swings-late-show-374256

Edited April 28, 2014 by Ale

[Ale]

Jackie Chan's 'Karate Kid' kicks acting career into higher gear

BEVERLY HILLS — Jackie Chan's body is a road map of misery.

He touches the back of his head, where his skull was fractured during one martial arts scene. The nose, which he tweaks, has been broken twice, along with his cheekbones, jaw and every rib. Both kneecaps were cracked, two ankles have snapped, and he has broken most of the bones in both hands.

"If it's on my body, I probably broke it," Chan, 56, says at the rooftop restaurant of the Beverly Hills Montage Hotel. "But you have to remember: I've been acting for 48 years. You're going to break bones."

Acting and injuries usually aren't a package. Robert De Niro or Al Pacino would never win a scar-off with Chan. Instead, Chan wants to become more like De Niro and Pacino. The Karate Kid features the least amount of fighting Chan has logged in a movie.

And he hopes the trend continues.

"I've been fighting, fighting, fighting, until no one thinks I can do anything different," Chan says. "But I can. I'm not just a fighter. I'm an actor."

He gets to convince audiences on Friday with The Karate Kid, a movie that Chan says he was reluctant to make until he learned it would be produced by Will and Jada Pinkett Smith and star their son, Jaden.

"When I first heard about it, I was thinking 'How am I going to play the kid?' Because that's who does all the fighting," Chan says with a laugh. "When Will says it was for the teacher part, I said yes right away."

Karate Kid director Harald Zwart says he didn't realize how much Chan wanted to act until he got on set.

"We knew we were going to have great fight scenes, because you've got the greatest fighter in your movie," Zwart says. "But he isn't who he appears to be on camera. He's very respectful, looks you in the eye, wants to learn. I realized he was the complete actor."

Chan is hoping that some scenes — including one in which he breaks down — will draw attention.

"Directors are asking me, 'Do another Rush Hour, do another Rush Hour,' " Chan says. "But that doesn't help you grow as an actor. That's boring. I know how to do that. What am I supposed to do? Star in Rush Hour 20?"

Chan says he learned there was more to do in 1982, when he saw An Officer and a Gentleman.

"I was expecting a big fight scene," Chan says. "You know how many (punches) are thrown? One! And it's a great movie. That's what I want to do."

He gets to do a little of that in his native China. "I can do some acting there, but it's not the same," Chan says. "American actors, they can work so long on a single scene. That's how you get better."

In China, he is Brad Pitt or bigger. He usually has to eat lunch in his car to prevent a mob scene.

Here, "people know who I am, but they want me to show them a fighting move."

Jaden Smith wanted to learn a few. The 12-year-old worked for three months with Chan and continues today. "I lucked out," Jaden says. "How many people get to learn to fight from the best?"

Chan takes over the Pat Morita role but plays Mr. Han, not Mr. Miyagi.

"All I've wanted is this chance," he says. "The Smith family gave that to me. Now I can show I'm not just Mr. Miyagi. I'm Jackie Chan."

http://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/news/2010-06-08-Chan08_st_N.htm?csp=obinsite

Edited April 28, 2014 by Ale

[Ale]

ABC 33/40 News Video on Demand

Nicole has a one on one sit down with Karate Kid's Jackie Chan and Jaden Smith.

http://cfc.abc3340.com/videoondemand.cfm?id=67292


Director Harald Zwart discusses "The Karate Kid"

http://www.makingof.com/posts/watch/1865/director-harald-zwart-discusses-the-karate-kid


Just like a movie mogul at age 11

LOS ANGELES — How many 11-year-old kids can say that they are reading many scripts? And that they are looking for “a good story and a good concept”?

Well, Jaden Smith spoke those words like a studio mogul when we interviewed him on Tuesday afternoon. With two bodyguards wearing suits standing by on his left and right side, the son of Will and Jada Pinkett Smith fielded questions like a blasé Hollywood veteran. We first met Jaden when he was only 8, shy and smiling when he sat beside his dad for a talk about their movie together, “The Pursuit of Happyness.”

Now Jaden stars with Jackie Chan in an update of “The Karate Kid,” the 1984 hit which featured Ralph Macchio and the late Pat Morita. Wearing a studded leather vest, Jaden played with his braided hair and necklace as he answered questions.

Since this new film was shot in China, Jaden learns kung fu rather than karate, which originates from Japan. Jackie, a good friend of Will’s, sent his stunt coordinator Wu Gang to train Jaden for three months before filming began.


Excerpts from the interview:


What’s it like working with Jackie Chan?

It was amazing. He’s a great guy. He’s very energetic and he knows more kung fu than you think.


What’s your favorite movie of Jackie’s?

“Drunken Master.”


How was your experience filming in China ?

It was great shooting in China. The people were very nice. It was a little difficult for me because not many spoke English.


Did you enjoy the food?

I had burgers the whole time.


When your family appeared on “Oprah,” your mom and dad talked about pushing you to do some stunts.

I knew that my dad was going to push me and my mom was only going to push me to a certain point. My dad was pushing me to the very edge. If we were to use a metaphor, my feet were sliding off the rocks of a cliff and I had my toes hanging over the edge.


How did they react during those moments?

My mom was very scared at some point. So was I and so was my dad, but he just didn’t say anything.


If you had to write about your father in school, what would you write?

I’d say he’s a great father and person. He likes to watch movies. We go to the movie theater all the time.


And if you had to write about your mother?

All the same things except she’s a girl.


You had your first screen kiss in this movie with Wenwen Han.

That scene was very awkward. What I said to her was, “It’s going to be okay.” She was tripping up. I tried to make her comfortable.


Have you had your first kiss in real life yet?

Yes. It was a while ago.


How was it?

Great. I didn’t really know what I was doing.


What’s the most important thing that your dad and mom told you about acting?

You have to stay in the scene. No matter what happens, you got to stay in the scene.


Who’s the best actor in the family?

Probably my dad. Because he has been doing it the longest and he’s had more work.


Who’s the strictest in the family?

My grandmother—my mom’s mother. She lives with us and she’s strict when it comes to us.


How do you get along with your brother Trey?

We’re closer than I am with my sister. Acting is not his thing. He gets into music a lot.


What do you enjoy and not enjoy about acting?

I like acting because it’s fun. You get to go all over the world. But I do not like crying in movies.


Which movies with young people in them do you like?

I like the old movies like “Sixteen Candles,” “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” and “The Breakfast Club.” Those movies are very cool.


Who are your favorite actors?

I really like the people in the “Twilight” movies. I’ve met Taylor Lautner, Kristen Stewart, Nikki Reed and Robert Pattinson.


What other things do you like?

I love vampires. They’re awesome. I like reading but my favorite subject is math. I like to skateboard, surf and snowboard.


Do you snowboard with Tom Cruise, who’s a family friend? You got to do a scene with him at the recent MTV Movie Awards.

Sometimes we do snowboard. Yeah, I did the MTV Movie Awards with him. It was hilarious.


What are you reading now?

Stephenie Meyer’s “Breaking Dawn” in the “Twilight” series.


Do you dress yourself?

They’re the ones who have all the clothes. They will ask, “Do you like this?” I told them I really like leather so that’s what I wear all the time.


What music do you listen to?

I like rap.


Any particular artist?

Drake.


Are you about to finish school and take the summer off?

No, I’m probably not going to have another summer off for about five years.


Why?

I’ll probably be working on other projects.


How do you decide on which script to do?

If it has a good story and a good concept.


What if there are several scripts that have those two elements?

If we have five really good scripts, then we’ll do them all.

http://showbizandstyle.inquirer.net/entertainment/entertainment/view/20100610-274960/Just-like-a-movie-mogul-at-age-11

Edited April 28, 2014 by Ale

[Ale]

Just a regular Kid

MAYBE nepotism isn't all that it's cracked up to be. Cute-as-a-button Jaden Smith confessed it was "difficult" working with mum and dad - power couple Will and Jada Pinkett Smith - on the remake of the 1984 coming-of-age classic The Karate Kid.

He plays a kid who moves to China after his mother's job transfer, only to be beset by bullying. As in the original, he turns to an unlikely kung fu master for help. Jackie Chan plays the "Mr Miyagi" role as handyman Mr Han, who teaches the boy that there's more to martial arts than violence.

Jaden's parents were producers of the film, and gave him a particularly hard time.

"My dad would always be: 'Okay, Jaden, you've got to do this scene and you have to be really emotional and we're gonna maybe need you to cry, and we need this and that," said the 11-year-old who steps into Ralph Macchio's original role.

"And then my mum would be: 'Okay, Jaden, do you want some apples?' No, I don't want any apples," he continued, laughing. "Ten minutes later it would be 'Jaden, I've got some apples, do you want some?'

"And then she'd be like: 'I've had these apples for an hour-and-a-half - you're going to eat the apples and get some energy.' So it was: 'Okay Mum, I'll eat the apples.'"

Jada might be mum all the way, but it was his screen mum Taraji P Henson who had him cracking up.

"When I asked what she was doing in the kitchen going 'bang, bang' with all these pans, she said: 'You know how when Mums are mad they start banging stuff in the kitchen?' I was on the floor rolling around," he shared. "She was awesome!"

And even if this is Jaden's third feature film (he made his debut alongside his dad in 2006's The Pursuit Of Happyness, and had a role in The Day The Earth Stood Still), it's nice to know that he's still kinda a regular kid. Even if he's the son of Hollywood royalty.

"Okay, my mum, or somebody, will wake me up around 8.30," he said, elaborating on how he begins each work day. "I get out of bed around 9.30am and brush my teeth, take a shower, eat, receive a long lecture from my dad before I go to work, get in the car, drive to work."

And after a day of hair, make-up, training, rehearsals and actual filming, he goes home to play two hours of World of Warcraft.

"And then I shoot my brother with nerf guns".

Sounds like a superstar in the making.

TRANSCRIPT COURTESY SONY PICTURES

The Karate Kid is in cinemas now.

http://www.todayonline.com/Entertainment/Movies/EDC100611-0000064/Just-a-regular-Kid

Edited April 28, 2014 by Ale

[Ale]

Jaden Smith visits 'Late Show With David Letterman' at the Ed Sullivan Theater on June 10, 2010 in New York City.

Pics!

http://www.gettyimages.com/Search/Search.aspx?contractUrl=2&language=en-US&assetType=image&ebd=2010-06-10&p=jaden%20smith

Edited April 28, 2014 by Ale

[VIsqo]

Jaden is mad famous right now, everybody here is talking about him, I hope the movie does excelent!!

[gosia]

'Karate Kid' Jaden Smith on dad Will: He's 'crazy'
Reuters
Posted at 06/11/2010 7:41 AM | Updated as of 06/11/2010 7:41 AM


LOS ANGELES – Everybody knows actor Will Smith is a good-natured, fun-loving guy, but to hear his son Jaden tell it, he's more than that. He's crazy!

Jaden, 11, stars in "The Karate Kid" which debuts in U.S. movie theaters on Friday as a remake of 1984's cult hit of the same name about an old martial arts master who teaches a young boy how to defend himself in the face of schoolyard bullies.

The idea to remake the movie with his son in the lead role was the brainchild of "Hancock" star Will Smith, and initially his family was skeptical, Jaden said.

"My dad had the idea, and everybody knows in (our) house that my dad's a little crazy, okay? He's very crazy! But you know, when he said this, we were like 'are you sure?' and then we were like, 'all right, we're going to listen to you because you're the guy,'" Jaden told Reuters.

In fact, Smith, 41, has put both of his children with wife Jada Pinkett Smith in movies. Jaden starred alongside his father in 2006 drama "The Pursuit of Happyness" and daughter Willow, 9, had a role in Smith's "I Am Legend."

For "Karate Kid," however, Jaden is on his own as the film's star, while his mom and dad took on producer roles.

In the 1984 original, Ralph Macchio's "Karate Kid" was a fish out of water as the new boy from New Jersey who moves to a California town.

In the new version, the stakes are raised for Jaden's Dre Parker. He's not just the new kid in town. He's the new kid in the country when he and his mom (Taraji P. Henson) relocate from Detroit to China.

Much of the film was shot in and around Beijing, including the Tiananmen Gate, the Forbidden City and the Great Wall of China. There was also a four-day film shoot in the Wudang Mountains in central China.

In both versions, the lead character makes an enemy of the class bully and must learn how to defeat him. But there are some new twists.

Gone are the famous "wax on, wax off" scenes dealing with waxing a car and used to help train the boy. In its place is a new learning system centered around putting a jacket on and taking it off, hanging it up and taking it down.

Karate, which originated in Okinawa, Japan, is replaced with Chinese kung fu. And Jackie Chan is Parker's instructor, Mr. Han, a maintenance man and secret kung fu master who trains Parker to face the bullies at an upcoming kung fu tournament.

Jaden said he had seen the original movie and he liked it. But he said the new version "has a lot of story, a lot of amazing actors, and, like, I just think that this movie is good. We planned it out good, and we just attacked it."

Chan, a veteran of martial arts movies and comedies including the smash hit "Rush Hour" flicks, said his stunt team trained Jaden for three months to do the fighting, and that the young boy proved adept at mastering all the right moves.

"He's very, very good," Chan told Reuters in a joint interview with Jaden. "I think he was born like that, he has this kind of gene, like me!"

When asked if either of them might like to work on a sequel, Jaden piped up that "it would be really cool."

Chan, however, said he had to "think about it," until he saw the budding kung fu expert glare at him. After that, he quickly changed his mind: "okay, I do it."

Edited June 11, 2010 by gosia

[gosia]

Jaden at Leterman


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suyfa5_Ying

[Da Brakes]

Wow....people really like to slag off little kids on YouTube!

[VIsqo]

It was a good interview. He is learning from his father a lot!

[Ale]

Jaden at Leterman

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suyfa5_Ying

Thank you gosia!

JC Interview

Edited June 12, 2010 by Ale

[MaxFly]

There are a few mixed reviews out there, but here is one I found interesting...

Best if you go into this remake with no baggage from the 1984 "Karate Kid." Wasting time making comparisons to the Ralph Macchio and Pat Morita classic may blind you to the virtues of this new, audience-pleasing version of the archetypal tale of mentor and protégé, damaged man and bullied boy -- here played by Jackie Chan and Jaden Smith.

This year's "Kid" lacks the light-hearted buoyancy of the original; it's heavier with loss and a particularly vicious cruelty. So the movie's operative metaphor is mobility, the kind of emotional get-up-and-go fueled by dance and music, the elegant power of kung fu and, yes, the push-pull of love between two beleaguered souls. A liberating (if overlong) journey, "The Karate Kid" takes its own sweet time to arrive at tournament proving-ground and father-son reunion.

From our first glimpse of Jaden Smith, we're hooked. This remarkable kid has the face, grace and charisma of a born movie star. And he largely carries the picture, with substantial assists from Jackie Chan and the always luminous Taraji P. Henson. Leaving Detroit for Beijing, 12-year-old Dre Parker takes one last look at his "growth" lines penciled on a doorframe. Still emotionally hamstrung by the stark "dad died" notation of three years earlier, Dre's at a standstill. When this skinny, delicate-featured boy with cornrowed mane adds "moving to China," it's his passport to growing up.

As a result of camera angle and Smith's magnetism, you feel as though you are genuinely seeing through his eyes, experiencing from his height, the unmitigated strangeness of his new home. Language barriers, unfamiliar traditions, loneliness -- and especially the brutal harassment of a kung fu bully -- all turn the beautiful boy sullen and fearful. Though he may be trapped in a body too young and weak for defense, Smith gives his character dignity and intelligence far beyond his years. The camera loves him: You can see his father (Will Smith) in him, the man he will become.

Dre fairly glows at his first crush, a lovely Chinese girl (Wenen Han) who may be an accomplished violinist but can boogie with the best of them. He gives this expressive creature a gaze so intense and considering, so strangely adult, that it totally trumps the fact that she's physically larger than he is -- a harbinger of his eventual kung fu style. There's a visually evocative moment when Dre and Meiying attend a sumptuous shadow puppet show, dramatizing the story of a goddess who loved a mortal boy. When her mom uses a river to separate the two, sympathetic birds build a uniting bridge. At the climax of the play, the shadows of Dre and his sweetheart, sharing their first kiss behind the curtain, make them part of this poignant tale.

When evil-eyed schoolmate Cheng and his posse, trained by a sensei who advocates "no mercy," aim to beat Dre to a definitive pulp, a powerful hand literally reaches into the frame to stop the coup de grace dead. That hand belongs to Mr. Han (Chan), a melancholic janitor who shambles about in shabby peasant garb and visored leather cap with flaps. Han is so introverted and inert, he seems to have been struck by lobotomizing lightning. The car parked in his living room -- which he ritually repairs and destroys every year -- is a memorial to paralyzing grief, Han's version of Dre's stark "dad died."

Han's an old-school kung-fu master, skilled in a style as much of the soul as it is of the body. Like pure yoga, his kung fu is a path, not an end. He reluctantly becomes Dre's instructor, starting him out with unending, apparently pointless exercises that are, of course, character- and muscle-builders. It's a delight to watch Smith's lean little body grow muscle, his soft face take firmer form. (Smith trained with Chan's regular stunt coordinator, Wu Gang.) Having followed Han up endless stairs to a mountaintop temple, Dre watches a woman poised on a stone outcrop, high over nothingness, dancing with a cobra in slow motion. There's nothing hokey here; it's an image of supernaturally controlled and self-aware motion, the opposite of both mindless inertia and kinesis.

Watch Dre's face as he listens to Han's confession, as they sit in the front seat of his permanently parked car. Hard to believe a 12-year-old could project such tender empathy. Then, as Dre finds a way to rescue his mentor, the film quite wonderfully rhymes the earlier story at the shadow puppet show. Pushing the rope handles of the long practice poles through the car window, Dre literally draws the grieving man out of his emotional tomb into the light. (The rescuing ropes enter the frame in a reprise of Han's helping hand.) Their shadows, connected by the poles, dance gracefully on a garden wall -- the distance between man and boy bridged, father re-animated by adopted son.

Han keeps telling his student that it's not a matter of winning or losing -- and in the context of this narrative journey, the aphorism rises above cliché. Really, all the important stuff has happened before the climactic kung fu tournament. But like my fellow viewers I cheered like mad -- and groaned at betrayal -- during the climactic battles. Still, what I will remember most from those heated moments is the way Dre turns to catch his sensei's eye during each bout. In the midst of powerful motion, this kung fu kid finds anchorage in a father's steady gaze.

[Ale]

Blackbelt TV takes a look behind the scenes of the new film THE KARATE KID starring Jackie Chan and Jaden Smith.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbhukqFgkHc


Jaden Smith ''The Karate Kid'' Rapping on 106 and Park

Jaden Smith Rapping on 106 and Park on BET June 11, 2010. Taraji and Jackie also Freestyled.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jw0J4rFrjXk

Edited June 12, 2010 by Ale

[MaxFly]

And another one... http://entertainmentspectrum.com/index/movies/1071/thekaratekid.html

The crowd-pleasing blueprint is largely intact for this modernized multicultural remake of the beloved 1984 cult classic.

Dre Parker (Jaden Smith from “The Pursuit of Happyness”), a 12-year-old African-American boy, is not very enthusiastic about moving from Detroit to Beijing when his widowed mother Sherry (Taraji P. Henson from “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”) gets a job transfer to her employer’s overseas car factory.

Dre is immediately attracted to Meiying (Han Wenwen), a cutie who plays the violin. A group of Asian kids led by bully Cheng (Wang Zhenwei) take exception to this outcast invading their turf. Cheng throws Dre to the cement several times with his exceptional martial arts fighting skills. Dre ends up with a black eye that he tries to hide from his mother.

During a second brawl with Cheng and his pint-sized ninjas, the apartment building handyman Mr. Han (Jackie Chan from “Forbidden Kingdom” and “Rush Hour”) steps in and saves Dre from further injury. Dre pleads with Han to teach him how to fight back. Han reluctantly agrees to take Dre under his wing.

Dre trains for an open kung fu tournament with a chance to gain respect from his peer group of competitors. A more accurate title for this underdog odyssey would have been “The Kung Fu Kid” since that is the martial art demonstrated in the movie.

This enjoyable and entertaining movie is filled with poignant emotional moments. The movie has dramatic heft, taking on issues that involve culture clash and language barriers. The spunky Smith, with his hair in long cornrows, has an undeniable screen charisma and proves that the apple doesn’t fall far from the talent tree. Most people are aware that he is the son of Will and Jada Pinkett Smith.

Chan gives an Oscar-worthy supporting performance and is able to combine laugh-out-loud comedy with serious life lessons about maintaining the right attitude, treating people with respect and an appreciation of nature. Smith and Chan have a winning chemistry that goes beyond merely pupil and mentor.

The breathtaking scenic backgrounds include the Forbidden City, the Wudang Mountains and the Great Wall.

There are not enough superlatives for all the things done right by Dutch-Norwegian director Harald Zwart (“Agent Cody Banks” and “The Pink Panther 2”) and screenwriter Christopher Murphey. Some of the major strengths include the original musical score by Oscar-winning composer James Horner (“Titanic”), the colorful costumes, cinematography that effectively utilizes shadows, martial arts choreography and stunt work featuring parkour. The movie’s only drawback is a nearly 2½-hour running time, but any editing would encounter difficulty in what scenes to shorten or leave out.

Youngsters will be fascinated and mesmerized by Dre’s amazing transformative journey. You will leave the theater with a smile on your face and a joyful feeling in your heart. The applause was deafening at the advance screening and an indication that this will be the sleeper hit of the summer. The dialogue is partially in Mandarin with easy-to-read English subtitles.