I watched as they did the scene four more times. Each time Claire and Jackie’s actions were exactly the same. And then I realized that making a movie isn’t just about the actors. It’s about how they’re captured on camera as well. So even if the actor’s do everything perfectly, it doesn’t necessarily mean that one take is all they need. Making a movie was almost like a team sport – everybody had to play their position perfectly in order to score the perfect take.

The rest of the scenes that had to be shot that day all involved the motorcycle. The wait times between scenes were too long as all they had to do was reposition the motorcycle on different parts of the hill with the ATV.

“CUUUT!” Gordon yelled. And just like that, they day was over. Even though most of the day was spent waiting, I still found the pace and energy of being on a movie set invigorating.

“Go get the pads,” Brad pointed towards Claire.

“Bu-sure thing,” I ran over to Claire nervous as heck and said, “Umm, great job! Could I get the pads back?”

“Oh sure thing Alex,” she was so beautiful and her British accent was so charming I didn’t even notice her call me “Alex,” She removed her elbow pads and handed them to me.

“Thank you,” I said quickly as I turned and ran back to the stunt bag where Brad and Paul were waiting.

“Your welcome!” she called out.

I put the pads away in the bag and followed Brad and Paul to the transport truck to go back to base camp.

“Where do this go?” I asked Brad.

“In Jackie’s trailer.”

“Got it!” Brad grabbed the other bag, which I assumed had more pads in it and we walked over to Jackie’s trailer. Brad knocked on the door and Dorothy opened it and motioned for us to go in. Jackie was getting changed out of his clothes as we entered. We tucked the bags out of the way by the driver’s seat.

“How he do?” Jackie asked Brad.

Brad looked at me and I was scared he was going to say something bad, but all he said was, “Good,” I breathed a sigh of relief. Jackie looked at me and smiled. I smiled back. “Let’s go,” Brad said as he left the trailer.

I followed him quickly then stopped and said, “Bye! Thank you!” and closed the door behind me. We met up with Diana, Paul, and Exy by the transport van. I think everyone was tired cause we didn’t talk too much on the way back – it was a long drive after all. The sun was just setting and illuminated the sky with magnificent shades of yellow, orange, and red. “Wow…” I said under my breath, not just to the sunset but to everything that had happened that day. I had learned so much about how movies worked, I did my first official job as a stuntman, and I delivered breakfast to Jackie Chan! What a day!

We finally arrived at our complex and I waved goodbye to Diana. We got out of the elevator to our floor “See you tomorrow,” Exy said.

“See ya tomorrow!” I happily said back. Paul nodded at me.

As we walked down the hallway to our door Brad asked me, “So what’re your goals?”

“What do you mean?”

“Like do you want to be a stuntman?”

“I want to be an actor AND stuntman like Jackie,”

“I see…” he said thinking to himself. He opened the door to our room and as I closed it behind me he said something to me that I’ll never forget. He said, “I’m not sure this is right for you,”

“Really…?” I said discouraged, “Why?”

I think Brad noticed my demeanor change and actually gave me a half smile, “Nevermind, just stick around and keep learning. You’ll do fine.” And with that he entered his room and closed his door. I didn’t know what to think. Had I rubbed Brad the wrong way? I hope not. But I was determined to do the best that I could regardless. As I lay in bed that night I ran through the day’s events in my head and wondered what I would be asked to do in the next month…I fell asleep picturing all of the crazy stunts and fight scenes from my favorite Jackie Chan movies barely believing that I was now on the team HELPING to MAKE ONE OF THEM!

                               More to come!  Stay tuned!

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I found an interview with Brad on YouTube.  There are clips from his demo reel in it!  His story about how he met Jackie is just as crazy as mine if not more so!  Check it out!

“Do you think we even need these?” Paul asked Brad.

“Better bring them to be safe. Allen, you’re in charge of this bag. Bring it everywhere with you and never leave it out of your site.”

“Yes sir!” I said excitedly. My first job as a stuntman! I wouldn’t let Brad and Paul down. Lunch ended and we all headed into the transport van to head back to set. I clambered in awkwardly and sat down the with the huge bag on my lap.

“Putting you to work finally!” Diana said smiling.

“Yep!”

We got to set and I followed Brad and Paul off to the side where Jackie was sitting before. We stood there waiting for everything to be set up and for Jackie to arrive. We waited, waited, and waited. Then we waited some more. Finally a transport came in and Jackie climbed out! It was still surreal for me to see THE JACKIE CHAN up close and personal. I don’t think I’d EVER get used to it.

I learned very fast that asking Brad and Paul questions were useless. Not because they didn’t want to answer them (well maybe they found me a little annoying I don’t know), but because they didn’t know anymore than I did. After asking a series of questions about what was going on Brad just cut me off and said, “Look, I don’t know okay? Keep your eyes open and watch. It’s our job to anticipate what’s going on next and to be ready for it without anybody telling us what to do.”

“Okay…”

So we waited and watched. It looked like they were setting up the camera in front of the motorcycle. Brad went to the bag and grabbed some pads out. He ran over to Jackie and offered them to him but he just shook his head and waved his hand – he didn’t need them. He pointed to Claire. Brad ran over to her and helped her put them on.

They were ready for Claire and Jackie. They headed over to the motorcycle which was set up on a kind of a trolley which was attached to an ATV. I guess this allowed the actors to focus purely on their acting instead of having part of their attention on riding the motorcycle – smart! I noticed earlier that Claire’s stunt double was riding the motorcycle and Jackie’s stunt double was clinging onto her from behind. I didn’t really give it much thought, but now that it was Jackie holding onto Claire on the bike it looked rather funny! Ah…Jackie Chan humour I thought – awesome! This movie was already looking good!

Although I had seen the process earlier with the stunt doubles, now I really took notice. The camera man yelled, “Rolling!”

One of the AD’s had the marker in front of the camera, “Scene 66a take 1,”

Then the sound guy holding a big boom mic over Claire and Jackie yelled, “Sound speed!”

And then Gordon, the director who sitting by the monitors yelled the magic word, “ACTION!”

This was so exciting! This was EXACTLY like how you saw them make movies on TV except this was REAL LIFE! I couldn’t believe that I would be surrounded by all of this for the next month! I watched as Jackie and Claire did their scene as the ATV towed them along. The magic of movies was really incredible, I mean on camera you could never tell that they were being pulled by an ATV!

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“Oh c’mon, she’s just sitting there bored waiting for a handsome stunt guy to talk to her!” Diana grabbed my arm and dragged me over before I could protest, “Hi Claire, this is Allen one of Jackie’s stunt guys,”

“H…h…hi, nice to meet you,” I stammered.

“Nice to meet you to!” She said elegantly in a musical British accent.

All throughout the shoot I could feel the excited tension from the Irish crew who would steal glances at Jackie almost in disbelief that they were this close to a LIVING LEGEND! The Hong Kong crew were used to working with him so this was just another gig to them, but for me and the Irish crew, this was an experience we would never forget for the rest of our lives!

The next scene they were shooting was just a wide shot of Claire and Jackie riding off on their motorcycle. As I watched the two of them from afar I noticed something was a little off. When I stepped in closer to take a look I saw that it wasn’t Jackie and Claire at all! It was two people dressed exactly like them! Ah the “stand-ins” I thought. But when it came time to shoot, Claire and Jackie’s doppelgangers were still there! I later found out that they were Claire and Jackie’s stunt doubles. I learned that for scenes that you can’t explicitly tell whether or not it’s the main actors or not it’s common to use body doubles. And since they were on a motorcycle, this was considered a “stunt”. What surprised me the most was that Claire’s stunt double was a guy! I have to admit, when I was watching the scene being shot and I only saw their backs, I might’ve been checking out the person who I thought was Claire…UGH! I shuddered when the scene was over and saw that it was an older man!

I was surprised at how much “down time” there was. Most of movie set life consisted of waiting around, of course when the time came, obviously you were expected to perform! It seemed that there wasn’t too much “stunt” work going on today. So Brad, Paul, and I spent most of the day sitting off to the side. I passed the time talking with some of the Irish crew, the Hong Kong crew, Exy, Dorothy, and Diana. And as much as I could with Brad and Paul.

Before I knew it, it was already time for lunch. We got back into the transport van and went back to base camp. We went back to the same place we had breakfast, only now they were cooking up something that smelled even better! It was like a catered buffet! There was a long table set up with plate warmers and various hot foods from sautéed vegetables, to mashed potatoes and rice, to delicious looking chicken, beef, and fish dishes! Then, it caught my eye…THE DESSERT TABLE! Mounds of mouth-watering cakes, cookies, and even ice cream! Oh yeah…and fruit.

As I stood there staring at the feast I was about to devour, Diana came up behind me and said, “So how’s your first day going so far?!?

“Great! I mean, a little easier than expected, but I’m learning a lot!”

“Yeah, today isn’t a big stunt day, but when those days come I’m sure you’ll be put to work!”

“I’ll be ready!”

“C’mon, let’s go eat!” I nodded in agreement and joined the line up. After getting our food we sat down back down with Brad, Paul, and Exy.

“We’ll be doing the reversals after lunch,” Brad said.

“Reversals?” I asked.

Diana explained, “Well many of the shots this morning were from behind so we used stunt doubles for Jackie and Claire. But now we’ll be seeing Jackie and Claire from the front so they’ll be the ones on the bike.”

“Oh…”

“Which means that we’ll have to be alert.” Brad said.

“Right…so we make sure nothing happens to Jackie and Claire?”

“The kid’s catching on,” Paul exclaimed.

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“Where to?” Paul asked.

“I don’t know, to work?” Paul and Brad looked at each other.

“There’s A LOT of down time working on movies,” Diana explained, “Setting up for shots takes a very long time. Positioning the camera, getting the lighting right, rehearsals with the stand-ins-”

“Stand-ins?”

“Stand-ins are people hired with about the same build as the actors who stand in front of camera while they position the shot for the actors.”

“Why don’t the actors just do it?”

“Well between you and me, it’s because they don’t want to make the actors do such a menial job – sometimes stand-ins will stand there for ten or twenty minutes maybe more while they set up the shot.

“And that’s all they do?”

“Yep,”

“So they’re here for the entire day, and all they do is stand in place while they set up the shot?”

“Yep,”

“And they’re paid for this??”

“Yep,”

“Sweet job!”

“Yes it is!” Diana said with a laugh.

“At least that’s how it is on American sets. On this set I think they’ll probably get whoever’s available to stand-in. You might even be Jackie’s stand-in!”

“That would be SO COOL!”

After a few more minutes of talking about the going-ons of a movie set, it was time to “work”. We got into one of the transport vehicles and rode up the hills where we would be shooting. I was soo excited. As we drove up I saw Diana writing some stuff down on a clipboard. I looked over and asked what she was doing.

“I’m writing down Jackie’s dialogue for him. Fortunately for me there isn’t too much today!” And she was doing just that. In nice big clear letters. The dialogue was already provided in the call sheet, but was small and hard to read. I guess this was part of Diana’s job as a dialogue coach to make that the text was as easy to read and as accessible as possible. We got off the car and I followed everyone to where Jackie and Dorothy were. Jackie was sitting down in a chair marked “Eddie” which was his characters name in the movie. Brad, Paul, Exy and myself stayed back a little and watched while Diana approached Jackie with the clipboard. He shrugged it away, signifying “later”. Diana smiled and waited patiently for “later” to come.

“So what now?” I asked.

“What do you mean?” Paul responded in a half joking, insincere manner.

“Well, is there anything for us to do? Should we get to work?”

“We are working right now.” Brad said.

“We are? We’re not doing anything.”

“We’re waiting.”

“Waiting for what?”

“Waiting until they need us.”

“So…we just stand here?”

“We just stand here.” Sensing the seemingly mounting aggravation in Brad, I turned to Exy who was looking around. He had his camera bag around his shoulder and a camera around his neck.

“Getting ready to shoot some stuff?”

“Soon,” Exy said preoccupied.

For the next hour or so I stood there off to the side, watched some more of the crew come in with equipment on trucks, saw Diana coaching Jackie on some lines, and Exy taking a few pictures. I walked around a little bit talking to the AD’s and other people I had met who also seemed to be waiting.

They were filming some moving dialogue on a motorcycle. Jackie was on the back of the motorcycle holding onto none other than Claire Forlani – star of “Meet Joe Black” and “Antitrust”! She was even prettier in person than on screen! At one point when we were waiting between shots, Diana must’ve sensed the fact that I was a little star struck by her and asked if I wanted to meet her.

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“Are we shooting here?” I asked Diana.

“No, this is base camp. It’s where everyone gathers before we go off to shoot on location.”

“Where’s location?”

“I don’t know, probably in the hills somewhere close by.”

“What’s here at base camp?”

“It’s where the production keeps everything the movie needs.”

“Like what?”

“Well, there are tech trucks where they carry all of the lighting, sound, and camera equipment, the wardrobe truck where all of the costumes for the show is stored, the hair and make-up trailer – self explanatory and uhhh, what else am I forgetting? Of course! The trailers for the actors,”

“You’re forgetting the most important truck!” Exy said.

“What’s that?” I asked. Exy mimed shoveling food into his mouth.

“Yes,” Diana said with a laugh, “the craft services truck.”

“What’s craft services?”

“It’s where I’ll be spending most of my time!” Exy said with a big smile.

“It’s where all the food’s kept. You can go in and grab a snack or drink whenever you want!” Diana explained.

“That’s awesome!” I never thought that this was how movie sets work! Everything needed for a movie could be packed up in several semi trucks to be taken anywhere they needed to film!

We unloaded out of the transport van and immediately everyone seemed to know where they were going. I followed everyone who seemed to be going in the same general direction.

“Where we going?” I asked Diana.

“To eat!” Exy blurted out even before Diana had the chance to respond. I followed everyone around some trucks to where there were several chairs and tables set up and a buffet style table with cereals, milk, juice, fruits, and cutlery on it. Nearby was also a truck where people were lining up. The person inside the trick seemed to be cooking! When I got a little closer I found out that each person would give him an order and he’d cook it right up! Eggs, sausages, bacon, ham, and potatoes! Delicious! Little did I know that this would be our breakfast every morning for the next month! I followed Brad, Paul, Exy, Diana, and everyone else to line up for food.

We sat down at the table with some other people from the Irish crew. Right away Diana dove right into a conversation with them as if they’d known each for years! I was amazed at Diana’s unique ability to befriend people. Maybe that was what Jackie saw in her at that first interview. He sure knows how to surround himself with gifted people – the stunt guys for one, but Diana as well!

After about fifteen to twenty minutes most of us had finished our breakfast and we saw Dorothy walk over to the food truck to get some food.

“Go see if she needs any help,” Diana nodded in her direction. I nodded and headed over.

“Hi Dorothy, good morning!” I said cheerfully.

“Good morning,” she said in an abrupt but kind way.

“Do you need any help?”

“Okay, you take this to Jackie’s trailer,” she handed me a plate with some eggs and bacon on it and pointed in the direction I was to go.

“But,”

“And you pour him a cup of juice too,” not wanting to defy Dorothy who seemed busy enough as it was, I followed her instructions and nervously walked over to Jackie’s trailer. I got to the trailer and was a little confused at first. The door had a sign on it that said, “Eddie Yang”. This was exactly where Dorothy had pointed me, and there were no other trailers around. I knocked on the door lightly just in case I was disturbing some stranger, unsure of whether this was Jackie’s trailer or not. Jackie opened the door and looked at me. I froze for a second then came to my senses.

“Dorothy told me to bring you this,” he nodded and motioned for me to come in. I walked in carefully holding his juice and plate of food not wanting to spill it all over the place my first day on set in front of Jackie Chan of all people. I looked around, his trailer was HUGE! It had a couch, a small kitchen area, a door, which I assumed had a washroom in it, and a bed in the back! I put the plate down on the counter and looked at Jackie who was sitting on the couch reading a magazine.

Jackie looked up and said, “Thank you,” with a smile.

“Y-Y-Your welcome,” I stammered nervously as I opened the door and left the trailer. I couldn’t believe that I had just brought JACKIE CHAN himself BREAKFAST in his TRAILER! I still couldn’t bring myself to accept that I was working intimately with Jackie Chan as part of his inner circle!

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It was 6:45 and Brad’s door was still closed, so I turned on the television and waited for him. After about ten to fifteen minutes he came out wearing grey cargos, runners, a fitted t-shirt, and a hoody. Seeing what he wore made me feel better about my wardrobe choice.

“Let’s go.”

We got into the elevator and Brad pushed the button for the lobby. “Isn’t our car parked in the parking garage?”

“We’re not driving there, they’re picking us up.”

“Who?”

“Production. They have drivers to take the cast and crew wherever they need to go.”

“Oh, cool.” I was learning new things all the time here. I never even considered the fact that they’d have drivers driving you from point A to point B. I guess it makes sense because it’s easier to keep track of everyone if they’re together in the transport van rather then individually finding their way to set.

“Where’s Paul and Exy?”

“I don’t know,” after a brief pause I asked him where we’d be shooting. “I don’t know,” he said again simply. The elevator door opened to the lobby and I followed Brad out through the main doors. Outside was a blue minivan waiting for us with a few already people inside. Brad walked over, opened the front door (which was on the left side of the car) and said “Tzou san,” which was “Good morning,” in Cantonese. I quickly learned these words cause I’d be saying them every morning for the next month! I climbed in the back to see Jackie’s hair guy and make up lady who I met yesterday at lunch and a familiar face smiling at me.

“Morning Allen! How’d you sleep?” It was Diana, Jackie’s dialogue coach. Thank god! Someone I could talk to and ask questions about things without getting irritated at me!

“Hi Diana, I slept really well – tired from the flight and time change I guess,”

“Yes, it does take some getting used to doesn’t it?” she said with a smile. She introduced me to the driver as we waited for Paul and Exy. A few minutes later they arrived.

“Cutting it close,” Brad said to Paul.

“We still have two minutes to spare,” Exy chimed in as he sat down and buckled up. Brad just sat in the front quietly. The driver started the engine and we were off to set!

“Where’re we going?” I asked Diana.

“Today’s going to be fun. We’ll be shooting up in the hills of Ireland! The view’s going to be beautiful!”

“Cool!”

“Have you seen the call sheet yet?”

“What’s a call sheet?”

Diana smiled and pulled out a bunch of papers stapled in the corner from her bag and handed it to me.

“This is a call sheet. It tells you where we’ll be filming, which scenes we’ll be filming, and who’s needed in the scenes. As well as a timeline for the day.”

I looked at the booklet and it was surprised at how detailed it was. It had everything and I mean EVERYTHING: From the production information, the “Unit Call”, when breakfast was raedy, when lunch would be, what scenes we were doing, all of the actors and background in the scenes, the pick up times for everyone, the props needed, and so much more!

“So they print out one of these call sheets for everybody EVERY DAY!?” I asked in amazement.

“Of course,” Paul said in a is-this-guy-new-or-something kind of way.

I looked further and my name was even there next to Brad and Paul’s! Unfortunately they spelled it wrong – Allan Keng. They spelled “Allen” like Brad’s last name “Allan”. Oh well, I didn’t mind! (Even though growing up that was a HUGE pet peeve of mine! It’s not Alan, Alen, Allan, or Allin – it’s A-L-L-E-N! Get it right people! Eventually I worked up the courage and spoke to one of the AD’s and got it spelled properly!)

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“This is our room here,” Brad said looking down at our key card.

“We’re over this way.” Paul motioned down the hall. “I think this is the first time you and me aren’t roommates,” he said to Brad, “it’s alright, I’m sure you and the rookie here will get along just fine!”

Brad just glared at Paul and said, “Yeah,”

“See you later!” said Exy happily. We went into our room and I was surprised at how big it was! We opened the door to a small hallway and immediately to the right there was a small bathroom (which would be mine). Straight ahead at the end of the hallway were two doors, one leading to the master bedroom – which had its own television and bathroom – which of course was Brad’s, and then another smaller bedroom which was mine. Next to the rooms was a kitchen, dining table, and living room with a small TV. The kitchen also had a washer/dryer in it for some strange reason! We had a sliding door that opened up to a small balcony which overlooked the rest of the condo complex.

“Sweet!” I thought to myself.

“So what now?” I asked Brad.

“You unpack.”

“Right, of course, but I mean after that? Does Jackie want us for anything?”

“Nope. I think we’re free for the rest of the evening.”

“Oh, okay.” I went into my room and opened up my suitcase and took out all of my clothes and organized them in the closet and drawers in the room. I put my alarm clock on the night stand to make sure I’d wake up – after all you wouldn’t want to be late when you’re working for JACKIE CHAN!!!

As I was finishing up Brad came to my door and said, “Come take a look at this,” we went to the living room and he put a DVD in the player. “This is my demo reel, do you got one?”

“No,” I said a little embarrassed. Now, the next five minutes or so consisted of me FREAKING OUT!!! Inside of course. Brad’s demo reel was THE MOST INSANE demonstration of athletic ability in gymnastics and martial arts that I’d ever seen! He was doing moves I didn’t even think were possible! I had NEVER IN MY LIFE been exposed to such a level of athleticism and talent in such a short period of time as I had while watching Brad’s reel. I could go on for another twenty pages describing how blown away, stunned, shocked, appalled, traumatized, elated, surprised, sick, dumbfounded, impressed, astonished, dazzled, bewildered, and stupefied I was, but I think you get the idea.

When the reel ended I just sat there in silence. I was in SHOCK. I had NO IDEA the level of talent that was on the JC team. I mean you expect them to be talented, but in all my years of training up to that point I thought I had seen it all or at least most of it (and keep in mind I was a first degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do and had trained in recreational gymnastics for four years) but NO. Brad’s reel opened up my eyes to a world I hadn’t even fathomed! He was even doing moves that I hadn’t seen Jackie do before in his movies!

“What do you think?” he asked earnestly.

“I…I mean, that was AMAZING! I’ve never even seen some of the moves before! And the stunts and fights scenes were incredible! I can’t even do a tenth of what you can do!”

I’m not sure, but I think he might’ve thought I was teasing him a bit. I mean Brad still didn’t know what my abilities were. I think cause I was handpicked by Jackie himself he thought I was something pretty amazing too. But I wasn’t. At that time my skill set was nothing short of lacking – especially after seeing what Brad was capable of. I was afraid I wouldn’t measure up to the tasks that were going to be asked of me…

“So what’s your background?? What have you trained in??” after seeing his reel, I wanted to learn everything I could from him.

“Boxing, gymnastics, and Wushu.”

“Oh yeah? How old were you when you started?”

“I started gymnastics a little later,” that gave me hope! I didn’t start still I was fourteen. “If I had started earlier, I think I could’ve gone to the Olympics.”

“Really?! That’s incredible!” The Olympics! I was in awe. Truly Brad was in a different stratosphere than I was. We spent the next several minutes talking about each other’s background and history. I told him that I trained in mantis kung fu when I was younger and then Tae Kwon Do soon after. I started recreational tumbling at fourteen and that was about it. Brad’s training history was much more extensive then my own. He had also started gymnastics later in his early teens – the only difference was he trained competitively. He went to university in Beijing where he majored in Chinese and studied Wushu while he was there.

“Can you teach me some Wushu!?” I asked Brad excitedly. I had always wanted to learn Wushu but never found any schools in my area.

“Only if you show me some Tae Kwon Do,” Brad replied. I didn’t know what to say. There obviously wasn’t anything I could teach Brad that he didn’t already know. What amazed me was that he was able to speak Mandarin. Of course it wasn’t with a perfect accent, but he was able to understand and communicate. Unfortunately for both of us, most of the people who work on Jackie’s movies are from Hong Kong where they speak Cantonese – so neither of us could really understand fully.

“Well it’s getting late, we have an 8:00 am call time tomorrow be ready to leave by seven. Get some rest, tomorrow’s going to be a big day for you,” and with that Brad went into his room and closed the door behind him. It was still early, only about eight o’clock. I decided to stay in the living room and watch some TV for a little bit. I flicked through the channels unused to EVERY channel having someone speaking with a British accent. I was starting to doze off. I turned off the TV, unpacked all of my toiletries and got ready for bed. I hadn’t realized how tired I really was! With the time difference and everything that had happened I was wiped out! As excited as I was, I passed right out.

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I looked over and laughed, Exy was the only person who made me feel like I wasn’t such an outsider. I asked him about my per dium. “Dorothy gave me a bunch of money, she called it, per dium? She said it was for spending on food. Do you normally get spending money on top of what you’re paid?”

“Of course!” He exclaimed. “That’s one of the perks of the job!” I thought that one of the perks of the job would be say…oh I don’t know, TRAVELLING THE WORLD WITH JACKIE CHAN!!!

“Wow…that’s very nice of them.”

“Nice has nothing to do with it,” Paul chimed in. “Whenever you go filming anywhere, the production is responsible for taking care of you. They find you a place to stay and give you cash for food. It’s in their best interest to keep you happy. I mean how are you supposed to find a place in a city you’ve never been to? And if you do find a place, production is still responsible for your transportation to and from set. Now if you have a cast of even five performers, that’s a lot of transportation and organization. It’s much easier if everyone was in once place.”

“Oh…” I’d never thought about where actors and stunt guys stayed when shooting a movie away from home. I was only starting to learn about “the biz” but not just the biz, all of the behind the things stuff that you never see or think about! Then for some reason I asked Paul, “Are you married?”

“Yeah, I have two kids.”

“Is it hard being away from them?”

“I go where Jackie needs me to go. I don’t have much of a choice.”

“So you’ll go one whole month without seeing your family??”

“One month is lucky. Some shoots last as long as five months. I’ll fly them in sometimes for a week.”

I never realized being in the business could be so difficult. I mean being away from the woman that you love and moreover your own children for such long periods of time – it wouldn’t be just difficult on the individual but on the family too. Then I thought about my future, would I want to be without my wife for months at a time? Would I want my kids to grow up without a father for long periods of time?

“How about you?” I snapped out of my daze. I looked at Paul.

“What about me?”

“Do you have a girlfriend?” he asked.

“Me? No, no girlfriend.”

“Boyfriend?” Exy chimed in.

“What?! No! No, I’m not like that. I like GIRLS very much!!”

“So why’re you single?” Paul asked with a hint of mocking sarcasm.

“I…just haven’t found the right girl I guess…what about you Brad?” I said quickly eager to change the subject.

“I’m engaged,” he said flatly.

“Oh…that’s nice, for how long?”

“Six months,”

“Wow that’s a long time, have you set a date yet?”

“Not yet.” Again, I couldn’t tell whether Brad was uncomfortable talking about the topic or whether he was just in a bad mood, or whether this was how he normally was. At any rate I dropped the subject. I sat there quietly as we drove still admiring how quaint the houses were as we drove by. We turned a corner and Paul said,

“Alright, we’re here.”

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“Allen, come here,” Dorothy poked her head in the room and called me over. I followed her back to the office. “This is for you,” she handed me a few hundred funny-looking dollars! (I later found out it was the Irish currency that they called “punts” – pronounced “poonts”)

“What’s this for?” I hadn’t even done anything yet and they were already PAYING ME?! I didn’t even expect to even BE paid – hell I would’ve PAID for this experience! I politely refused, “Oh no, it’s okay, thank you,”

“It’s per dium, money for you to buy food and anything else,” Up until now I hadn’t even thought about money or how or what I was going to eat or anything else for that matter! You might say I was young, unlearned, and naïve but I guess I was still caught up in all the excitement – what with being whisked away to work on a movie with Jackie Chan and all! I guess I just thought that they’d feed us while working on the movie.

Dorothy went back to work and left me standing there for a few minutes with a handful of cash wondering what I was supposed to do with it. Presently Brad and Paul came in.

“Let’s go,” said Paul.

“Where?” I didn’t want to leave Jackie.

“Home.” Brad said shortly.

“Uhh…okay,” I said bye to Dorothy and walked into the other room and awkwardly said bye to Jackie, “I’m going with Brad now, I…uh…see you later?”

“Wait for me!” Exy yelled as he hopped up from his comfortable position on the couch in front of the tv. In all the excitement I’d almost forgotten he had come with us!

“Yes, see you later,” Jackie said quickly with a half smile. I think he knew I was still very intimidated by him and wanted to make me feel welcome but also maintain an air of “I’m the boss,” which he did very well. I took one last look at Jackie’s immaculate room as if it were the last time I’d ever see it again and followed Brad and Paul back down towards the parking lot. I hadn’t realized how much time had passed it was already dusk. We climbed back into the SUV we came in. Brad drove with Paul up front beside him while Exy any myself sat in the back. We pulled out, waited for the gate to the lot to open, and drove out onto the road. I was still getting used to how much more compact Ireland was than Canada. The roads, houses (I think they called them “flats”), and the entire layout of Dublin in general were as small and condensed as the back alleys of Chinatown in Toronto! Then I realized that Ireland, and for that matter the rest of Europe were hundreds, maybe thousands of years older than Canada. They not only had population centers much more dense than any city in North America, but many of their roads evolved from dirt trails that people used to ride horses on! I mean you see and hear about these things from movies and books but to actually be immersed in it is a totally different story! And this was only my first day here! I looked forward to experiencing all that Ireland had to offer!

It was still a little awkward between Brad and me. I wasn’t sure if he was still mad at me for trying to comfort him about backing into the pole. Brad and Paul didn’t seem to be talking either – I wasn’t sure if there was tension between them or whether they just had nothing to talk about. Maybe it’s just that I was still incredibly nervous about being around the people who back Jackie up in his movies. To me, both these people have lived lives and experienced things that I had only dreamed of!

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Directions from Downtown and west end by Subway:

• Take the Subway to Downsview station
• Walk up to the TTC bus terminal and take the 117 Alness Bus

• Bus will take you North on Dufferin to Steeles
• Then it will turn left (west) on Steeles
• When it reaches Alness get off and walk left (south) on Alness
• Turn left (east) on Magnetic
• End at 601 Magnetic Drive

Directions from Scarborough by Subway:

• Take the Subway to Finch Station
• Walk up to the bus terminal and take the 60 series (A-E) bus Steeles West
• When it reaches Alness get off and walk left (south) on Alness
• Turn left (east) on Magnetic
• End at 601 Magnetic Drive

* for complete TTC bus & subway information click here

Directions from Downtown by Car:

• Take Bathurst Street north to Eglinton
• Turn left (west) on Eglinton to Allen Road
• Allen road turns into Dufferin north of Sheppard
• Head North on Dufferin to Steeles
• Turn left (west) on Steeles
• Turn left (south) on Alness
• Turn left (east) on Magnetic
• End at 601 Magnetic Drive

Directions from Kingston/Waterloo by Car:

• Take 401 east to Allen Road

• Allen road turns into Dufferin north of Sheppard
• Head North on Dufferin to Steeles
• Turn left (west) on Steeles
• Turn left (south) on Alness
• Turn left (east) on Magnetic
• End at 601 Magnetic Drive

Directions from Barrie By Car:

• Take the 400 South to Steeles
• Turn left (east) on Steeles
• Turn right (south) on Alness

• Turn left (east) on Magnetic
• End at 601 Magnetic Drive

Directions from Keswick/Newmarket By Car:

• Take the 404 South to 401
• Take the 401 west to Allen Road
• Allen road turns into Dufferin north of Sheppard
• Head North on Dufferin to Steeles
• Turn left (west) on Steeles
• Turn left (south) on Alness
• Turn left (east) on Magnetic
• End at 601 Magnetic Drive