Jackie Chan refused to let secret operation derail film
To generations of movie fans, Jackie Chan is renowned for going to extremes.
The end credits of his movies are famous for the outtakes in which stunts go wrong and often, Chan or his co-stars are left injured.
For his latest film, Kung Fu Yoga - which opens here on Jan 27 - Chan again found himself in a life-threatening situation, though it was not because of a stunt.
The 62-year-old star said during a press conference on Friday that he had been feeling unwell.
The pain was so overwhelming when he was in London that after seeing a doctor, he was rushed to hospital and had to go through a five-hour operation.
Chan said that his skin and muscle had rotted and his intestines were out of alignment.
During the operation, his assistants waited outside, crying.
But there was no rest.
"The doctor told me to stop filming immediately but I rested for a day and then started working the next day," said Chan.
"I went to Iceland to film a scene in icy water shortly after."
Chan insisted that he be the one to do his stunts rather than use a stuntman.
"I could have stopped production for me to rest for half a year, but there was a large crew on set waiting, so I didn't want to drag progress."
Chan had kept the operation a secret until a co-star let it slip on Thursday.
Though not everything with the film - in which Chan plays an archaeology professor searching for the lost treasure - was physically stressful.
In order to borrow some of the most luxurious sports cars in the world for the movie, Chan had a far less demanding price to pay.
He was asked to eat with the four brothers and their families from the Dubai royal family. The brothers are all Jackie Chan fans and of course wanted to get their picture taken with the legendary action star.
Said director Stanley Tong: "When I heard that was all they were requesting for, I quickly told Jackie that he had to do this favour."
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