About a month ago, photos of Jackie Chan at an event surfaced online, revealing the action icon to have thinning gray hair and a feeble appearance.
This led to concern among his fans that Chan was sick or in poor health. After all, the Rush Hour star has always been an actor that never looked his age.
Chan turned 70 yesterday, so the martial arts master finally looking his age is not all that surprising.
But it appears that, much as he disregarded the conventions of action stunts, Chan is still defying his age at seventy.
In a social media post, Chan revealed that his current aesthetic is for a role he's currently filming.
On Instagram, Chan wrote, "Not so long ago, a lot of friends saw some recent photos of me on the internet, and they were all concerned about my health. I want to take this opportunity to let everyone know, don’t worry!"
"It’s just a character appearance for my latest movie. The character requires me to have white hair, white beard and look old. Over the years, I’ve always been willing to try new things for a movie, no matter if it’s a challenging stunt or a breakthrough appearance for a character. I’ve been in the entertainment business for 62 years and I cherish every moment because I’m lucky I’m still filming today."
Interestingly enough, it was just revealed that cameras are now rolling on the sixth Karate Kid installment, so it's possible that the 'old and feeble' look Chan is crafting is for this pic.
He'll be reprising his role as Mr. Han from the 2010 film which starred Jaden Smith. In exciting news, the film will also see Ralph Macchio reprising the role of Daniel LaRusso in the film.
It seems the film is set to introduce Ben Wang (American Born Chinese) as a new teen that will take up the titular mantle as Ben Wang will portray "a teen from China who moves to the East Coast and finds strength and direction via martial arts from a mentor."
Joining Maccio, Chan and Wang are Joshua Jackson, Sadie Stanley, and Ming-Na Wen in undisclosed roles.
It's unclear if any of the other Cobra Kai cast members outside Macchio will feature in the upcoming Karate Kid movie as executive producers Jon Hurwitz, Josh Heald, and Hayden Schlossberg have publicly said that they are not involved with the upcoming film.