Jimmy Au still gets the chills recalling first stuntman job
HONG KONG: Veteran actor Jimmy Au still breaks into a cold sweat recalling his first stuntman job for the 1985 flick City Hero.
Recalled Jimmy: “My job that day was to jump off a building. I thought it would be on the first or second floor, maybe third. It turned out to be on the fifth floor. I was terrified. Another stuntman and I counted to three before we jumped down into a pile of cardboard boxes.”
But the cameraman did not get the shot. It was that frustrating for Jimmy.
He added: “We ran back to the fifth floor to jump down again. It really felt like I was going to my execution. You could hear your own heartbeat. Jumping down a second time was just as frightening as the first. I had to do it. I needed this job. Fortunately the second time succeeded, and I earned my six to seven thousand bucks.”
Jimmy, 55, went on to star in a wide range of movies and dramas.
He is probably best known for starring in the series Come Home Love and A Fist Within Four Walls.
Right now, he’s back in the limelight with a key role in The Unholy Alliance, which stars Ruco Chan and Nancy Wu.
Despite making it in showbiz, Jimmy remains unfazed by it all.
Figured Jimmy: “I’ve been in this industry for too long. I may be remembered today, but that’ll slowly fade out next month. And in the month after that, I’d be a nobody again. As an actor, I should do well on my own part. Who knows what the future will hold? Maybe there’ll be fame,
I thought it would be on the first or second floor, maybe third. It turned out to be on the fifth floor. I was terrified. Another stuntman and I counted to three before we jumped down into a pile of cardboard boxes. Jimmy Au, veteran actor
but I should take care of myself first.”
Jimmy also had a close brush with death in the 1984 movie The Owl vs. Bombo, Sammo Hung.
He and co- star Chin Ka-lok nearly fell to their deaths while directed by doing a stunt on the stairs.
Recalled an animated Jimmy: “We climbed over 20 feet of stairs and then fell into a bucket, with nothing to support us. I did injure myself in the process. Big Brother ( Hung) said that wasn’t good enough and we had to do it again. He wanted us to make big motions as we fall, but we couldn’t do that. We could have died if we had not held on to the rail.”