If there’s one thing you can say about Jet Li, it’s that the veteran actor truly marches to the beat of his own drum. With all his years of experience in the entertainment industry, the actor who’s now 62 years old surely knows a thing or two about the ins and outs of show business. It has given him some unique perspectives in a fast-changing industry that now values traffic over seniority and experience.
On How Hard Work May Not Always Be Rewarded
In a recent interview, Jet Li candidly talked about how hard work might not necessarily lead to good results and that more often than not, the effort you put in is simply not proportional to the end result. He said there’s usually only three outcomes – either the project ends up being good, horrible or average. He said he’s lucky in the sense that his works didn’t tank and ended up in the average scale. Yet even being ‘average’ also meant they made very little profit.
Take his film Kung Fu Cult Master as an example. Remember the iconic scene of Sharla Cheung’s Zhao Min looking back before heading off? That scene became such a classic, generations of people loved the film. So why didn’t they make a sequel? The actor revealed that the film actually lost money and that there was not enough to make a sequel.
The same goes for his 1994 film Fist of Legend. He put in so much effort yet the movie ended up getting pulled from the box office within two weeks. “It used to be a month, but it was taken off the screen within two weeks. This caused to me give up my subsequent projects. Nobody’s buying.” In sharp contrast, the reception and popularity of Tsui Hark’s version of The Legend of Swordsman completely blew his mind. “The whole thing was crazy”.
On Fame and Traffic Stars in Chinese Showbiz
Jet Li believes seniority and experience no longer holds as much value as being a traffic star. “Whoever’s popular will always land the big roles, and that person will have ten people taking care of him. This is very normal.” These days he says fame and fortune don’t matter nearly as much. In fact, he says he doesn’t mind taking on a supporting role and mentoring rookies to lift them up.
He says people need to understand their real needs. Ultimately, real value doesn’t come from always getting the lead role. It’s in the deeper understanding and the pursuit of life. As for him, the showbiz veteran says when he walks away, it will be on his own terms. “At the highest point of my career, it was my choice to take a step back“.
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