00:00There was a global casting for this role with thousands of submissions.
00:04Can you talk a little bit about the casting process for this for you?
00:09Yeah, it was really grueling.
00:12It was like well over a month and a half, maybe two months from first audition to them telling me that I had the part.
00:19But yeah, like you said, there was an open global casting call.
00:22They got like 10,000 submissions in the first week.
00:25So I was part of that.
00:26And so the rest of it is sort of waiting while they narrow it down.
00:30And, you know, you put in a tape and then another tape and then another tape and then you get a meeting and then another meeting.
00:35It's not terribly exciting.
00:37It was mostly like nauseating for me.
00:40But in the end, it worked out for me.
00:44It paid off.
00:45It paid off.
00:45Where were you when you found out you got the role?
00:47I was at home.
00:48I was in the bathroom when I got the call.
00:53And then I left the bathroom when I saw who it was.
00:55You're like, this is an important call.
00:56You should probably leave the bathroom.
00:57I should leave the bathroom, yeah.
00:59I love that.
01:00Do you remember your first time watching the Karate Kid movies when you were younger?
01:03Yeah.
01:03I saw the Jackie Chan, the 2010 Karate Kid.
01:06I was in elementary school when I came out.
01:09So, and that movie was one of the reasons why I started doing martial arts in the first place.
01:14Wow.
01:15So it was crazy.
01:15That movie got me started on martial arts.
01:17And then that martial arts got me in the sequel of that movie.
01:20Yeah.
01:21It was kind of weird.
01:23Can you talk about your first meeting with Jackie?
01:26I heard that you called it Jackie Week when he showed up on set.
01:30Yeah.
01:30That's what I've been unofficially calling it.
01:32Jackie Week.
01:33Everybody, it was like leading up to, you know how on Shark Week, like two weeks before
01:36Shark Week on the Discovery Channel, like the ads start playing.
01:39They're like, they're like, Shark Week is coming in two weeks.
01:41Get ready.
01:41And then they're like, Sharks, da, da, da, da.
01:43That was like two weeks before Jackie came.
01:44I was like, you start hearing people like, yo, Jackie, this is, this is, I'm going to do
01:48a French accent.
01:48This was Quebec.
01:49Like, Jackie is coming.
01:50Jackie.
01:50Well, next week, Jackie is coming.
01:52And then Jackie lands.
01:54And I hear this guy on the radio.
01:55He's like, Jackie, Jackie is here.
01:57And it's like his driver.
01:58He's like, Jackie, Jackie wants to drive himself from the airport.
02:00What do we do?
02:00What do we do?
02:01It's like, Jackie is driving himself.
02:02And then like 20 minutes later, Jackie pulls up in an SUV.
02:04You were alerting everyone.
02:06You were warning them.
02:07You were like, get ready, Jackie.
02:08Yeah.
02:08I was like, I heard, guys, that Jackie is here.
02:11So, so get ready.
02:12Talk to me about that first meeting with him.
02:14Yeah.
02:15I was, I was like speechless.
02:17It was weird.
02:17I actually lost the ability to speak.
02:20No, because, you know, he's, he, he's, I grew up in China.
02:24And for me, Jackie Chan is like ubiquitous with just cinema, plain and simple.
02:30You know, and he's an all timer.
02:31You know, it's like meeting Charlie Chaplin or something.
02:34He's going down in history for sure.
02:36Right.
02:36So I, I was, I really was like, I don't know what to say to this guy, but, but after you
02:43meet him, I don't know if you've interviewed him yet or not.
02:45Yeah.
02:45So, so, you know, he's such a jovial, charismatic guy.
02:49So once you meet him, it's fine.
02:50Yeah.
02:51Well, switching gears a little bit, you also are part of the new Hunger Games project.
02:55Talk to me what you can tell us about the new project.
02:58I mean, I, I'm super, I just got on board.
03:00So I, they're onboarding me now as we speak, I know, honestly, not that much more than
03:06you do.
03:06Right.
03:07Once the paperwork clears.
03:08Yeah.
03:08Once the paperwork clears.
03:09This, you know, this is my second time working with Francis Lawrence.
03:12I did the long walk with him, which is, I'm also that film.
03:16I'm really, really excited for people to see too.
03:18It's coming out in September and yeah, I'm just really excited to jump into this like grand
03:23narrative, you know, you know, they got, they got money over there for this thing and
03:29I can't wait to see how they're spending it.
03:31And as for Karate Kid, where does the franchise go from here?
03:35I don't know.
03:36You tell me, where do you want it to go?
03:38Listen, I, I hear that there's a lot of possibilities where we can take this.
03:41Yeah, it's true.
03:42Um, we'll see.
03:44Yeah.
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