The Accidental Spy
Short description
The Accidental Spy follows Buck Yuan, a Hong Kong fitness-equipment salesman stuck in a dull routine and dreaming of a more exciting life. His chance comes when he chases two suspicious men and foils a jewellery robbery, drawing attention that leads him to private detective Many Liu. Liu claims Buck is the long-lost son of a wealthy Korean businessman, and the search for his father takes him from Hong Kong to Turkey and Korea, where he becomes entangled with intelligence agents and a stolen virus.
Teddy Chan directed the film, his first in the chronological list of his features that also includes 1:99 Shorts, Bodyguards and Assassins, Kung Fu Jungle and Double World. Ivy Ho wrote the screenplay, and Jackie Chan produced alongside Raymond Chow Man-Wai. Chan leads the cast as Buck Yuan, with Eric Tsang as Many Liu, Vivian Hsu as Yong, Wu Hsing-Guo as Mr. Zen, Min Kim as Carmen Wong and Alfred Cheung Kin-Ting as Cheung the Lawyer. It is a Hong Kong and Turkish co-production with a budget of 26 million US dollars and a runtime of 107 minutes.
On TMDB the film holds a rating of 6 out of 10 from 542 votes, indicating a moderate audience response. It blends action, comedy and thriller elements, built around Chan's martial-arts performance in a story that moves between East Asia and Turkey.
What's left behind the scenes
- The Hong Kong version of the film has a runtime of 108 minutes.
- The American version is cut by more than 20 minutes.
- The German version of the film is based on the Miramax version.
- In the American DVD version, the character's name 'Buck Yuan' was changed to 'Jackie Chan'.
- At the time of its release, 'Accidental Spy' became the most expensive Hong Kong film.
- Jackie Chan had wanted to perform the crane stunt for nearly 20 years, but according to him, the technology to execute it did not exist until then.
- The plot was changed for the American version of the film: a new type of opium replaced the anthrax strain. Additionally, in the American version, the spy is the protagonist's father, whereas in the Hong Kong version, he is not.
- The Hong Kong version has a different ending. Many months later, having returned to his normal life, Buck receives an anonymous message (most likely from Mani Lee). It asks if he misses spying, as it is in his blood, and offers him a potential job. A few months later in Verona, Italy, a man in an Italian restaurant receives a briefcase from an unknown cyclist. A second later, he is arrested by the Italian police. The camera then reveals the cyclist—it turns out to be Buck in disguise.
- When Buck's SUV pushes the Hyundai Sonata back into the pond, a member of the acting crew can be seen on the right side of the screen attempting to jump out of the way.
- When Buck is attacked in the Turkish bath, he runs onto the roof and around the dome; at this moment, the shadow of the camera is visible in the bottom right corner.
- When Buck is on the crane arm during the bank robbery at the beginning of the film, his safety cable can be seen as he moves.
- After the escape from the shed where Buck was hiding Young, the masked attackers open the door, and a dead man lying on the ground appears in the frame. As the door opens, the dead man twitches and blinks.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
