Soon, we’re all going to be getting some very revealing stories about one of the greatest action stars in history. Sadly, it’s not going to require you to engage in a fistfight on the top of a skyscraper and then go tumbling down 21 stories in an unassisted free fall on the side of the damn building, but then, hey, that’s been done, right?
According to The Hollywood Reporter, longtime martial arts maestro Jackie Chan is publishing an in-depth memoir about his life and career. Titled Never Grow Up, the book will recount the movie star’s life from childhood on through to the filming of more recent films like Dragon Blade and The Karate Kid. According to publisher Gallery Books (an imprint of Simon & Shuster), it will be a candid account of his life and work with special attention given to the “numerous” times he almost died in a variety of horrible ways doing stunts most of us wouldn’t attempt even with a harness or, say, CGI rendering while we sit comfortably on the couch.
True, he’s already got one prior book, I Am Jackie Chan: A Life In Action, that listed all the times he’s hurt himself, but let’s be honest: That thing was a godawful piece of ghostwritten PR fluff that didn’t even spend much time on his biggest films, let alone the times we almost ended up with an obituary reading, “Jackie Chan Dies While Attempting To Barrel Roll Over A Damn Buzz Saw.” So hopefully this will be an across-the-board improvement, especially when it comes to the juicy details of those stunts. The memoir is due out sometime in November.