bodyField=Fabulous adventures, hilarious predicaments, and exhilarating action await an all-star international cast as three unlikely heroes attempt to settle an outrageous wager in Disney/Walden's new spectacle for the whole family, "Around the World in 80 Days" starring Jackie Chan.

An eccentric London inventor, Phileas Fogg (Steve Coogan), has come up with the secrets to flight, electricity, and even in-line skates, but the establishment has dismissed him as a crackpot. Desperate to be taken seriously, Fogg makes an outlandish bet with Lord Kelvin (Jim Broadbent), the head of the Royal Academy of Science: to circumnavigate the globe in no more than 80 days! With his valet Passepartout (Jackie Chan) and thrill-seeking French artist Monique (Cˇcile De France) at his side, Fogg is headed on a frantic, heart-pounding, round-the-world race that takes our heroes to the world's most exotic places by land, sea, and air. Along the way, our heroes face many adventures and obstacles from an all-star cast including Arnold Schwarzenegger, Kathy Bates, and Rob Schneider. Frank Coraci ("The Wedding Singer," "The Waterboy") helms.

"Everybody knows 'Around the World in 80 Days,' and that's been a great jumping-off point for us to make something like nothing before," says Jackie Chan, the star of Disney/Walden's new adventure comedy, "Around the World in 80 Days."  Highlighting Chan's signature blend of incredible action, hilarious comedy, and madcap energy, "Around the World in 80 Days" is a trip that audiences are unlikely to forget.

"'Around the World in 80 Days' is an adventure, comedy, love story, martial arts film, kids' film, adults' film, fantasy --- and did I say adventure? -- all rolled into one," says executive producer Phyllis Alia.  "I love it because it's different and magical.  It's about traveling around the world and exposing the audience to new cultures.  You can go to the movies and spend time in India and China and all of these really exotic locations that most people will never get a chance to see. It's just exciting to watch the movie unfold." 

The director of the film, Frank Coraci, echoes his star and executive producer in describing the film's multiple objectives.  "Our overall goal was to make an epic with a sense of humor; a fun movie that brings audiences to new places," he says.

"This is a hilarious movie," says Jackie Chan, who shows off his signature comic-action style in several set pieces.  "Frank was very open to all the ideas I had for the action scenes.  We both like to make people laugh, and I think people are going to laugh when they see this movie.  It's a lot of fun."

For Walden Media founder Cary Granat, "Around the World in 80 Days" was a chance to develop a fresh cinematic vision of the book, which was first published by Jules Verne in 1873. Granat saw the project as a perfect fit for Walden, which -- with films like the critically acclaimed box office hit "Holes" and the highly anticipated upcoming adventure, "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" -- has focused on taking both classic and modern titles and subject matter and making them accessible to audiences of all ages. 

"No project blends curiosity and imagination better for the family audience than the adventure of going around the world in 80 days," says Granat.

"I think that if everybody understands everybody else's culture and religion, then there will be no more fighting, no more war," says Chan. "That's what this movie is about -- gaining a greater understanding of the world around us." 

To direct the film, Granat tapped Frank Coraci, a veteran comedy director with the right skills for a wide-ranging project.  "Walden found in Frank an incredible visionary who has taken the classic Jules Verne story and infused it with such magic that it jumps off the screen," says Granat.  "This is a special and wonderful piece." 

At first glance, Coraci, the director of the comedies "The Wedding Singer" and "The Waterboy," might seem like an unorthodox choice to helm this sprawling, big-budget spectacular. But the producers saw the situation differently. "Frank is the perfect director to make this movie," says Alia, "He's adept at combining the action, the adventure, and the love story and wrapping it in this crazy, twisted comedy."

"Frank knows how to bring the fun," says producer Hal Lieberman, who has also produced such films as "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines" and "U-571." "His instincts and his intuition are great. This is a big movie, and it gave him an opportunity to step up his vision in terms of the production, the size, and the look." 

With global travel so much more accessible today than in Verne's day -- not to mention a world made smaller by the growth of television and other media -- Coraci knew the material required a novel approach. "I wanted to make a really imaginative movie, like the ones I grew up on," says Coraci.  Since his days watching James Bond films, Coraci loved inventions.  "I thought, 'Let's make an adventure, and let's make Phileas Fogg an inventor so that we can create all these great gadgets.'  The whole idea of Phileas being ahead of his time is our way of adding to the fun and excitement of the story." 

British television sensation Steve Coogan, who plays Fogg, welcomed Coraci's changes to the somewhat stuffy protagonist. "Fogg is deliberately portrayed in the book as quite a gray character. The approach Frank took was to make him passionate about something," says Coogan. "There's more opportunity for comedy because he's very insecure about himself."

Teaming with an all-star international cast was a dream come true for Coraci. With Jackie Chan leading the way as Passepartout and Coogan as the inventor, the filmmakers brought in a stable of the world's biggest stars in cameo roles, including Arnold Schwarzenegger, Kathy Bates, and Rob Schneider.  

"The film has great surprises as the characters travel around the world, and I wanted one of those surprises to be the people they meet," says Coraci.  "A great way to do that was to have a series of cameos from well-known actors and celebrities, where they could poke fun at themselves and their personalities and also just make the movie even more fun. 

"Everybody wants to work with these guys," continues the director.  "It was a dream project, where all our wishful thinking became reality: 'Well, what if we could get Arnold on board? He'd be the best.'  And he was the best -- they were all the best."

"I think they were attracted by the quality of this movie and by the fact that it just seemed like it would be a good time," says Jackie Chan.  "I've known Arnold for a long time, and I know that he's always a happy person on set, always fun.  Kathy Bates is great too -- she's the perfect choice for Queen Victoria."

Comedy legend John Cleese and "Saturday Night Live" regular Will Forte were also added to the ensemble.  Cleese explains that he "plays a London bobby, 'round about 1885; very old style, old-fashioned kind of guy; not too smart." Forte is his young, na•ve sidekick.

For Forte, working with John Cleese was nothing short of awesome. "He's always been an idol of mine, and a comedic inspiration," says Forte. "I've loved him in all his movies. He's so funny in this -- it was hard not to laugh while we were doing the scenes. It was such an honor to work with him."

Arnold Schwarzenegger appears as Prince Hapi, a hopelessly vain Turkish prince who falls for Monique.

Schwarzenegger, who had previously worked with producer Hal Lieberman on "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines," was also eager to work with the cast and crew. "I am a big admirer of Jackie Chan," he says. "Frank Coraci is a terrific director, because he really develops scenes well. He pulls the best performances out of actors, and he's great with comedy." 

Rob Schneider, who also starred in Coraci's "The Waterboy," makes an appearance as a malodorous hobo who teaches Phileas how to beg. "Frank gets comedy," says Schneider, "and Steve Coogan's got great timing. He's great to play off of. He's a natural comedian. He is Phileas. You couldn't ask for a better comic actor to work with."

"'Around the World in 80 Days' has the modern-day feel of an action picture, but in Jules Verne's world," Schneider continues.  "I think Jules Verne would be very happy with this version."

The chance to travel around the world proved to be another enticement for the filmmakers.  "We started running right out of the gate," says producer Bill Badalato, whose producing credits include "About Schmidt," "Alien: Resurrection," and "Men of Honor." "One day I got a call from Cary, the next day I met Frank.  I really wanted to work with Frank and really wanted to do the movie.  Two days after I met Frank, we were on an airplane to scout locations.  We had to come up with a plan really quickly.  It was an incredible journey."

Not surprisingly, the filmmakers circled the globe in their search for locations.  "We started out with a 'round-the-world trip of our own when we started scouting locations," says Coraci.  "We went to 18 countries in 15 days.  I felt a little bit like Phileas Fogg myself.  The thing was, in addition to letting us see all the places that Phileas and Passepartout and Monique go, the experience reminded us what it was like to travel; later, when I was filming, I would think, 'Hmm.  They've been traveling through China on a carriage for about 10 days.  They're sleepy, and they're in pain.'  What I experienced on our scout definitely helped me figure out how to direct the scene." 

Since it was clearly impossible to take a film crew 'around the world in 80 days,' the goal was to choose a few locations that could be used in myriad ways. The strategy worked.

During the first scouting trip it was decided that Thailand would stand in for China and India. "Then we went around Europe and came to Berlin," says Bill Badalato. "It was a complete surprise to us because Berlin was such a fantastic location. It was able to stand in for London and Paris.

"With these two countries, Germany and Thailand, we were able to more or less piece together 'Around the World in 80 Days,' and it looked spectacular," continues Badalato. "There's always a temptation to shoot this kind of film, at least partially, on a back lot. But the audience's eye is so acute now-they notice. Movies are major visual experiences, and the audience is very aware of effects, and how things look, and matte shots. It's a very sophisticated audience out there."
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