Hollywood safety rules frustrate Jackie Chan

updated 3:58 p.m. ET Oct. 16, 2006

HONG KONG - Jackie Chan, famous for his daredevil stunts, says he’s frustrated by Hollywood’s safety rules.

“There are so many safety and insurance rules to follow,” Chan said in an interview on his Web site Sunday. “I know that they want to make sure that I’m safe when I do my stunts, but sometimes they insist that I use protective gear for even simple things, and that is frustrating. It takes so much time.”

Chan, best known in the United States for the “Rush Hour” movies with Chris Tucker, said he feels less encumbered when making films in Hong Kong.

“In Hong Kong we just go ahead and do what needs to be done. There is no safety captain on the set. I use my own stunt team because they have experience and I trust them to make the action and stunts safe,” he said.

Chan, 52, also said that when he first broke into Hollywood, he’d had little control over his own moves, even though he’d been choreographing stunts for decades in Hong Kong.

But that that has changed over time.

“When I first started making Hollywood films, the directors wouldn’t listen to anything I said when it came to the action,” he said. “It’s different now; the directors respect me and listen to me. Over the years I have gotten more involved in the planning of the action and stunts on my American movies and that makes me happy. But mostly it is difficult.”

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