Driving a dirt bike alongside a train before leaping off a ramp directly onto its roof then rolling off as it crashes into the dust below? No big deal. At least for Michelle Yeoh it’s not. Not bad for an actress who – allegedly – hadn’t ridden a motorbike before appearing in the film. Originally, Jackie Chan had planned to use a stunt double for all of Yeoh’s stunts, but after seeing her ability during the action sequences he agreed to let her do all her own stunts.
Never a trained martial artist, she relied on her dance discipline and her on-set trainers to prepare for her martial arts action scenes. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Dance from the Royal Academy of Dance (London, England). With this in mind she still fought her way to the top in the male-dominated genre of Hong Kong action films, where she has been known for years as the “queen of martial arts”.
There is one scary moment, you can see it during the credits of Supercop (which is really Police Story 3, but the way, but released as Supercop in the US). Michelle falls on the hood of the car driven by Jackie Chan and he catches her. They did several takes of the stunt but in one take she hits the ground and takes a pretty hard tumble, she was alright, but looks quite dangerous on film. Supercop was directed by Stanley Tong for Golden Harvest.
Things to look up (click on item to go to IMDB page or Website):
- Michelle Yeoh
- Jackie Chan
- Golden Harvest
- Stanley Tong
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