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 HKCinemagic 2

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Interview with Darren Shahlavi, a versatile gweilo
Small parts in HK films and other activities 1/1 - Page 2
Info
Author(s) : Arnaud Lanuque
Date : 27/10/2009
Type(s) : Interview
 
 Intext Links  
People :
Jackie Chan
John Cheung Ng Long
Bruce Fontaine
Ken Goodman
Godfrey Ho Chi Keung
Mark Houghton
Sammo Hung Kam Bo
Phillip Ko Stuntmen Team
Michael Ian Lambert
Andrew Lau Wai Keung
Vincent Lyn
Thorsten Nickel
Richard Norton
Kim Maree Penn
Paul Rapovski
Steve Tartalia
Simon Yam Tat Wah
Movies :
The Accidental Spy
Angel On Fire
Deadly Target
Ghost Lantern
Guns And Roses
The Medallion
Sixty Million Dollar Man
 
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Page 1 : Background, start in the Hong Kong film industry
 
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Page 3 : Tai Chi 2


HKCinemagic: You worked on several occasions under the direction of Philip Ko Fei (Guns And Roses, Angel on Fire and Deadly Target). What do you think of him?
Darren Shahlavi: I met Phillip Ko on Guns and Roses and he gave me my first small part in a movie fighting Simon Yam briefly. So I appreciate that a lot, and I thank Bey for giving me the chance to be there, this was before the Malaysia deal. Deadly Target was a Godfrey Ho film and Ko Fai was directing the fights. I got that job from John Cheung after I’d moved to Hong Kong in 1993. Angel on Fire I was working for Mark who was the fight director with Ko Fai directing the movie. I like Ko Fai a lot.
 

Philip Ko: One of the most exciting Kung Fu performer who turned into an entertaining director
 
HKCinemagic: Techno Warriors seems to have been a tough but fun shoot, was it indeed the case? Did the restrained budget (meaning small possibility to do several takes), the weather and your costume made it more difficult to deliver your best?
Darren Shahlavi: I was hired as the lead on the film but there was no script, the idea the producer pitched to me seemed very cool and I believed we could make a great movie, but that wasn’t the case. It seemed that we just went to the desert with a bunch of equipment and winged it everyday, we shot for about 8 weeks and I think I had fighting for almost everyday. The sets were ok, the costumes were hit and miss but the fights were very good but who ever cut the film messed it up big time you go from a wide shot of me throwing a right kick and then they cut to the next frame and it’s a left kick! We shot so much footage: The producers asked me to fly back out to the Philippines and shoot some more as they would cut the film into two parts which screwed up the whole story, so instead of one good film they are stuck now with two shitty films.

 

 

HKCinemagic: You had a small part in Angel On Fire in which you happen to fight against Melanie Martinez and Cynthia Khan. Can you tell us about it?
Darren Shahlavi: We had a skeleton crew running about shooting on busses, MTR, in the streets, it was crazy like shooting a wildlife film and the people are the animals, I had to chase Melanie through Central, on a Sunday when all the Pilipino maids are there on their day off. I’m chasing one of their biggest stars through the busy streets and women were in awe of her, especially the one who stopped right in front of me running full blast into her! We both landed 10 feet from were I crashed in to her poor girl, but she didn’t mind she was so excited!!
 
HKCinemagic: You’re credited as a bodyguard in Sixty Million Dollar Man. Are you one of the 6 models/bodyguard in the first third of the film?
Darren Shahlavi: Yes, an agent wanted me to do the film but I said I wanted a good role, he said it was 10 days just to get me on the set to film and that was the only scene.
 

Darren on the left, behind Deon Lam
 
HKCinemagic: Can you enlighten us about your part in Andrew Lau’s Ghost Lantern?
Darren Shahlavi: I didn’t see the film but we were dressed in football tops and also had a scene walking through the streets with a bunch of gangsters in Causeway Bay.
 
HKCinemagic: You were involved in the French film Les Anges Gardiens directed by Jean Marie Poiré. How did you find the working conditions on it? Did you feel the production was more complicated because of the difference of working style according to the different teams involved?
Darren Shahlavi: Yes, I had fun on that film, believe it or not I was playing a Chinese gangster in that film and most of my scenes with with a bunch of stunt guys, some from Jackie Chan’s team and some of Sammo Hung’s guys. As it was a French film, the stunt guys were very relaxed and had a friendly rivalry, on one scene we’re in cars chasing Gerard Depardieu’s character, and the stunt driver is supposed to bring the car to a skid and he and I in the passenger seat jump out along with two stunt guys from the back seat, But the guys in the back seat were sleeping before the take and the stunt driver who was one of Jackie Chan’s guys leaned in the back and tied their ties together in a knot and on action he speeds off and comes to a skid and he and I get out and run leaving the other guys from Sammo’s group doing a tug of war trying get out of the car, it ruined the take but was very funny. Of course this would never have happened on Jackie's or Sammo’s films but a foreign production, they didn’t care too much.
 
 
HKCinemagic: Why weren’t you involved in any productions from company like IFD or Filmark, specialised in using westerners for films targeting an international market?
Darren Shahlavi: No, I got to Hong Kong when they’d finished shooting those films, I’m sure at the time I would have jumped at the chance to shoot with them, it would have been good experience though not a good career choice.
 
HKCinemagic: Working in films was not enough to make a living in HK. What other jobs did you do during your time there?
Darren Shahlavi: Thanks to Kim Maree Penn, I got into Security work, as a bodyguard for her Company Signal 8 and also in clubs, at one point I was head doorman at three clubs, the Jump in Causeway Bay and Carnegies and Dali’s in Wan Chai, that’s where I learned to act like a bad guy, it was a great experience.
 

Mark Houghton, Jeff Falcon, Steve Tartalia and Vincent Lynn: The Gweilo Dream Team
 
HKCinemagic: Do you think it’s possible for a western artist to make a full, long career in HK as a stuntman/actor?
Darren Shahlavi: I think some guys did as best as you can, Mark Houghton and Richard Norton for example did better than anyone, their fight scenes are the best. And Bruce Fontaine and the others had great careers too.
Unfortunately all the hard work those guys who were there before me got wasted a little I think, they set the standard for westerners in Hong Kong films as far as being professionals doing great work and set a good rate of pay for westerners also. They raised the bar as far as performance and professionalism goes and myself and the others who were working when I was there like Mike Lambert, Paul Rapovski and Thorsten Nickel, and others tried to continue that with good roles, hard work, and fair pay rates. But there are no unions to protect us and as soon as Rumble in the Bronx came out in the US, Hong Kong producers realised westerners are lining up to work on Hong Kong films for free! I was hired to work on The Accidental Spy and fight Jackie Chan and two weeks before flying to Istanbul I get a call saying they can’t afford me and that they had someone willing to work for nothing. I got a call from Bey Logan asking if I’d like to be in The Medallion but then says they have no money to fly anyone in the other guys are working for next to nothing!
We all worked hard to prove our worth but when others are offering to work for nothing why would they pay me my rate?
This happens a lot, in 1995 I met with Van Damme and Moshe Diamant in Hong Kong about playing a role in the Quest, Moshe asked me if I would pay my airfare to Thailand and if I knew anyone I could stay there with whilst shooting.
I just had a meeting with a Director in L.A. last week about shooting a film in Europe and he asked if I’d pay my own airfare!
I’ve done many small roles in the past on big shows, union shows, I get paid well and have full medical and dental coverage I get a buy out and residual checks, I make more for a 20 minute wardrobe fitting on a US film than they want to pay some of these guys for a full day work who now try to work in Asia. I’ll make concessions if the role is good enough, but how can we keep working when there are so many others that are willing to severely undercut our price. I know sometimes it’s unintentional, I did many jobs for friends for next to nothing but now in Asia it’s not easy to get paid a fare rate.


Times are changing too, I’m sure if they really want me for a role it will work out.
So as far as Hong Kong you look at the careers of Mark and Bruce and Vincent Lyn, Steve Tartalia, Ken Goodman and the others and those I believe were the glory days of Hong Kong cinema for westerners and I don’t believe we'll see the kind of work for westerners like those guys had and did again.

 
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