Sifu Robert (Bobby) Samuels Interview ( Red Wolf Extras)

It was the early 80s. I got a job with US Air. The first year after I worked, you get a week's vacation. I took that week and I flew to Hong Kong. I'd never been anywhere outside of the US. That was the first time I actually left the country. I get there, and I don't know anyone. I'm wandering the streets; it's all new. The smells, the sights, everything is new to me. So I just started going to different restaurants. I'd ask hotel clerks if they knew where the films were being made, film companies. Someone had told me about Golden Harvest and Shaw Brothers Studios. So I ventured forth to the Shaw Brothers Studio first. When I get to the gate, there's a bunch of old security guards, Chinese gentlemen, and they wouldn't let me pass. I'm trying to explain to them, 'Hey, this is what I want to do,' but they don't really understand me at all. I didn't really have a firm grasp of the language.

So I decided to go to Golden Harvest. I figured Golden Harvest at that time they weren't as big as Shaw Brothers, so to speak. Shaw Brothers was known throughout the world. Golden Harvest was more or less known for Jackie Chan; he was the market for that particular company. So I went to Golden Harvest, and at Golden Harvest I met a guy, his name was Paul Chang. His name is Cheng Hong Yip, his Chinese name. And he introduced me to another person, Chuchi Ling. Chuchi Ling in turn played in 'Bruce Lee: The Man, the Myth.' He in turn tried to manage me. He thought that it was unusual that a black guy would want to come all the way to Asia and be in movies, so he kind of tried to guide my career along. But really nothing transpired. Now mind you, I only had a week vacation to pull all this off, but I managed to make a few contacts. But after that week, nothing substantial. So I end up going back to America, back to my job at US Air.

I was willing to toil away for another year until I got another year's vacation. This particular year I got two weeks. I went back to Hong Kong. My parents thought I was crazy by doing this. Every vacation you get, you work all year long just to save your money to do this two-week venture or this one-week venture or however long you have. So I said, 'Well, this is how it has to be. This is what I want.' My parents didn't discourage me, but they just thought it was unusual. So I decided to go back to America, worked at US Air for another year, got two weeks, came back to Hong Kong. When I came back to Hong Kong the second time, still the same stuff: meet people, nothing substantial. I guess because of the time frame that I was there, maybe I would luck up and see a production, maybe I wouldn't.

I go back to the United States, back to US Air, and work another year. So that's my third year now at US Air. That particular year they were laying people off, and I smelled the layoff coming for myself because I didn't have high seniority. So I said, 'I'm gonna get out of here.' What I did was ask for my vacation weeks all up front for the upcoming year, and I asked for the advanced vacation pay. At the time I prepared a letter of resignation. So it was sort of like a plan: I was going to get all three weeks vacation, the money, send a letter of resignation, and just stay in Asia. That was the goal. That was it. So I did just that. I went there, and I went to Hong Kong, managed to stay. At that point, Paul was there, Paul Chang, and he said, 'Well, you want to do this? I'll do whatever I can to help you.'

That particular evening he told me to meet him at the Niko Hotel. I met him at the Niko Hotel, and who walks in the door but Chen Kuntai. Chen Kuntai was a famous Shaw Brothers alumni. And 20 minutes later, David Chang walks in, another Shaw Brothers alumni. I'm flabbergasted because I've never met these guys before. I said, 'Wow, this is pretty unique here.' Then Paul tells me there's another person coming. I said, 'Well, who is it?' He wouldn't tell me. Next thing you know, Samo Hong walks through the lobby and comes and sits down.

I asked Samo, I said, 'I want to become a member of some organizations in Hong Kong. Maybe that's where the strength lies. I just don't want to be a regular Joe Schmo. I want to become organization members of organizations.' At the time there was the Hong Kong Stuntmen's Association, and I told Samo I wanted to get in that pool. He laughed. I'm like, 'What are you laughing at? I want to be a Hong Kong stuntman, a legitimate one.' I saw all the Hong Kong guys that had their Hong Kong Stuntmen's Card. He's like, 'The only way you can actually become a Hong Kong stuntman is to have three Hong Kong action directors sign for you. Quality Hong Kong action directors sign for you for you to become a member.' So he's like, 'And I'm not signing for you.' So I said, 'Okay, this will be an uphill battle.'

During one particular scene in 'Don't Give a Damn,' there's a scene where I have to do a hundred-yard dash, jump over a fence, land 13 feet down on the ground, continue running into the back of a moving car. It scared the hell out of me. It really did. Just the whole concept of this being one complete take. And Samo said, 'If you can do this in one complete take, I'll sign for you.' Now, I had a number of friends over there at the time. In fact, one of my friends was a very prolific director as well; his name was Lau Kar-wing. He was the gentleman who was the action coordinator for a lot of the early Shaw Brothers pieces. Very famous. And also Yuen Biao was there. They both agreed. I said, 'Well, look, Sam was gonna sign for me if I do this stunt.' Now, I'm scared as hell because I've never handled a stunt that big and it was long. We had a hundred feet of track in the middle of the street, which proved to me it was going to be a one-shot deal.

So someone said, 'You do this, I'll sign for you.' And then I had Lau Kar-wing, he said he'd sign for me, and Yuen said he would sign for me. I said, 'Great. All I have to do is pull this off, and I'll be in an organization, hell or high water.' Four takes, that's all it took. But I had that much determination to do this particular stunt. After I did the stunt, Samo was like, 'Whoa, he actually did it.' The minute I finished, I took the paper that I got from the Hong Kong Stuntmen's Association, I said, 'Sign it.' He signed it. Yuen Biao signed it. And Lau Kar-wing, he was laughing the whole time. He's like, 'Samuel kept telling me you couldn't do it. He kept saying you couldn't do it.' I said, 'I told you I could.' And he signed as well. So then another action director was there at the time; his name was Cho Wing. We all know him from 'Barry Me High' and 'In the Line of Duty.' He signed as well. He was like, 'Don't take three in here, take four. Show him you're somebody.' So I'm laughing. And so I became a Hong Kong stuntman, actually the first black man inducted into the Hong Kong Stuntmen's Association.

I wouldn't stop there. I told Samuel I wanted to be part of other organizations in Hong Kong. So he in turn took me to meet Eric Chang, a very popular figure in the movie industry over there. Eric signed for me to be an Asia Sports Star Association member, which is another guild. Then I enrolled and became a member of the Hong Kong Performance Artist Guild. So there were a number of film groups that I belonged to in Hong Kong, which gave me instant clout when it came to talking to producers and directors for future projects. The fact that I was a member of these guilds gave me carte blanche, in essence. Very interesting. I appreciate everything that Samuel did for me.

At that particular time, Samo and I had decided that, okay, I'd starred you in a movie, I featured you in a movie, Pings has featured you, you've started your G7 in there, Alfred Chung gave you a unique opportunity. 'What do you want to do from this point?' And I'll never forget that we were at the airport one day picking up his youngest son who was coming in from somewhere down south. He said, 'What do you want to do? You want to stay here? Do you want to go back?' I said, 'I really want to stay, but there's really not much more I can do here. I think the only thing I can really do at this point is stay until I play myself out until the casting directors and the directors don't want to have anything to do with me until I've burnt my fuse. I think I'll leave now, at the height. Right now, that's the best time to leave. Don't leave when you're faltering and your roles get lower. Leave right now.' So he was like, 'Yeah, that's a smart move. I'll support you in any way you want.' So I got a ticket and I came back to America. I hadn't seen my mother or anybody in years, so that was another reason why I wanted to come back, to see my family. Being away from them for so long, they were of course very worried about me because they hadn't heard from me.

One particular incident happened while I was there, actually before I left. Samo, Yuen Biao, myself, David Long, Samon Simon Yam, we were all invited to the first China International Film Festival, the first film festival opened in China. Kirk Wong was also a guest. I represented Hong Kong. I was stunned that I would be offered an opportunity to go there and represent, like that, a Western guy. So we all boarded a plane and it was magnificent. When we got off the plane, there was a line of 200 wushu students with flowers, and there were limos at the end. I'm like, 'My god, what's going on here?' So we go to the Chinese film festival. At the film festival, a mainland director, I forget his name at the time, he said, 'I've seen your student's work. Do you think that we could use him in a mainland production?' And Samuel's like, 'No, he's going back to America.' At first I started to use up his authority and say, 'No, no, I can do it.' But then I said, 'No, this man has been guiding me up until this point. Why would I even take a chance?' If he said no, we had agreed upon that I would leave, go back to America. So that's where it left. Turn the film roll down.

On the ride back from the Zhuhai China Film Festival, I got deathly ill. I don't know what exactly it was. Maybe it was the scorpions we were eating up in Mainland China. I heard they were kind of poisonous, but I could be wrong. Definitely though, I got toxic poisoning and had to be hospitalized. At that point, Samo's wife and myself, we were the same age, we got along very well, very good friends. She's like a sister to me. I was rushed to the hospital and I almost died. They had no heart rhythm and no one could figure out what was wrong with me. Samuel was actually crying and upset because when I came to Hong Kong, him and Mina told my mother and my family that I would be living with them and they would take care of me and no harm would befall me. Here I am lying up in the hospital almost dead. My mother wanted to come out to Hong Kong and see me because they didn't know what was going on. Mina and Samo were both so worried that I was going to pass away. Samo imported some doctors from Canada to see me, which I couldn't believe. This man is incredible. These specialists came, Western specialists, and they found out exactly what was wrong with me. Apparently I had a reaction to food, toxic food poisoning up in Mainland China, and something in my body just didn't jibe with it and it caused me to have a heart attack, somewhat. About a month I had to stay longer than what I wanted to. After that, I got on the plane and Samuel said, 'You head on back to America.' And from that point on, I started to pursue a career here in the United States.

My plans for the future right now, I'm working on a number of projects in development. I have an offer for a film coming up from Mandalay, DreamWorks film, with Nick Quested. It's called 'Kung Fu Theater.' It's about a comic book artist who gets thrown into a kung fu movie. Lots of laughs there. It's still in development, so that should be out late 2002, early 2003. I look forward to that. Outside of that, I'm still working in music videos, directing, keeping my name out there, and just trying to stay afloat.