‘Karate Kid’ Remake Director Reveals Jackie Chan’s Unexpected On-Camera Behavior

Karate Kid: Legends star Ben Wang and director Jonathan Entwhistle gave Entertainment Weekly an exclusive first look at the “action-packed” legacy sequel, which hits screens next year. During the extended interview, Entwhistle spoke at length about working with the force of nature that is Jackie Chan and learning to roll with some of the actor’s unexpected on-camera behavior.

Describing Chan, 70, as “a wonderful human being who is very warm” and the epitome of a dying breed—the classic “movie star”—Entwhistle explained that Chan takes an active interest in all of his productions. “When his day is done, you would often find him sitting next to me, sitting next to the [cinematographer], telling stories, talking to the actors,” the director said. “He was like the magical Dumbledore to us on set, and he's like that in the movie too.”

Chan’s openness extends to notes and ideas about his character, including unscripted stunts which the actor would create at the last minute without informing his co-stars to generate maximum surprise. “He had the ability to come up with a tiny idea that I'd never thought of—and all of Jackie's tiny ideas are in the movie,” Entwhistle said.

The director continued: “There’s a wonderful fight sequence in the movie, which I'm not going to spoil, and Jackie had the idea to jump out at Ben from a random corner of this space, without Ben even knowing where he was going to be. He wanted to jump out from the spot that would have the most effect. He was always looking for an opportunity to either roll on the floor, roll over a table, jump off a staircase — he would just be like, ‘I will do this.’ None of us ever had a choice. It was like, Jackie would have an idea, and we just filmed it because it's Jackie, and it would always be awesome.”

Karate Kid: Legends finds Wang stepping into a role similar to the one played by Ralph Macchio in the original and Jaden Smith in the remake. The globe-trotting flick, in which Macchio reprises his role as Daniel, will tie together both the mythologies of the original trilogy and the 2010 remake which starred Chan as Mr. Miyagi (stepping in for Pat Morita, who died in 2005) and Smith as his protegé, finally confirming that the films all exist within the same universe.

“Without giving too much away,” Entwhistle teased, “I can say that Mr. Han and Mr. Miyagi are the connection to Daniel. The Han family and the Miyagi family are connected all the way back to the old times. And there is a mention of this within the [previous] Karate Kid movie[s] for those people who want to go looking for it.”

Karate Kid: Legends hits cinemas on May 20, 2025. You can head over to Entertainment Weekly to read the full interview.