The Next Jackie Chan Is Here, According To Scott Adkins - Exclusive
There are few people cooler in movies than the action star: the person who fends off armies of weaponized goons with their bare hands (and sometimes bare feet) before calmly and assuredly walking away from an explosion in slow motion. Arguably, the coolest action stars aren't ones using camera trickery or CGI to make them seem tough, but those who are actually expertly trained in mixed martial arts and fight choreography.
We've seen tons of action stars find stardom over the years by utilizing the strength of their ability to seemingly beat the crap out of a ton of people: Jean Claude Van Damme, Chuck Norris, and Steven Seagal are all action stars whose careers are built on how cool they look when punching and/or kicking bad guys.
However, not every great action star gets the career they deserve. Action director Renny Harlin (who directed films like "Die Hard 2," "Cliffhanger," and "Deep Blue Sea") stated clearly that there was one action star he considers to be the most underrated in the industry: "Accident Man" star Scott Adkins.
Looper recently interviewed Adkins to find out who he thinks is the most underrated action star, and he told us that the next potential Jackie Chan is already out there.
The next Jackie Chan is someone you've never heard of
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Scott Adkins was excited to hear that Renny Harlin had such glowing things to say about Adkins as an action star. "Well, I'm happy to hear that he said that, yeah," says Adkins. "I didn't know that. And I completely agree. I completely agree. He's a smart man, that Renny Harlin."
To whom does Adkins think is the name people should be playing closer attention? "There's a guy I'm working with at the moment, called Andy Long, who I think he's like the new Jackie Chan, could he be given a shot," he says. "He's an incredible martial artist, stunt man, performer. German-Vietnamese background."
Long (who is credited on IMDb as Andreas Nguyen) has been acting and providing stunt coordination and fight choreography since 2008. Adkins and Long are presently working together on the sequel to Adkins' film "Accident Man 2".
Adkins can currently be seen in the action film "One Shot," which is in theaters and on demand now.