The list of injuries Jackie Chan has sustained during the course of his career is nearly as long as his extensive list of credits on IMDb. The action star, who famously spent much of his career doing his own stunts, has risked life and limb countless times and recently he may have had his closest call yet. That’s because Jackie Chan almost drowned filming stunts for his latest movie.
The incident occurred while Jackie Chan was working on his latest movie called Vanguard. According to CNA Lifestyle, the 65-year-old actor was filming a scene involving a jet ski and somehow he found himself trapped in the water under a rock. It’s unclear the exact nature of the scene or the stunt, but trapped underwater and unable to come up for air, Jackie Chan almost drowned. Thankfully, the film crew on Vanguard rushed to rescue the actor and he wound up being okay.
By the sound of things, it was a close call though and an incredibly scary situation, both for Jackie Chan who was trapped and running out of oxygen and for the assembled cast and crew who had to see what was happening and race against time to free the actor.
When Jackie Chan remembered the incident at a press conference in Beijing, he said that he just had to tell himself not to panic while he waited for help to arrive. But even for someone who has been in scary situations before like Jackie Chan, the near drowning proved quite traumatic, as he recalled:
When I took a shower later that night and remembered the incident, I suddenly felt really scared and started shaking. I was thinking about how I could have so easily died.
Almost drowning is no doubt an incredibly traumatic experience so it’s totally understandable that Jackie Chan had this kind of reaction following the incident. The film’s director Stanley Tong also had a powerful reaction when Jackie Chan almost drowned. He told reporters that he burst into tears when he saw the actor safely come out of the water.
So this incident now goes on the harrowing list of the injuries and near-death experiences Jackie Chan has endured to deliver entertaining action to audiences. Jackie Chan has broken his nose, injured his spine and dislocated both his shoulder and his pelvis over the years. He also almost died filming 1986’s Armour of God when he fractured his skull during a fall.
It just goes to show how dangerous action filmmaking can be and why the job of stuntpeople is so difficult. Jackie Chan and Tom Cruise are clearly a different breed, a fact that Will Smith recently acknowledged.
Although he’s much older now and may have slowed down a bit, it’s clear that Jackie Chan is still putting it all on the line from time to time. The film Vanguard opens in China on January 25. The movie follows a group of security guards that have to rescue hostages from the clutches of an international mercenary organization. Vanguard reunites Jackie Chan with his Rumble in the Bronx director Stanley Tong.
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