A while back in Jinan China I had a dream come true and was cast in a real movie and this is my story of how it all happened.
Let's go back to the start and explain how it all came to be. I had just finished a good session at the gym and stopped in the local mall to get a bite to eat and as I was walking around a random guy approached me and said these exact words "you big you white, look like killer, you want to be in a movie?" as you can imagine I was pretty shocked and didn't really know what to say. I'm fairly used to being approached by chinese people who just want to say hello or take a picture as white people aren't too common in Jinan but this was the first time someone had said this to me!. I have always had an open mind about different opportunities that come along so I asked for more info as I didn't want to end up in some dodgy porno or something like that. After a quick chat we exchanged details and he gave me a number for the casting agent who could speak a little more English.
I didn't think much would come of it but I sent a message to the agent anyway and to my surprise, she spoke pretty good English and asked me to come to a hotel for an audition. Now I had never done anything like this before so I was a little nervous and spent a couple hours practicing different expressions in the mirror. A couple of days later I got a cab to a hotel about 20mins from where I was living, I wasn't sure what to expect but I thought oh well whats the worst that could happen. I arrived around 8 pm and was greeted by the agent Sherry outside, she was very friendly and put me at ease and told me not to be nervous. She asked if I had any previous acting experience to which I replied no! but I probably should have said I was Tom Hardy and asked for more money.
So we made our way up to the 5th floor and walked to the room at the end of the corridor, I knocked and the door was opened by a bold tattoed guy in a tank top who seemed more like a gangster than someone involved in the movie business. I entered the room only to be greeted by three guys sat on a bed which was covered in Rifles and handguns, at this point I thought shit I have been roped into some kind of arms deal and started regretting coming to the meeting.
They sat me down and gave me a bottle of water and started speaking in Chinese, I had no idea what they were saying but they soon started speaking to me and asking where I was from and how old I was etc, I replied in what Chinese I knew but Sherry came in a few minutes later and started translating for me.
The first thing they said was "don't worry about the guns they are props for the movie" to which I replied Thank Christ for that I thought this was a dodgy gun deal! they found this very funny as you can imagine. They asked me some basic questions like why am I in China, have I acted before and do I know how to hold a gun, Luckily I have had some military training and done a fair amount of hunting so I knew my way around a gun, they seemed surprised but very happy. I asked what I needed to do for the audition and the director said just give me a look like you want to kill me and aim these guns at the wall, I guess to see if I looked the part so I gave him my best death stare and loaded a fake rifle and aimed it right at him. He just smiled and said very good you got the part!. I couldn't believe it, I was expecting to have to read some lines or something but turns out I just had to look very serious like a professional hitman which was easy because I'm a big action movie fan.
Anyway a few minutes later another foreign guy walked into the room and sat beside me, I asked him what his role was and he said he was there to audition for the part of the foreign hitman. I thought that's weird they just offered me the part but I didn't say anything, maybe they wanted two hitmen. They asked me to wait outside for a few minutes while they auditioned the new guy but I assume it didn't go well as he left a few minutes later and they invited me back in the room. Sherry told me they had already decided to give me the roll and that the other guy wasn't right for the part.
We then sat down and discussed the script and the schedule, they told me all transport, clothing, food, and accommodation would be provided. I wasn't expecting to be paid for my first roll in a movie but they made me a good offer which was great, I was just happy to have the chance to be in a movie.
After all this, they invited me to join them for dinner and we went to a BBQ place for a good feast. They asked me if I like to drink beer to which I replied yes and they ordered two crates of beer for the table and a massive amount of food.
We ate and drank for a few hours and I got to know the hair and makeup crew and a few of the other actors in the movie, they all made me feel very welcome and we had a great first night together.
The next time I saw the crew was around two weeks later and it was time to start filming. My driver picked me up early on a Monday morning .......yes I had my own driver which was awesome! we arrived at a big building which was mostly empty at the time, I'm not sure if this was for the movie or if the building was being renovated or something. As we arrived there were a couple of big trucks unloading all the equipment and It seemed like they had a pretty good set up with lots of professional equipment being carried inside by a crew of about 30 guys. I was taken to an office and told to try on the clothing they had provided for me and then I was sat down ready to have my hair and makeup done. This was one of the weirdest parts for me as I have never had someone put makeup on me before. After a while they took me through to a big empty room about 20 floors up with a bunch of cameras set up, the crew all ready to go and the director sat in the classic director's chair. I was handed a rifle and Sherry explained what I had to do and say. I had to basically wait for a call and then aim the rifle out the window and prepare to shoot someone in a park across the street from the building. They then gave me my lines but they were badly translated into some kind of Chinglish so I suggested changing them quickly as it was only a few lines, the director seemed happy enough for me to make it sound more legit and so we went ahead and filmed about 4-5 takes. After the last take the director said good and the crew clapped and that was it, the whole thing took about 20mins and they said I nailed it so we could move on. Obviously, I was very pleased but I wanted to do more, sherry assured me that there would be plenty more scenes to do so I was super excited.
Day 2 we met in an underground parking lot under a mall and shot some more scenes with the three main characters which were great and I got a chance to hang out with them quite a bit as we were there for around 6 hours waiting for different scenes to be done with other actors. The guys on set were great and the larger of the two main characters spoke a bit of English and we became very good friends, we are still in contact with each other now and I hope to visit him in Beijing in a few months. He also really wanted an English name so I called him Alfie and he seemed to like it.
The next night we were filming in a mock-up police station and I had one scene to do were me and another hitman would bust in and kidnap the two lead roles and I had my very own Pulp fiction scene but without the burgers and Samuel L Jackson.
Anyway, after a couple more weeks the scenes in Jinan were finished we took a trip to a city called Zoucheng in the south of Shandong Province. This would be my last few days on set and the rest would be finished in the following month or so, this part of the experience was the reality check that it's not all easy good times when making a movie.
We arrived at the hotel around 10 pm and sat down for a big group meal before heading to bed as we had a 4.30am start the next morning.
We took a drive to a nearby abandoned steel factory and were greeted with hot soup and steamed buns before getting ready for wardrobe and makeup, unfortunately, the wardrobe was the back of a van and we had to get dressed in the freezing cold. It took about 2-3 hours for everyone to be prepped and the equipment to be set up because in the following scenes there were about 20 people acting in a big shootout.
The scenes would involve me and two others trying to escape a swat team with hostages, there would also be the last stand shootout between me and the police and even a short fight scene. After about a dozen warm-up and camera checks the director had everything the way he wanted and we started shooting for real and on the very first take I ripped my jeans all the way down my inner thigh exposing my underwear which everyone thought was very funny. After the wardrobe crew fixed them up we got going again and everything went fairly smoothly and we finished for the day around 8 pm so a full hard days work but well worth it.
The next morning it was the same routine but this time we were inside the factory filming some shootouts and even some torture scene where I had to beat up my friend Alfie. There is way more waiting around than you realize and just five minutes of what you see in the cinema probably take a good few hours to film on set.
Anyway, after another hard day, we were almost done and just a few hours the next morning and my scenes were done.
We finished up around lunchtime the next day and it was felt great. Shortly after a guy turned up with a trunk load of hot food and beer for a short celebration before heading back to Jinan.
In the following couple of weeks, the crew went and finished the final scenes in various places around Jinan after which we all got together for a big celebration dinner as the movie was finally finished.
It took a good 4-5 months of editing before it was all done and I got the invite to the official premiere at a Cinema in Jinan.
I was very surprised I didn't think there would be a premiere especially one in a cinema! So I put on some smart clothes and met everyone there. It was so cool watching the movie and even though I didn't have a massive part and it was all in Chinese it still felt amazing to see myself on screen and read my name in the credits. After the movie I met the families of the cast and crew and they all wanted pictures, it felt like being a real celebrity which was pretty cool. We then all met in another restaurant for a big meal and a party and that was that.
The whole experience was amazing and I still can't believe how lucky I was to get spotted that day in the mall, right place right time I guess and it's a good example of what crazy opportunities there are in China.
I hope you enjoyed my story and if you want to check the movie out you can scan the QR code in the poster picture. It is on a Chinese netflix type thing though so you might have to translate the page to understand how to watch it.
Thanks for reading please give me a follow and check out my other adventures across Asia.