11 years ago, I was an actor, had 7 movie experience and most of them were HK productions. I was very proud that not many Taiwanese can go to HK for filming but I made it.
Behind the glory, people did not know that my income only came from movie job, no movie shooting means there will be no income. And the unsteady income really bothers me a lot. A man at the age of 33, still have to live with parents and no contribution to them. It is a shame to me.
That was the longest time I had ever wait, 6 month without movie shooting and I finally made up my mind to find an office job for a steady income. And I swore that ‘I will never go back to movie industry again no matter what!’
One day, a phone call from Hong Kong to my office. ‘Are you Jackson? Can you speak English?’ ‘Of course I can speak English, I love English! What can I do for you?’ That was Miss. Tong calling from Golden Harvest Hong Kong. We chat in English for about 20 minutes. She got to know me a bit, realize that even if I never educated overseas, but still can speak English well. So she invited me to go to Hong Kong for the casting in Jackie Chen’s movie ‘The First Strike’. They were looking for an actor who can speak fluent English to play the second main role in the film; it is a role of undercover CIA agent with American education background. They search in HK, did not find the suitable actor, and in the end find my picture from a model agency ‘Cat Walk’. I told her that I had make up my mind not to back to movie industry and have a very good job now. (In fact, the company planed to promote me very soon).
The next day, I made a phone call to my ex Hong Kong agent Fong Pin to tell him the story. ‘Are you crazy? Do you know how many good actor and actress eager to do movie with Jackie Chen? The God of Fortune never took care of them but come to you now, and you turn it down?! What’s wrong with your brain?’ Well, that was a serious punch to me; I have to change my mind again?
At the weekend, I flew to Hong Kong. Next weekend, I flew to Melbourne, Australia. After 4 hours drive, I arrived Falls Creek, a remote ski resort and a very handsome gentle came to me ‘Welcome to Jackie Chen’s movie, I am the director Stanley Tong’