I interviewed Jackie Chan for the first time back in July 1996, during a New York junket for Supercop
, at a time when he was making his second major push to expand his international superstardom to the United States. (During his first attempt more than a decade earlier, he did cameos in two Cannonball Run
movies, and starred in Battle Creek Brawl
-- a.k.a. The Big Brawl -- a relatively obscure action-comedy filmed on location in Texas.) He was extremely ingratiating, but seemed just a tad anxious. Two years later, however, he came across as appreciably more self-confident while launching his first bona fide U.S. blockbuster, Rush Hour
. My favorite part of the interview: He talks about studying Fred Astaire before choreographing a comic fight scene.
