from top: Aaron, Marcus, Me -circa 1995-1996
"Linus..." the voice that greeted me on the phone one afternoon sounds distinctively familiar...."Marcus here"it added and with that I greeted in return with an enthusiastic hello.
12 years ago...Marcus,my brother Aaron and I met every afternoon for a single purpose. To practise our stunts with one another(in other words...to play).All three of us idolised Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, Jean Claude Van Damme, Jet Li in equal measure and had the same crazy idea...to become stuntmen or better still... action stars. We would learn how to tumble and flip and would try just about anything...an unexpected fall from a crazy stunt being a measure of coolness and a badge of honour of sort...
It can be said as fearless crazy times...we played, we bickered, we fell, we hurt one another, but in the process had great fun and became friends. Marcus had a little formal taekwondo training but we all just learnt our tricks by Bruce Lee's principle that all men having the same set of two arms and two legs were capable of the same physical abilities...and with that we copied our moves from a Jackie Chan film or any other action movie we could get hold of.
Here is a small video I prepared a long time ago on what our life was like...
Yup...and this is less than half of it...we also played in construction sites...climbing up half built building, lamp post and even piling machines....
Occasionally, me or my brother will get a sprain arising from these crazy stunts...and our dear mother will first repeat her usual nag...ah..play somemore...come on...play somemore....then we would require nerve massage treatment from a traditional chinese master..."He was hit by a racket playing Batminton" my mum will say as she was rather ashamed of our kicking and jumping..."He slipped playing Batminton"yet another white lie..."He got hit by a shuttlecock" my mum expertly creates more excuses. If the master didn't know better...he probably think Batminton is a really horrific aggressive game.
About three years later...we parted ways...Marcus went to Canada as his family was migrating there...while I went to study in Kuala Lumpur and Aaron was finishing highschool in good old Sarawak.
All of us when on to working in the film industry...though not as what we initially wanted to be...stuntmen...however...our few years as amateur stuntmen has played a role in getting us where we are...as we do not fear falling and always dared to take the leap...and truly...I savoured every fall as much as every joy.
I am not asking other kids to do what we do (don't kids...it's dangerous...your mum may see it and get a heartattack)...but I feel sad that most kids nowadays don't play outside anymore or don't even venture out of their comfort zones, go exploring with other friends...sometimes nowadays parents are too careful with their kids...sure, we had cuts, bruises, dislocated bones and were even running for our lives from dogs but we are still walking and most importantly smiling :p
It's been so many years...but as I fetched marcus from his hotel out for a chit chat...he looked pretty much the same..."buddy" he greeted me with a handshake....i didn't shout aloud but I was very subtly overjoyed, smilling and happy seeing a friend again after so many years. "...nice to see you again" he adds taking the words right out of my mouth....
Me, Marcus, Aaron - 4th January 2008
Today
Marcus Sim - 27 currently a wala-wala(background vocal sound effect)artist and coordinator. Though straying away from making his own films, he has been acting small roles in series like Dark Angel, yes the Jessica Alba show and is going into real estate.
Linus Chung - 28 does corporate videowork and small commercials for a living, while slowly sharpening and improving his filmmaking skills.Has just completed a feature film 'A Note of Love' under his own company.Acted in small roles for malaysian films SEPET and 1957.
Aaron Chung - 25 A director of photography who shoots various films, commercials, telemovies and music videos.Also acted in realiti and kopitiam.
