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THE
much-anticipated San Miguel Beer Pale Pilsen television
commercial featuring Hollywood martial arts superstar
Jet Li has finally made its debut. Currently airing in
the Philippines and, BusinessMirror learned, in Hong
Kong and China, the TVC release signals the start of
what San Miguel describes as its most ambitious,
farthest-reaching marketing campaign ever. With the
campaign set to extend to the rest of Asia soon, the
venerable Filipino beer icon hopes to fly higher than
ever in the continent—on the wings of its new Jet.
The
Asian action superstar now joins the growing list of
legendary SMB endorsers, which include Pilita Corales,
Bert “Tawa” Marcelo, the Apo Hiking Society, Fernando
Poe Jr., Gabriel “Flash” Elorde, Efren “Bata” Reyes,
Kris Aquino, Manny Pacquiao and Erik Morales, plus past
Hong Kong endorsers Andy Lau, Stephen Chow and Shu Qi.
Fresh
from his recent trip to
Manila,
Jet recently shared with local media his thoughts on his
new project with San Miguel Beer, his upcoming movies,
his foundation, and coming “home” to the Philippines,
among other things.
You were
in
Manila recently
to shoot the new San Miguel Beer commercial. How did you
feel about visiting the
Philippines?
After 31
years I came back again, and I’m very, very happy,
because I saw a lot of people. Everybody smiles,
everybody works very hard. And it’s very nice, you
know—a lot of Filipinos work in
Hong Kong and everywhere I go, they’re always smiling, they want to
take pictures, they want to do something. I’m very happy
because they have always inspired me. That’s why I feel
very good that I can come back to this ‘home.’
We heard
you are working on several movies at the moment. Tell us
more about them.
I have
two movies coming out soon, one is called Rogue,
costarring Jason Statham, where I play an assassin. The
other is Warlords, with Andy Lau and Takeshi
Kaneshiro. It is a movie based on a Qing Dynasty story
of the assassination of general Ma Xinyi. Right now, I’m
also working on a movie called
Forbidden
Kingdom, together with Jackie Chan. This is the first time
that we will be working together. That’s a big movie!
Maybe in the future I’ll make The Mummy 3.
Filipinos have long been fascinated with martial arts
and martial-arts movies. Everyone remembers you from the
Once Upon a Time in China series. Did you have
any idea you were so popular here?
The
first time I came here—I was very young then—it was for
a gongfu (kung fu) demonstration. So I had an idea that
Filipinos have also embraced the art. As for movies, I
have always been very grateful to [the] Philippines. It
holds a special place in my heart because this is one of
the first countries outside China to accept me. That’s
why I say I feel good coming back home.
Is it
true that you got your screen name, “Jet Li,” from the
Philippines?
Yes!
That’s another connection I have with this country. My
Chinese name is Li Lianjie. Everybody knows that in
China, the family name comes first, so when they first
translated it to English, my name became Lianjie Li. My
first movie came out in 1982. In the Philippines, a
certain company bought the rights to distribute the
movie. Of course, they were in charge of doing the
publicity, too. When they saw “Lian-jie Li,” they
thought the name was too hard to pronounce; it wasn’t
catchy enough. “Why do we need the ‘Lian’?” they said.
So they took off the “Lian.” They felt that “Jie Li”
would be easier for people to remember. Then someone
said that my career was like a plane with a big engine,
because it could take off so quickly! “This kid from
China makes a single movie, suddenly everybody in Asia
knows who he is. Maybe we need to change the ‘Jie’,
too!” Big engine, very fast, very powerful—whoosh!— a
jet. It was an interesting comparison. So they put “Jet
Li” on the movie poster. Soon everybody was calling me
by this new name.
In the
Philippines, San Miguel is known for having big-name endorsers, which have included
our late action king, Fernando Poe Jr., and boxing
superstar Manny Pacquiao. But being a major Asian
Hollywood star,
you are by far their biggest endorser. What made you
say “yes”?
I think
that as a company, San Miguel is not just doing the
business. They have a good heart. They want to help
people also, and that’s my philosophy. That’s why I’m
very happy working with San Miguel. Not just in the
present, but maybe even in the future, I hope. People
are in need all over the world, and we need to help each
other and not just do business. In this company, we’re
doing business, but at the same time, we’re taking care
of others. That’s why I thought we have the same
beliefs.
Were you
familiar with the brand before?
Yes, of
course! Of course! Everybody knows about San Miguel Beer
in Hong Kong! If you are living in Hong Kong, you’ll
know what I mean. The commercials are everywhere. There
are big billboards. When I was little, I already knew
San Miguel. But I didn’t realize it was made in the
Philippines! I thought it was a product from Hong Kong
because there’s a big factory there. So I’m very happy
to be part of the San Miguel family, and I hope in the
future we have more things to do.
Your
fans know you as a high-flying, hard-hitting action
superstar. But not many people know of your “softer
side.” We understand you are now heavily involved in
charity work?
Yes. In
China I started The One Foundation, also in
America
and Hong Kong. I hope one day in the Philippines as
well. I truly believe the world is one large family. You
have different religions, different politics, different
cultures, but we are people living in one and the same
Earth. And we need to help each other, especially right
now because we can, because the world [has] become
smaller because of technology.
Tell us
more about The One Foundation.
The idea
is that everyone will donate one dollar, join the
family, and help each other. I just started now and I
have a lot of work in China. A lot of major stars like
Jackie Chan and Chow Yun Fat have become one in here
[the project]. So I hope after starting in
China,
in the future, it will grow throughout Asia and we can
help more people. Someday, maybe even the world.
What is
the private Jet Li like?
Right
now, I put most of my energy, my heart, in the
foundation. When I was young, I learned martial arts,
then later I made movies, and now it’s more than 25
years. A lot of people all over the world have always
been there for me and helped my career by supporting the
films. That’s why I make movies. But I believe I can do
more to give back. It’s the right time for me to give
something to the world. That’s why I put a lot of energy
to build up the foundation. I want to share my love to
the world, to the big family, not just Chinese, but
everybody in the world. So I try my best. I’m very happy
the president of San Miguel [SMC president and chief
operating officer Ramon S. Ang] yesterday said that even
in the future, they will support the foundation. I’m
looking forward [to that]. |
