During the filming of Rush Hour 3, Jackie's dialogue coach Diana Weng interviewed crew members, asking them to talk about what it was like working on the film and working with Jackie.

Glenn Soohoo, Stand-in

Glenn is Jackie’s Stand-in.  He steps in front of the camera and physically re-enacts what Jackie is going to do for the camera and lighting crew. By having a stand-in, Jackie is able to conserve his energy until he is needed in front of the camera.

I really enjoy being Jackie’s Stand-in because I can hear all the stories he shares about his life. In addition to being an actor, he’s also extremely generous with charitable causes to society. It’s inspiring. It raises the hair on my back (in a good way) to see the kind of person Jackie is. I can see all that he brings into the biz. I was a background performer in the Convention Center on Rush Hour. I was a Triad member who got shot. I became Jackie’s stand-in during Rush Hour 2. I’ve been fortunate to work on all these films.  I love my job a lot and that’s why I come every day.

Tony Whitmore, Medic

Tony’s been in the business for ten years. He believes that one of the most important things while working on a film is to maintain everyone’s health and well being. He’s created one of the most interesting and creative carts I’ve ever seen to display all the medical needs of the crew.

I’m the only person with this special cart. When I was working on Spanglish with Adam Sandler and Tea Leoni in Bel Air, we couldn’t come in and out of the house because it made too much noise. Once we were in there, we were locked in. People were constantly asking for a band-aid, vitamins or something like that. Since I was often on the set, I decided I would put everything out in the yard and people could help themselves. I decided from then on that I would make it as user friendly as possible. If I was somewhere else, people could get what they needed without calling me out for an aspirin.

If it was band-aid related, like trauma, then it would be my responsibility. I don’t put that out because I as a Medic should take care of that. If everything was there for them, then a producer would wonder: Why would we need a person, when we could get a cart which has everything? Although it is nice to have aspirins and vitamins on the set, they really are not what an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT), like myself, are trained to do. Like firefighters, we have to patch up any wounds we encounter until the injured person can get additional help.
When you do stunts, much research is needed so you can do them safely. I think it’s great that there have been so few injuries, considering this is an action film. I think this is attributable to all the good people involved. When you run into people who are not professionals, it’s obvious because they have not looked at how they can best protect their people.

Working with Jackie has been really enjoyable. He is such a person of the people. He’s very open to working with people, regardless of the hierarchy of filmmaking. Other than Adam Sandler, he’s the only person I’ve come close to working with who is like that. Jackie Chan is extremely down to earth and makes you feel included during the entire filming experience.

It’s been nice to work so long on a film because you get to know everybody well. You become confident because you have something to do for a long period of time. Although it may be arduous at times and the disorganization can be chaotic, it’s been a great experience.

Chris Bangma, Motion Record (Libra Head)

Chris works with a company called Libra Unlimited, which represents the Libra Heads, used for motion record so as the crane, head and camera move, all the data is recorded and will later be used in CGI (Computer Generated Images) work. On days that we film against green screen with a camera mounted on a crane, that is when Chris assists our film. He also worked on Rush Hour 2 in Las Vegas.

I worked on The Italian Job, Mission Impossible 3, X-Men 3, and Jurassic Park 3. During Rush Hour 2, when Jackie and Chris are sliding down the cables from the building, the Libra Head was put on stabilized mode on a cable system. It was used to take out the vibration from the explosion. Because of the wireless ability, it could also be controlled from the ground. I enjoy working on this film because it’s a lot of fun. The cast and crew are nice and laid back. Everybody seemed to be enjoying making a film, as opposed to being whipped into making one and dreading it.
I worked for Nick Phillips, the designer of the Libra Head for about six or seven years. After my employment with him, he gave me a few to rent out. It was his way of thanking me for all the hard work I had done. There are about forty throughout the world. My company just started the Asian market and we have one in Tokyo. The whole system breaks down into three boxes. I can give someone a Head tonight and he can easily transport it to another country in a day. It’s cheaper and faster to bring this on the plane than to pay someone from a freight company to pack it and send it.

One of the most challenging shots in my career was in the film, Syriana. There’s a guy with a small boat with a rocket attached and it was suppose to ram into an oil tanker. They wouldn’t let the boat hit the oil tanker, so we brought in the Libra for motion control and to record the little boat going by. Then afterwards, we moved next to the oil tanker and did the same move in reverse. When you put the two shots next to each other, it looks like he really actually hit the boat. That was doing motion control on the water, stabilized on a boat, which everybody said couldn’t be done. And we said we could do it. The other option would be have a ship come in and put concrete pylons into the ocean just to put the camera on just so we could do these two shots. And they were looking at over a hundred thousand just to put the two pylons in and we did it less than ten thousand for the whole thing.

Glenn "Spanky" Roberts, On Set Dresser

Glen has been in the business for eighteen years. He’s from South Chicago and used to be a commercial/residential electrician. Before that, he was in the military for ten years as a jet engine mechanic.

I was stationed in the High Desert in Little Rock, Arkansas and overseas in Frankfurt, Rhein Mien airbase, which allowed me the opportunity to travel all over the world. When jet engines broke down, I would go and fix the engine and bring it back home. You would have to do a good job because you flew in the airplane you fixed.

I grew up with a brother and a sister. He’s professor of math in North Carolina and she’s an artist in Germany. Me, I ended up in the film business. I figure five more years and I’m done. I have one child who just turned thirteen and she just celebrated her Bat Mitzvah. She’s a good girl. She’s doing O.K. in school. I would like her to do better. I think she places too much concentration on the boys.

My nickname is Spanky because I’m usually always in trouble. I’m a very hard worker. I guess you could call me a professional furniture mover. I move and dress everything for the camera, so that everything looks beautiful on film. And when the camera is out of the way, I redress the set. The most important thing that I do on the set is in continuity. It means that the glass, fork or spoon goes back to where it once was. Even if it was touched once, I have to make sure that it’s put back in the right place.

I am the eyes and ears of the art department. They transit through me for information to the director, on what he wants and then I make sure the art department gets the information. Let them know if we need a table tomorrow with four chairs, and it’s a dinner scene, something that wasn’t planned, we have to let them know that, I clean a lot of floors and windows. I work really hard and I have to work with all the different personalities on a set. You need to be a psychologist half of the time.

When we shot in Paris for a month, I was the Prop Master because the previous had quit before filming had begun. Whenever I needed a hand, it always seemed to just happen. Right when you thought you couldn’t do it, one of our fantastic crew members would extend a hand. This happened throughout the time we were there for a month. We did have some fun days. I will never forget Paris.

Once we came to Los Angeles, I was back to being the On Set Dresser. We are finally winding down here. I think Rush Hour 3 will be the best of the triad films. It’s got a little more drama. It has been fun working on it. The triads do exist, people don’t know about it. Maybe they will learn something about them on our film.

I was scared of Jackie Chan when I first met him. I thought he was going to hit me, not on purpose, but by accident. I was scared at first because he’s such a big celebrity and movie star. Then one day, he said hi to me and I said hi back. I’m obsessive compulsive and so is he. That’s one thing we have in common. I realize that he’s just a normal guy, a lot of sincerity; an amazing man. Getting to know him has been one of the highlights of working on this film.

David Gorder, Associate Producer

David is from Davison, Michigan. After graduating from the University of Michigan, he moved to Chicago where he got a job as a Production Assistant on My Best Friend’s Wedding and as an Assistant to Jerry Zucker, the director. It proved to be a great experience and d him to move to Los Angeles to become a producer, a goal which he has accomplished.

Part of my responsibility as an Associate Producer is to handle Brett’s playback request, provide him with musical cues, ideas, promotions and product replacements with deals for the movie. I have to integrate them into the script and find hidden value so we could put products in. We have to make the most of the deals we have on the table, like Mercedes Benz or Renault. I wear many hats.

I’ve had a great experience working on this film. Previously, I’ve worked on X-Men and Fantastic Four so this was a fantastic reprieve, with stunts and action sequences filmed. Working on this film gave me a chance to go to Paris and experience shooting a major film there. The production value on this film is equal if not larger to the X-Men films. I worked on all three of them, two with Brian Singer and the last one with Brett.

I think Jackie is a terrific actor and one of the greatest superstars in this world. I have not worked with many actors who are so amicable and affable. He has a great work ethic and on top of that, a great expertise in the martial arts/action genre films. It’s a pleasure to work with someone so dedicated and driven. In this business, there are so many people who aren’t, here in Hollywood.

I have heard from people who have worked with Jackie in the past, like Lee Cleary, the First Assistant Director (A.D.) on Shanghai Noon. He said that Jackie was one of the best actors he’s ever worked with, so I was excited to come and work on this film to work with him, to see how he works and what his methods are.

Brett is a wonderful director to work with, he has so much enthusiasm and he brings so much energy to the set. He’s positive and he’s really an expert at directing action comedies. Many people don’t realize until they watch him work, that he really does know what he’s doing. When you couple Brett and Jackie together, you have a great team to design the action and stunt sequences. Let us not forget that we also have the great comedic brilliance of Chris Tucker, so it’s been wonderful to work on this movie. It’s been a really positive experience. I hope to work on Rush Hour 4!

Mark Weingartner, Visual Effects Photographer

Mark works with motion control and is the Encoding Supervisor. As a cameraman, he shoots background plates, miniatures, and various elements which get added into the movie. He calls himself a Visual Effects nerd. He is from New York City and started out in the late 70’s and early 80’s in theatre, then in lighting. He’s been in the visual effects world for about fifteen years.

As a photographer, I might shoot a car bumper which has to fly through a scene or a piece of glass which has to break or a ball that has to bounce which we can’t shoot on a set. Lots of bits and pieces. As an encoder, I have to essentially record all the movement data from the head and the crane. As the camera sails around in space, we are getting a stream of numbers which goes into a computer. Later in post production, we will be able to use that stream of numbers to control the movement of the various computer graphic elements. It allows us to put together the shots faster, more accurately than if we didn’t have that data.

On this film, we are adding a number of shots, which will include many pieces of computer generated pieces of the Eiffel Tower and various other elements. The camera is moving around on a techno crane, which is a telescoping crane. As an Encoder, I have to essentially record all the movement data from the head and the crane. As the camera sails around in space, we are getting a stream of numbers which goes into a computer. Later in post production, we will be able to use that stream of numbers to control the movement of the various computer graphic elements. It allows us to put together the shots faster, more accurately than if we didn’t have that data.

I don’t know how to say this without creating the wrong impression, but I’ve worked on a lot of films that use a lot of effects, this is one of the few that I’m really looking forward to seeing it. I’m really looking forward to going into the theater and watching it. A lot of the films that I work on have a lot of visual effects, but if we do our jobs correctly, the audience will have no idea. I mean when a spaceship is orbiting Pluto, everybody knows that we didn’t go out to Pluto to shoot it. But if we do our job well, it will look as though all the fights that happened occurred where it looks like they happened. If it took place on top of the Eiffel Tower, if we do our job well, no one will have any clue that some of the things that were suppose to be on the Eiffel Tower were in Culver City. For us, it’s really fun to work on something where if we do it right, our work is invisible.

Jackie is fantastic; really great to work with or work for. You know, I’m just one of those guys who are in the background, flitting around and doing stuff. It’s amazing to watch him work as hard as he does, think about all the things he’s thinking about and work out what has to happen from his side. It’s really inspirational for us to work hard because we see how hard he’s working and thinking ahead.

Rich Cody, Kraft Service

Rich provides a variety of food, refreshments, and service to the crew throughout the day. When necessary, he and his team will also pitch in to help clean the set when we are filming. He’s from Southern California and has been in the business for thirteen years.

The catering team.

We are like an AM/PM mini-mart on wheels. The caterer serves a hot meal in the morning and six hours after that. I serve everything in between and at all hours of the day. We serve snacks, coffee, refreshments and anything else that is edible.

This is probably one the most fun I’ve had working on a film, definitely the best crew and the nicest actors, by far.

I think a lot of people in this business can learn from Jackie Chan. Mostly in the sense that he has respect for everybody, no matter what your job is and who you are. I think he has a love for life, which I think a lot of people don’t have and it shows. And he’s very respectful. He’s the first person who will pick up a broom and get in there with the guys and work. I have a lot of respect for that. I think people in this business, whether they are above (cast, director, producers) or below the line (crew), can learn from that man.

The most challenging aspect of this job is probably all the dialogue from the entire crew and everybody who wants something special, people who need this or need that. For a crew of my department, sometimes two or three, to take care of a crew of about 150-250 people a day can be demanding. Just trying to keep up with the daily needs can be difficult on the set.

I can’t wait to find a real job and find my way out of this (Big smile). I love this business. I’m grateful for it and thankful for it. I hope in time, this business can give me the opportunity to move on to something else that is my own business.

Scott Cosgrove, Stuntman

Scott has been working together with Jackie’s stunt team part to build all the wire work for the film. He’s from San Francisco, California and he’s been in the business for twenty years. He’s also a famous rock climber and he’s been doing that for thirty years.

I was the first person to establish a 5.14 in the U.S. [Note: A “5.14” is a climbing grade and it means it’s a very difficult climb] and the first to ascent all over the world. I have climbed the Himalayas, Patagonia, and South America, all over. I don’t do it anymore because I had about thirty or forty friends die. My best friend died three years ago so I gave up extreme climbing. On weekends I still climb little rocks, but nothing big anymore. I was working on a film flying camera and a stunt crew saw me working, climbing up on a rig. They got me my SAG (Screen Actors Guild) card and they got me into stunts.

Jackie is as humble a guy as I’ve ever met as famous as he is. He’s done nothing but buys me dinner and gives me gifts. I think this film is great. It’s just an honor to work with Jackie and all his boys. They are all world class athletes so it’s great to see how they do things. It’s a great opportunity for me. I’m just in awe.

Text and photos ©2007 The JC Group. All Rights Reserved.

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