The Actor

https://admin.headliner.ai/the-actor-mp3

Uyi Agbontaen

Hey, guys, welcome to another episode of The Point of View. I'm your host, Lied Bonzeim on today's episode, I speak to my good friend and star of BBC drama Silent Witness, Mr. Jason Wong.

Jason Wong

No serious. Like my first podcast with someone that I've known for just over ten years now. We've known each other.

Uyi Agbontaen

It's a long time.

Jason Wong

A long time, but we haven't sat down and spoken like this for a long time since we were talking earlier before we started this podcast that we used to have conversations from Wu Tang fan to Kung Fu films, to Bruce, to trivial things, to even the Illuminati.

Uyi Agbontaen

Many streams and tears and levels of conversation, some like trivial and some super stoic and philosophical and some really like political. Some of the best. They weren't really conversations. There were lots of debates, as I said before, but they were really good. They were actually fun. Some of those fun times is when they were just a group of guys just chatting. Shit.

Jason Wong

I remember I had a conversation with you back in the day. We had a quite huge debate about Bruce Lee.

Uyi Agbontaen

Well, remind me now I still have debate to people about Bruce Lee.

Jason Wong

I think it was Bruce Lee and his I can't remember the whole thing. I know it's around Bruce Lee, but his influence on today and mixed martial arts. I think it was online and his use and his concepts, and we're just thinking about that.

Uyi Agbontaen

But I can't remember what was your stance and has it changed? Even this would have been about maybe nine years ago, years ago. I remember when you were starting off in the acting world and now you're established bro. You are established. So now has your view on Bruce Lee, who was a pioneer being an Asian male actor in Western cinema. What's your views on him now?

Jason Wong

Still the same? I still think he was a pioneer in the craft of filmmaking and martial arts and bringing that specific art form to the forefront of modern day Western contemporary action genre. He was still the pioneer on that. I feel that he was someone who utilized an art form that he studied in and changed the concept and made it more adaptable for camera. It was interesting how he tried to stay pure, but some of the things that he did on camera, some people were debating whether it was pure for camera because you could never catch a punch that quick on camera.

Uyi Agbontaen

You mean like the effectiveness, the effectiveness.

Jason Wong

That how powerful, like anyone can throw a quick punch on camera because the camera can't catch it because it shoots at 25 frames per second. When you punch, it needs to capture at least 100 and 8200 frames per second. It has to go slower for an audience to really capture and sell punch. So he had to adapt and change. So whether it worked or not.

Uyi Agbontaen

See, I heard about briefly. I recently read a biography about Bruce Lee. I believe Mark Polly. And it goes into a lot of detail, that's all I didn't know. I'm a big, briefly fan as well. I didn't know. One thing that happened was when he returned to America and he started off acting because he was a big Hong Kong child star. What kind of made him semifamous was the Green Hornet.

Jason Wong

Another challenge for the Green Hornet, his aide Cato and their rolling Arsenal, the black beauty on police record. They wanted criminal. The Green Hornet is really Brit Reader, publisher of the Daily Centimeter, his dual identity known only to his Secretary.

Uyi Agbontaen

And obviously he wanted to showcase his martial arts. And so he would do all these fancy moves. And the cameraman and the wrecks would be like, Whoa, that's way too fast. You're doing, like, 100 moves in a second. The camera can't pick it up. We can't sell that. You have to slow down, just like what you just said. And what his frustration was was that the stuntmen and the fight coordinators of that time were more into the Western style of fighting, like John Wayne cowboy style. I tell a story, put my punch back here, you see, it come in. And he was like one not as realistic one. And it doesn't show the full range of the human potential and the Eastern martial arts. But then, obviously, when he would watch the tapes back, he'd realize, oh, I look a mess. So he went for that learning curve.

Jason Wong

The thing is, with Bruce Lee, the one thing when you think Bruce Lee and cinema, what's the one thing you always remember when you watch him? What's the first thing if I say Bruce Lee.

Uyi Agbontaen

Battle pride for me. Bruce Lee battle prime.

Jason Wong

Okay, so it's the pose. It's the beginning and the empose. When I was just I just finished off the film. And with this thing, guys, Jason, the best thing at the beginning, how you enter into that movement. They can't really see anything between, right? The audiences can't register that fast, and that's just human nature. They always remember how you started. They see the sequence of movements. But after that, it's about how you can sell the flow of motion, but it's the beginning and the end. It's hard, because when you're doing bike choreography for camera, you're throwing a lot of flawed techniques. Studying martial arts for a long time. You can't like small things, like a punch. I have to come open with a punch, whereas I would disguise it, especially because I came from a range of background. I would disguise the punch even as a box. You would disguise the punch. The last thing you see is the fist in your face. But with some, you have to open. Show the camera that you're about to punch and then go for the attack. So if I'm me when I watch Bruce, how he utilize stillness to emphasis tower so using stillness to episode Tower is one thing I will notice. And even when you watch his first camera test when he was due for Greenhold, it was a very famous one when they're like, okay, Bruce, what's your name? And he was my name is Boo Sleeve. And the confidence that he had the charisma that he exuded. And that all came from stillness. Even though his reactions were very big, there was a sense of stillness when you see him, how poised.

Uyi Agbontaen

Yeah, I remember that. It's a very famous screen test. Anyone who's a fan of PC has seen it. And I remember that. And I just remember when they were saying, Show us some of the stuff and they pulled this old white guy, you stand there and he's so fast and powerful. So every time he's doing it, the guys are reacting. He's like, don't worry, I'm not going to hit you. Yes. This is what you said about the post. I guess it registers with the audience, like, they know who is who and they remember the fight.

Jason Wong

You also let the audience know when you finish the fight seat.

Uyi Agbontaen

Okay.

Jason Wong

So that's really important again. Like I said, it's the beginning and end that you remember. You don't really remember the in between bits. You remember some of the moves, but then it's like, okay, just made out of Steve. So you got so that and then it's just that exasperated reading at the end.

Uyi Agbontaen

And.

Jason Wong

It'S one of those things that I was still trying to work on as a performer.

Uyi Agbontaen

As an actor, given that you obviously studying the martial arts and you happen to study the martial arts when you do a film or a project which allows you to have a fight scene in it, how much input do you get to have?

Jason Wong

So for me, it's the power and what the Stank guys call loft. It's the power. It's the snap at the end. It's the finish. It's not letting the sword go wild. It's being able to go full force at full speed. But being in control still, because you're going inches away from someone's head. We're just finishing this film. Dungeons and Dragons. Like, I've got hit so many times with the rubber sword. I got stuck in the neck with a rubber sword. Like, you get some knocks and bruises. It's very hard to replicate a fighting without having an actual fight. And you've got control, adrenaline, camera angles, your actors, vanity. Are you selling the performance? The most important thing is you're selling the performance. But for me, it's about one thing I found relatively easy was picking up the fight choreography, the movements of a move. I'm not a spoiler, but there's a move where it replicates some aspect of judo and resting. And there's moments where I have to sprawl or I have to enter in with a single leg style movement. And I already had that. So they didn't have to work with me or more to try and look at those movements like he would go down and think I went straight in and he's like.

Uyi Agbontaen

Oh, you know what you're doing with that also.

Jason Wong

Because as an actor, you will always go, oh, I can do that. I've done that before because I've done that in jiujitsu. I've done that in Moyinta. I've done that wings, and I can do that. But then when you forget is you're doing that all day for 12 hours and you have to replicate that move. So there's a point where I could never do what my stun double did. And he was just incredible his movements, like I had two weeks to learn the phytrography that should have taken a month and a half to learn, but we're filming because it covered time is always a lesson. So what I found that I could draw back to answering Geojo question was the power and loss that I had already in my movements. The only difference is I had this sword that was quite hard to grip, and it was about, let's say, 2ft long, and it wasn't your traditional sword, and it was heavy that I found hard because it's easy to go wild and on camera it can pick up if you're not in the right line. When you're trying, like, for example, trying to slice someone or try to chop someone or coming down with a chopping action. Your line is so important you have to put your body through it. And like, when you watch gymnastics, when you watch them, it's always nice, clean line. They always talk about angles and lines. If that's off, you can see that you're not fighting. You're an amateur. That's one of the things that I was constantly rehearsing and practicing and also the rehearsal because I'm not adverse to training and going pushing hard and getting smashed in jiujitsu. So when the statues were doing training 4 hours a day like other actors, stopped after an hour or 2 hours. And I was like, no, I want to keep repeating repetition. So that for me, I had an advantage there because I was able to have the cardiovascomas and gas to keep going because my muscles are functional your condition to an extent.

Uyi Agbontaen

Maybe not for 12 hours. Yeah.

Jason Wong

But then that's where your stunt double comes in. And there's such an important part of the role and learning and seeing how he does it and how I do it. He would keep the power 100% power and maybe a six sequence fight scene. And for me, I could only sustain that power in two and a half or three sequence Max.

Uyi Agbontaen

Right.

Jason Wong

Because you're overthinking stuff now and then you've got to make sure you don't hit the other person in the face, and then you got make sure to smash that camera that cost 500 grand and all these things, but still give a level performance.

Uyi Agbontaen

What's the discussion around what you can do and what you can't do.

Jason Wong

Safety is always priority, isn't it? So when I speak to the stunt coordinator or the second unit action director, so funny enough, a lot of people, not many directors. When you see action sequences, it's not directed by the main director. It's always directed by a second unit director, and they specialize, mostly in action. And the directors will mostly focus on the storyline.

Uyi Agbontaen

Okay.

Jason Wong

So when you have good second unit action directors, they will know and have conversations with stunt guys whether this is right for you to do, whether you can do it. With this recent project, I was never felt unsafe. But there was a lot of things that I had never done before that I was doing for the first time, and I went straight on the camera to it. So it was like, for example, they call gags. So when you're doing wire work and the gag of you getting hit in the wall or having to do a full twist up in the air and then all these small things, I'm not doing the spoilers. But these are what you call gags. And I've never done it before. But because I've always been a fan of Hong Kong sinner, my ego could have go, I'm going to let my stunt guy do that. So I did it. I did a few of them. But then there was some stunt stuff that I was like, yeah, that was your first wire work. That was my first ever wirework. Yeah.

Uyi Agbontaen

How was that experience?

Jason Wong

It was fun. It was scary. It was exhilarating. And it was a great learning experience where there rope Burns and wild Burns. Yes. But you sort of take that. And actually, my whole body was just full of, like, even the makeup people would do my makeup and they just go, oh, my God. You look like you've been in a massive fight and you just got kicked bejesus out of. Yeah, but I wore the badge of honor, but it's hard, like, you go onto a set. And this is where I got to check my ego. Sometimes when I go onto a set and do action, can I physically do that? Is it going to hurt me or cause me injuries after? And this part of me is like, I'll be fine. But then later on, I have this, like, ten to nine, right? I'm still going on because of the facing, but you just have to know your limits. And there's a couple of things that I was like, I am not doing that. That is crazy. You get the stunt guy to do that.

Uyi Agbontaen

What was the scariest stunt that you did?

Jason Wong

Do you think?

Uyi Agbontaen

I'm guessing it's something wire related.

Jason Wong

Sometimes it's the smallest thing. It's sometimes like on Jaide two running from explosion scenes, running from a car that's about to explode. Small things like that, having someone shoot around a blank round. But movie blanks are a lot louder right next to your face. And.

Uyi Agbontaen

Did they put, like, independence?

Jason Wong

No, it's still loud because you're finding blankem six teams and things like that, and you're in close quarters, and you've got four people around. You shooting the same thing, it gets loud and you can't hear each other. So you're trying to wait for each other's dialogue, you can't hear each other's dial. So you're just waiting to see when they're breathing. So the most scariest thing I had to do was to run away from exploding vehicle.

Uyi Agbontaen

Okay, because it was really expensive.

Jason Wong

You're using rules. So even though it's a controlled environment and everyone's safe and they give you all these safety briefings, like you're still running away from an exploding car, they're waiting for you to clear a certain moment. But even though you clear that section, you trip up, you're still potentially be in the line of fire. But I've never felt unsafe. Most of the stunt guys are really hot on safety because they can't jeopardize, of course, the actors in that sense. But for me, I will always try and do the stunts, but there's some sense. Like in Indiana, we got some amazing sequences going on, and I feel that audiences are going to be really impressed by what we are doing.

Uyi Agbontaen

So let's talk about Dungeons and Dragons.

Jason Wong

Oh, not much I could talk about.

Uyi Agbontaen

But I want my best. We had this conversation before, so I remember Dungeons and Dragons. For me. There's two kind of worlds right there's the board game, which is one world, which I don't remember because it was a 70s thing. So I wasn't born. But then I remember in the 80s, it was the TV series, the cartoon Dungeons and Dragons. Which one is it that you filmed on?

Jason Wong

So with that, I can't say which section it's set in, but I can tell you it's a massive in both worlds.

Uyi Agbontaen

Oh, nice.

Jason Wong

And you explore. But I can't comment too much on what those two was. One because I don't play the board games. I would love to learn, but it looks quite complicated, like Warhammers. And I was just a bit too young to catch the TV show. So when I got the script and I read it.

Uyi Agbontaen

Any kind of background, let's get the TV series out.

Jason Wong

And I didn't because it's really hard to find the TV series. Somebody tried finding 80s TV shows.

Uyi Agbontaen

Man, they're really on YouTube.

Jason Wong

I can't find them.

Uyi Agbontaen

Really?

Jason Wong

Yes.

Uyi Agbontaen

I always see them on YouTube.

Jason Wong

I haven't seen that.

Uyi Agbontaen

I'm sad that way, though. I have no idea, because I have two young kids, as you know. So I enjoy watching some of the stuff I watched with them now, like he and she ran the yeah, I know.

Jason Wong

That was the time that I grew up in, but I met one of the lead actors who did the original Dungeons and Dragons TV show. We did a film called Asylum together. But I just know from that. So when I read the script, that was my first real introduction to the world of Dungeons and Dragons.

Uyi Agbontaen

You had heard of it, right?

Jason Wong

I'd heard of it, right? I'd never understood the main plot lines, all the concepts or the appeal of the tabletop game.

Uyi Agbontaen

Because I never grew up with anyone who had fantasy board games.

Jason Wong

Fantasy board games was something I grew up in.

Uyi Agbontaen

They had games consoles when you grew up, bro.

Jason Wong

Yeah.

Uyi Agbontaen

And Street Fire, and then straight after that with Pokemon cards.

Jason Wong

Yes. Or collecting football cards or Pogs. That was the sort of tabletop for Monopoly. Like I never grew up with the whole. So to be honest, when I entered into this one of the Dungeons and Dragons, it was brand new to me. Like for anyone, I guess your age late 30s.

Uyi Agbontaen

You're doing me a justice manner that would have resonated more with Dungeons and Dragons.

Jason Wong

But for me, it was brand new. So I was quite excited to explore the world of that. It's the first time when Lord of the Rings came out. I never, ever read the books, and I didn't know Facebook books, and I watched it. I was like, I love this incredible, right?

Uyi Agbontaen

Yeah. It's funny because actually, we kind of forget going off. But when Lord of the Rings was going to come out, I had never read the books, but I read the books in preparation for the film because I was so excited and I wanted to do it. And I knew of Lord of the Rings, but I never read it. And it's weird.

Jason Wong

It's a true story.

Uyi Agbontaen

As I was reading the books, I remembered when I was a kid watching an animated version of it on TV. Lord, there was an animated version. I think it was in the 70s and obviously I wasn't born, but I saw it in the I must have been maybe five years old. I completely forgot when I was reading the book. I was literally reading Fellowship of the Ring and the Bauroger comes out, this is where Gandalf does.

Jason Wong

You shall not pass.

Uyi Agbontaen

Right. So I was literally reading and I got a flashback. I was like, Holy shit, I know this because I remember that scene as a kid, so it was like, wow, I do know this world, actually, but yes, I read all the books and then I watched the movies, which I sometimes do if there's like, I am legend, for example, came out first thing I did. I read the book first, and then I watched the movie and the movie is completely different to the book.

Jason Wong

Funny enough, it's hard because Tokien created this whole universe. Maybe I'm saying the wrong thing. The language and backstory of characters that you see quite short and but they have a huge backstory.

Uyi Agbontaen

So actually, I guess that's great for an actor, right. Because they really know their character is where they go and where they come from. That's great. I'm guessing Dungeons and Dragons, from what you're saying is going to be like that because it was a board game and the board game explained where it was taking place. There was like a games master who would kind of explain to you what your role was and what the mission was. I don't know if you've ever seen Stranger Things the TVs I've seen. So that's the kind of similar premise, right?

Jason Wong

Yeah.

Uyi Agbontaen

Because it was all that time. And the interesting thing about Dungeons and Dragons about the fantasy board games was there was a massive movement against it.

Jason Wong

Really?

Uyi Agbontaen

Why in the 80s and 70s, early 80s? Because this was a time where there was a lot of political correctness. So there was a very kind of conservative attitude towards television and film. If you remember, in the 80s, there were films that came out which were shocking for their time. I grew up and I loved them. But you can imagine someone who's maybe in their 40s or their 50s then thinking, oh, this isn't what we were used to. Is it healthy for our children to be watching that? That was the same reaction they had to Dungeons and Dragons. They tried to shut it down in America. Really? They said, this is Satanism, right? Yeah. Funnily enough. Which it wasn't at all. It was literally just a fun board game. But they're like, no, these children are now trying to learn about witchcraft and they're going to consult with the Devil's like rubbish. But it was these ultra conservative Christian groups who had a massive issue with the board game.

Jason Wong

For me, when you look into fantasy world, it's make believe it's make believe. It's make believe for me, whether it's Lord of the Rings or you look at Game of Thrones, or they're just trying to create a world that you can immerse it and have fun. And it's like Harry Potter.

Uyi Agbontaen

Exactly, Harry Potter. So it's ridiculous. Now we look at it now like you'd think in modern day UK, modern day America real offices and make believe it's nothing. But for its time, it was controversial. And now we grew up with those experiences for us like, no, I love those fantasy kind of films and stories and games. But I had a conversation because he brought up Harry Potter. I had a conversation with a woman who came from I think Uganda. African countries are very religious. Still, to this day, I say Western countries aren't as religious anymore. They're more secular. African countries are very religious. She was visiting the UK. She was here to go to a World Book fair show. They always have these world book fairs where these people come to buy books and take back to the teacher. And it was just at a time when Harry Potter was at its peak, right. And I'm not a Harry Potter person, but I obviously knew Harry Potter was massive. And so I said, So I said, what did the kids say about Harry Potter in Uganda? Did they like it? He said, no, we don't read that. I said, what do you mean, they don't read it? It's the biggest book in the world. It's devil worship. We don't read it.

Jason Wong

Really.

Uyi Agbontaen

We don't have Harry Potter because they take it that seriously there. And that was like, maybe ten years ago. Let's say Harry Potter is about ten years old now, maybe 15 years old now. Right. But that was then. And I was like, What Harry Potter? It's a kid's book. But that's how seriously took it.

Jason Wong

Witchcraft and all those areas on the spiritual world and the undead and the present and the past and all that. I know they take very seriously. And for them, it's a real day to day life within society in certain parts of Africa.

Uyi Agbontaen

They'Re very superstitious, very superstitious. And I would liken it to 60s, 70s, UK America. Right. Like, they haven't moved forward yet.

Jason Wong

We love mythology because it's the unknown because we can't humanly do those things. So when we watch it, we go, I want to do that. It's cool. I want to be able to be that when I watch all the Rings, I always want to be like an Asian elf. But for me, when I watch fantasy dramas, I never grew up watching it because my dad, I grew up watching Van Dam, Jackie Channy Yen like, I am monkey. I've seen 100 million times. I grew up watching that. But there was fantasy in that. There's a lot of wild guys jumping from roof to roof. I used to think people were able to do that, but we just lost those powers. As we got into, one of these people were able to jump off roofs. I remember at primary school when I used to watch that. I used to come back to school. I was like, Chinese people can jump from roof to roof. And here I am at the age of 16, trying to Slam dunk a ball like, I haven't touched the rim. So I was like, I grew up with someone crouching Tiger or hero. When these ones came out, I loved it because that, for me, was my Dungeons and Dragons. That for me, was the live action stuff that I was craving. So for me, culturally as well, Asian culture tends to cater more for that fantasy based genre, where you look at Mangas, animations, anime. And you look at Fist of the North Star. You remember that back in the day I had it. I remember watching it when I was like, six years old, seven years old, fist of the North Star. So you grew up watching these crazy action films. Dragon Ball Z was like, the first back in the days. And you got Goku and my friend to this day, Ryan McKenna, that loves Dragon Ball Z. You can talk to you all day long about Dragon Ball Z. And for me, it's the first form of live action and Pokemon. When that came out like Pokemon Pikachu Detector came out, I was so angry that I couldn't get on that film. I so wanted to be a part of that film. But now I get to do some cool stuff on the fancy film. Hopefully The Winters will love.

Uyi Agbontaen

And actually, it wasn't the only fantasy film you're in.

Jason Wong

No, I did. Yeah, I did think called Bonus Spirit Warriors, which is a fantasy drummer about very similar based on the Chinese calendar. And you would have to get twelve medallions. And then that's actually a great fantasy show. That was one of the highest production values for CBC. They really went to town with the effects and the time. And the production value was immense for a kids TV show. That was a great experience, because I also got to work with all the peers. That was my first ever TV job. I work with all my peers within the East Asian British community, and they all came out. And we all were on that show. And that was fun fantasy show with Benedict One and Jessica Hemwick, who's now going to be a Matrix Four. But it was about to have this film called Nine Days. That's another weird fancy. It seems a bit weird. It's talking about afterlife and stuff like that. But you had this pool of talent there now. And Andrew Koji was Koji, but now he's doing The Warrior, and he's also doing Snake Eyes now. And so we all grew up together. So when you see all the new Asian talent coming out from the UK, we all started doing play readings together at the Soho Theater and working with yellow theater and places like that. Now everyone's doing different genres now. So it's just crazy. I don't know how it detected from that.

Uyi Agbontaen

Back and forth. It's fine.

Jason Wong

But yeah, that was from Bone Spirit Roy. So this is my second fantasy based.

Uyi Agbontaen

I mean, when I was a kid similar to you. So being black with the black community, there's always been a love for Asian cinema, right? Asian cinema, Asian TV shows.

Jason Wong

Why is that?

Uyi Agbontaen

I don't know why. You know what? I don't know why, but my theory is because whenever there is a minority who is now a hero who overcomes obstacles, they relate to that a minority figure. And in Asian cinema, there was always a minority person, a little man who would now achieve something great. So from the days of Bruce Lee or early martial art films, black people loved that. They loved that cinema way before the white community got onto that. And with anime, I watched all of it like this Dragon Ball Z, Ninja Scroll. I remember Akira, all these old films, right? An old TV series, Cowboy Bebop, like old stuff.

Jason Wong

Were they coming up a live animation?

Uyi Agbontaen

Cowboy Bebop are they John Shoes, man. I still photo anime. Now. I just watched Demons Layout, which is the most successful Japanese movie of all time. Funny enough now, most successful Japanese movie, not anime movie of all time. So it's funny because when I would speak to people, even today, if I speak to people, even martial artists, about films backed by Hong Kong cinema, they don't know what I'm talking about, right? It's very few people. So I'd have to either speak to someone who is Chinese or speak to someone who's black and they're like, oh, I watch that film. I am monkey. I speak someone else.

Jason Wong

So one of the things I always question, because a lot of my black friends will always be into anime. Like, you've watched way more anime than me, and probably a lot more Hong Kong.

Uyi Agbontaen

I mean, I'm older than you, bro. So, yeah, a bit more time.

Jason Wong

But I feel like it should be my repertoire. But for me, I always looked to idol people who were from that comedian. Hip hop culture, for me, was such a big influence. And for me, people growing up that I always aspire to be or acting, performing wise or culturally always came from black culture. But especially in North America, there's a lot of parallels and similarity between the oppression that happened between the two communities. 100%, which isn't really well documented. I think for me, black people, African American people in America, it's been better documented. Yes, Asian Americans, not so much.

Uyi Agbontaen

I agree.

Jason Wong

But both suffered a lot of immense oppression between the cultures and some might argue. Still, today, Asian Americans have continued 100% today. It's still very prevalent that there's a lot of oppression, whether it's within Hollywood or whether that's within different regions.

Uyi Agbontaen

Yeah, I agree with you. And I think the whole Kavid pandemic has brought that to the forefront. People haven't really thought. I mean, when people think about racism, they typically do think of black people and racism. There are women who see groups as well who suffer racism. And I think actually Asian racism has not actually been represented much. It's not been on people's radar until recently.

Jason Wong

Absolutely. Especially since it happened. You see, a lot of people's silence all of a sudden become very prominent. But what's been also quite unusual is a lot of attacks that have happened in North America that I've seen so far. Maybe there's others, not just highlighting these key areas here because there's been other ones that have nicely people within the black community attacking Asians coexisting. We all had the same struggle.

Uyi Agbontaen

I always find it really disappointing. It's even more disappointing when a minority, in my opinion, any minority is racist or prejudiced to another minority. You're a minority. You either know you've experienced it yourself or your parents and your grandparents have experienced it. So why now you doing the same thing to another minority group. So, yeah, we've covered 100%. I've seen that I've seen members of the black community of all communities, but also of the black community targeting members of the Asian community. I've seen members of the Asian community have racist attitudes toward back people as well. You're a minority. We were going through the same struggles. So why would you like and not just every minority? I guess maybe it's human nature to have prejudices, but to discriminate or to actively be racist.

Jason Wong

Come on, my pet peeve word is the model minority. And that word. I don't know why it annoys me, because the model minority means certain people have set out what they believe is good, and you have to conform. If you conform to this existence, you get all the good stuff we'll think of you in the high regard. But if you don't match this model that we have created for you to put in this model minority concept, we shun you. We don't think highly with you. We make micro biases, not even micro. Maybe it's just straight up biases and things like that. But if you don't fit that modern minority, one person that wrote a lot about it was John Cho, and a lot of people have been very outspoken about it. He wrote it in the La Times. He says Asian American existence in America, and this is not quote for quote. But this is along the lines is if you conform to what they believe is correct, and so your existence is tolerated. If you follow these set of rules.

Uyi Agbontaen

I do understand what you mean about the modern minority, right? Because if you're Chinese or your Korean or your Japanese, you keep your head down. You work hard, you don't make any trouble, you don't try and fight the system, you just get on. And then that's what we need to do to achieve or to be accepted. For me, it's just when the chips are down, you see how people really are, no matter what you do, the prejudices come to the surface. So even if you do everything you think is right in being the best citizen, you can be when things really get pushed against the wall, then we're going to see how people really treat you. And so obviously, with the Asian community. When Kobe had happened, you see, maybe people were not as aware. I'm sure they were aware of the prejudices and the racism that exists towards that community. But this kind of made it to the surface. People were literally targeting anyone who was Asian, anyone who was East Asian they were targeting. So it didn't even matter if you were from China, right? You could be from Korea. Wow. It's all the same thing, which was really sad. And I actually remember an incident on your social media. Oh, yeah, because we were talking about America, but it happened here in Queens Park from an Irish dude from another minority, which is hilarious.

Jason Wong

I was surprised that I came out, especially when I heard. I was like.

Uyi Agbontaen

Why don't you explain what exactly happened?

Jason Wong

I walk into it. This is the height of copy. This is like the first month of it going crazy. Everyone's going the first month of locked down. I'm far away from this cat, and I'm going in to make a return. I'm on the phone to my boy Tarek and just talking to him about stuff and what's been going on with our families. And in the background, I see this guy looking at me and I'm fine. I'm, like, 12ft away from him. I'm, like, totally paranoid. So I was staying with my mum. I didn't want her to get go. And I was worried that this guy's a bit more of an elderly gentleman. So I stood away. He looks at me. He's about to walk out. I'm about to walk forward, and he stops me and goes, Stay away from me. You chinks have copied. And I went, what I grew up in central London my whole entire life, West London, paddings and Grove. I'm from a very diverse background with friendship groups and white friends from every different walks of life. The first time as a grown man in London. And maybe I'm lucky that I've experienced straight up in my face racism. And I go, wow, he's going off. He's saying all this crazy stuff now no one can bet. Apart from the other person on the phone taking my phone. I remember seeing an interview with Will Smith.

Will Smith

For me, hearing people say that race relations are worse than they've ever been. It doesn't feel like that. It doesn't feel like that to me. Racism isn't getting worse. It's getting filmed. It feels to me like what happens when in marriage counseling, once everything gets out on the table, once the truth gets out. Once everybody says everything they've been harboring, there's a really dark time when you're just looking at your partner like, oh, my God, that's what you think. But there's a dark before the dawn, like when everything gets out, it's a good thing. It just doesn't. It sucks bad when the truth is out. But I think everybody can see it now. And I just think it's just a little darkness before the cleanse.

Jason Wong

No, Jake, take out your phone and film it right now, and I couldn't film it while she was on the phone with me. So I was like, trying to do all this and I wear gloves and my heartbeats go crazy because everything in my head is going, okay, keep calm. So I take him. If I record them all of a sudden, he stops and I go, Why did you find a way from me? Because your people might have codes. I went, I'm not from the region. You think I've born and raised in London. I've been London the whole entire. Because that's okay. Then that's fine. And I went, no, but you've totally made a racial observation and determined in your logic in your head, that my demographic, my race, essentially. And I hold the virus. And so I recorded it. And I was going to have to show this because a lot of people within my community within East Asian community were getting targeted. My mom's friends, places were getting smashed. There was a kid from Singapore got beat up, and I just refused to be a victim. I can hold my own. I've always avoid confrontations. But if it got to that level, I can hold my own, but also conversational wise to push back on these sort of incidents. Now, if it was any, I felt like if it was my mom's generation, they would have just kept quiet and just had a south facing pumped off, they wouldn't have spoken. They would have just suffered silence and kept quiet because they didn't want to shake the boat. I'm not saying everyone, but they decide to keep my head long or say anything because this is not right, and I'm going to call it out. So I did. And I recorded it. And then one of my close friends, Nabil, told him about the horns, and then he connected me with someone Nadine from the Huffington Post. I think she was the editor. She is the editor at Huffington Post, and I was like, look, I don't want to be a victim, but I want to highlight that it's up to a lot of people to express and talk about the situation. And in the end, he left. And he said to me, I've got an imperialism complex, and that was I was like, what do you understand what you're saying from an Irish brother saying that I have an imperialism complex, which I don't my complex was, you being racist. And I made sure that one. I wasn't trying to be aggressive with him. I wasn't going to threaten him because that gets nowhere. And two, I didn't want to swear at him. I was like, because in those moments, I was heated. I was shaking. I was so angry, I really had to hold back. But I was like, I need to express this and tell them what's up, because I know so many people within the community will just keep quiet. And that person would think it's okay.

Uyi Agbontaen

So I think it's good that now you've got a hashtag, right? Stop the Asian hate. It's a good thing because I think people literally aren't aware.

Jason Wong

I got so much support and love from the East Asian community, whether it was in the UK, and it went viral over to America. There's a moment that's happening right now where there's a systematic consistency of Asian people being targeted for something I'm going to call out that that's one of the things that really frustrated me over that time is just seeing who supported me, who understood what he was telling me, that I was making too much of a fuss, making too much noise. I should just keep quiet. And I was like, no, why? Because people in my community don't have that same. Not saying all, but don't have that level of access in terms of language being able to express themselves in English coming here, they might be immigrants and people have different cultural experiences, like my mom's generation, she's from Singapore. But some of these countries are very much colonial countries, like Hong Kong. A lot of people, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore. They were taught to be quiet because it was dominated by imperialism. So they didn't really talk much. They didn't really have that level where they felt comfortable, one because they could be attacked. And for me, I was like, I can defend myself if I need to, if it gets that level. And two, that level of ways that they can articulate them to the person because their second language is English or third language is English, and they can't express themselves that level. So I'm going to speak up. And I was really surprised. I thought I was going to get a lot of backlash from the East Asian community, but I got so much love and support.

Uyi Agbontaen

That's great.

Jason Wong

And my mum, when I showed that she was almost like, browsing, I'm glad you stood up for yourself.

Uyi Agbontaen

What I hate is when people say, yeah, but it's better now. It's better now. It's not as bad as it was. That's what people use that excuse. It's not as bad as it was in the past. So all these little incidences they're only occasional is not so bad in the UK. We just had the race report, right? A few months ago.

Jason Wong

We had no longer institutional racism was no longer an issue, right?

Uyi Agbontaen

Racism was no longer a major significant issue in the UK. But one of the criticisms, many of the criticisms of the report, was that a lot of the people who they went to from minority backgrounds in different communities, different areas of business industry to give their opinion of racism. They said, Well, racism is a prevalent issue. But why were their accounts not included in the report? They just disregarded it. And it's funny because then it ties into the whole criticism of the BLM movement, the pretty Patel, Home Secretary, Boris Johnson, Prime Minister. And then it linked all the way back to all the way up to the Euros. If England had won. Well, can't you see it's such an inclusive society like, look at our top players. Our team is so diverse. And some of the stars of the England team were black players. Well, weren't we fortunate now that actually England lost? And I say fortunate in a sense, that because then you saw what happened. As a result, the racism that you said didn't exist. Suddenly it's come up again. Suddenly, all that thing of racism is an issue in the UK, why people bending a knee? Well, this is exactly why people are taking the knee because racism is such a problem in the UK. And it's weird because just like you said, we always talk about America, but people don't think about what the UK experiences just as much racism as is experienced in America. The only difference is that in the UK, the police don't carry guns. That's different, but we still experience the same kind of prejudices. It's sad that it's 2021, almost 2022, and we're still having these conversations. These things are still happening. But I'm glad that the technology is there in terms of recording and disseminating.

Jason Wong

Which is not tied into my work again. But which is why I really admired Sign a Witness, taking that step of casting me in their show. And they made it a point to cast someone from an East Asian background not to tick a box. But again, if you don't tick the box, how do you get that presence on the screen? And for me, was able to do that, and we'll see, hopefully influence or someone will watch it. And hopefully I can make them proud and have that presence on the screen because from where I grew up, that was crazy. You say I'm established. I still don't think because I still live in the same area I grew up in. So there's nothing wrong with that. Absolutely no.

Uyi Agbontaen

Queens park is amazing.

Jason Wong

Queens park is nicer, though, but the thing is, where I grew up, I shouldn't be there. And actually I was having a conversation with my friend about cultural capital. And he said, when did it all change from you? Because I went to Paddington Green Primary School, then went to North Westminster, which has closed down now because it was such a bad school. The teachers were great. They were very passionate, but they didn't get a lot of support. The school was really rough and we had fights stabbings, all these crazy things going on in the school. And the turning point was when I got to drama school, talking about cultural capital. That's where I learned how to be able to converse with people from private schools, atonians people from private schools and different backgrounds, people who had generational wealth. And I didn't grow up with that. And if you take certain parts of my friendship groups and you stuck them in the room, they would never be able to get along.

Uyi Agbontaen

Or they would have never had the opportunity to have met each other. I think they'll get along, but it's a different world. It's like a tale of two cities. There are different worlds in the same areas.

Jason Wong

And I always have conversations with my friend and my girlfriend. We talk about, who am I in that sense, am I adjacent from the block from area, or am I Jason from drama school, where I remember my voice teacher was like, Jason, I can't teach these not to play down, but I can teach you to play up, right?

Uyi Agbontaen

That's a terrible thing to say.

Jason Wong

But it wasn't because it taught me a life lesson there, right? Like, if I stay here.

Uyi Agbontaen

I'm never able to play other characters must be interested in actually playing different characters because you're really getting lost in other people. You still have to try and find out who you are.

Jason Wong

Yes. And trying to figure out how I connect with them as well, especially with my character. For Sonic Witnesses, I'm playing a pathologist who was privately educated, but I sound like this. How does that connection happen? And the conversations I was having producers, but they were trying to get me to find my own voice for this character rather than go RP or receive pronunciation or invertecom and sound posh. For me, everyone in the medical profession is well spoken, well educated. They're around people who speak well. You don't get someone from west, and they go, yeah, but what's going on? It's very rare. You get a health care professional like that. So I was like January to immerse this one and find the right balance between sounding urban, inverted commerce. I hate that weather is on sending urban and London sounding well educated. And that's the balance that I was trying to strike with Silent Witnesses character. But for me, even today, as a grown up, I'm trying to find that balance between from where I grew up, to the environment that I'm in now, that's one thing that I've always had a conversation with my friends who aren't actors who are from the creative industry.

Uyi Agbontaen

What we all want to be as humans is authentic how to be ourselves. But what we're all doing is we're trying to copy voices like that's what humans do. That's what children do, right? You want to speak like your parents at first, and then you want to be like your peers, your friends, and then you get into another, your heroes, whoever you admire, you're trying to copy other people. But how do you be yourself? Bruce Lee himself said, I'm trying to honestly express myself, but even not just as a martial arts as an actor. One of his problems. One of his dilemmas was that when he went to Hollywood, he saw a lot of people who were amazing as actors, and he felt mechanical. He felt like I'm acting and they're just being on screen, and I want to be like them. I want to be able to do what they do, like, just be the person. I think that's true, not just of acting. I mean, that's just true of life. We're trying to be other people while trying to find out who we are, which is really fucking hard to do.

Jason Wong

Which you always said Mt or mine. Mt is something that I've always identified. But I'm trying to figure out who is the true meat.

Uyi Agbontaen

I think everybody I say universal thing. Some people have a crisis. I think that's a big stream, but people question who they are and you're not the same person. You change all the time. So different experiences make you change. And I know that because now I'm a father. And so I'm a different person. I think it's just a very human thing, trying to find our fit in this very big world.

Jason Wong

And for me, it's always a struggle to see how I can bring myself and parts of my life experiences to the forefront and to make it real, because that's my job is to make you emotionally invested, make you emotionally care about my story. And hopefully I've done that enough. But it's hard when you have to do all these medical terms. I'm smart, but I'm not give me some medical terms that you've had to, the one that still got me even when we had to do ADLC had to record over it was Leproscopic insufflation needle. And I kept saying, Insephalation needle. What is that? It's a vast needle. So it's something that you actually insert into someone's body. And you take samples for us, for me, as a valve and insufflation. I think I got this one. I can't remember my research, but I think insulation is when you're extracting some sort of liquid from something. So it was one of the hardest things. And there was moments with my Costa, Amelia Fox, when she was looking at the script and looking at me and going, this is a really hard script. I'm like, you've been doing this for 13 years. If you're saying it's hard, it's hard. And that was the first two weeks I had to go and say all the medical jargon as if it's normal. Yeah. Like I was. I had two fries and milkshake and a double cheeseburger. Thank you very much. Like I had to say it like that and take ten. I was sweating and cursing. Find this writer. And then the writer. I was like, who is this writer? How does the writer come up? He's a medical professional.

Uyi Agbontaen

He came from that sometimes he's deliberately putting in. That's why I said.

Jason Wong

You do this just to mess me up, because no one is going to know what he's worth me. That makes sense. I was like, I robbed you Shakespeare, because I have no idea what he's worth me. But some medical professionals say they love watching the show because it's authentic and they use big words and they actually understand what it is.

Uyi Agbontaen

Oh, really?

Jason Wong

And so when I was telling my friend I was like, how do you remember that? She did my job. I was like, I can't get that.

Uyi Agbontaen

So doing sign of witness working as a pathologist. So you have to do research, right?

Jason Wong

We had an actual coroner and pathologist on site. So help from how you hold a scalpel to how you open it up. Like you're so detailed to what parts you're looking at, looking at small parts of the body or that you wouldn't do this. You would do that. And sometimes you'll be like, oh, you want to use that word, you'd use that, and there will be a lot more challenging. Keep in mind, we're trying to make this look realistic and we're not obviously operating. We've got prosthetic. So I've got to say all these lines and then also you got technical stuff with cameras. So you're trying to make it look seamless, but then they all right. Now change the scope of the one with the blood inserted inside it. And then you do that. But wait for the camera to pan up onto your left towards eye level. So you're doing this and then think about that. The last thing I'm doing when I'm doing a scene like that is actually thinking and saying, my line. So my lines have to be so seamless. And I can't be thinking about them because I've got so many other things to think about when I'm doing it. And everyone's like, oh, I think so easy. It's not because you got to get the same level of energy and all these other things and you make it believable. I mean, the one Pepy I always forget is like, I did this TV show for Amazon Prime and ITV called Strangers. And internationally, it was White Dragon, and I had to smoke in an interrogation room. And my girlfriend at the time said to me, I said, how would you think she went, I don't believe you smoke. And I went, what? And I forgot the one crucial thing smokers do because I don't smoke. And also they give you these humble cigarettes. It's nasty anyway. And I was like, my smoking was cool. I made a look at effort this year. No, I know you don't smoke. I was like, Why don't you like how you're talking about it? I watched and I looked at smokers and they did this. He goes, he didn't breathe into smoke. So when people smoke, they normally go.

Uyi Agbontaen

All right.

Jason Wong

And what I did was she smoked. She used to smoke. So she knew the smoker knows you don't know how to smoke. And when I smoked to other people because I know you don't know such a little thing, right? And it's small things because everything's projected on screen, you breathing is massive on screen. So you in White Dragon.

Uyi Agbontaen

You with Anthony Wong legend, who I remember from Hard Boiled Man infernal Affairs Stormwriters about fantasy films. I remember this guy, man. What was that like?

Jason Wong

Anthony Wong is one of the Daenerys on Consider, right?

Uyi Agbontaen

Yeah.

Jason Wong

Tony Young Cherry 100%. He's one of the top dogs there. And he's known to be very outspoken, like, there's lots of things he can't really work in Asia much anymore because he was politically inclined about the status of Hong Kong in their political systems. And for me, when I got to work with him, it was like, yeah, it just brought me back when I used to watch films. My dad used to love watching him. And he's so well respected in Hong Kong, wherever we went. When people saw him, the room stopped like we went to the space. We were having dinner in a restaurant. He took us out for Steamboat and we walked in with him. And I've never seen a room just literally stopped what they were doing in turn and looked at him because one he spoke out for the Hong Kong people and about the certain political climates that were happening there. And people respected him a lot for that, because a lot of people were quite silent about it. I have no opinion because I'm not from that environment. But he was very respected. And when he walked in, everyone just swim because he was a superstar legit. And I get to call him a friend now. And I message him sometimes. And it's weird because when he was in London, he's doing for dinner. Put your coffee and I was like, oh, my God, this is like my family didn't not all of them, but my family in Asia, especially always thought acting was like a hobby for me.

Uyi Agbontaen

They saw you established bro.

Jason Wong

They came over to Hong Kong and they found out I was working with as he won, because now he's an actor. They see me on screen with him. They see me shooting a film in Hong TV show in Hong Kong immediately. And I specifically put them to set so they could see it. That's what the first they need. And he made such a massive fuss about me and was really aggressive and vocal about it. Everyone knew that he was following the knife because he wasn't that horrible. But what is Jesus water get it for him because he made a point to really drive home, that this was a legit profession. My mum met him and all of a sudden, she was in his present house. And you're very quiet.

Uyi Agbontaen

She's hard to say if anyone doesn't know who Anthony Wong is, who is literally a legend in Hong Kong cinema, I get again that people don't really know Hong Kong cinema, but infernal affairs, everyone will know because they remade the film. Monsieur says he did it and it was the departed. And Antony Wong's character in Federal Affair was Martin Sheen's character in the film?

Jason Wong

Was it Martin Sheen?

Uyi Agbontaen

Yeah, it was Martin Sheen, right. He was like the mentor of Leonardo DiCaprio, who was Tony Lung in Infernal Affairs. Andy Lauk. Andy Lau was Damon's character in the Federal Affairs and Federal Affairs is incredible. One of my favorite Hong Kong films, which isn't a Kong Fu film at all. Actually, it's a concrete film. It's not. And I would say is way better than depart.

Jason Wong

Yeah, because it works in that context. But in front of Anthony Warman, working with him, going to dinner with him, him giving me acting advice on set.

Uyi Agbontaen

He picked up some Nuggets.

Jason Wong

He was giving me loads of stuff and I spent as much time as I could to have dinner with him, to speak to him about stuff, to speak to him about. Charlie Fat is one of my favorite Hong Kong film stars. And Andy Mellon. He's worked with them all. Jackie Chan. He knows them all. He's such a prominent figure in Hong Kong, in Asia. And so I was like, Man, this guy actually knows some of these people that I deny gently. He was my boost. He stopped doing a lot for me. Donnynn. I saw Donnyn once or so houses. I remember the club in London, and he walked in and I sat there and legit it's my first time where I froze and he walked in. I think I even told you I did because I remember you laughing at me when I said it to you. So he walks in and he walks in with his wife and another producer thing American. I think he's here doing some sort of promo for he was doing a talk at the BFI, right? He walks in and I just go, wow, this is Iron Monkey. This is the guy who did all the Wong Fi Hong films. He's a very highly respected action choreographer, actor.

Uyi Agbontaen

I think almost everyone knows Donny. He's reached that status, right?

Jason Wong

He's got because it was always a debate, gently or Donny. Everyone always said gently.

Uyi Agbontaen

Donny watch Rogue One, which everyone should have seen. Star Wars, Rogue One. He's in it.

Jason Wong

Basically, I haven't seen that. But, bro, he's wicked.

Uyi Agbontaen

He seals it on the end story.

Jason Wong

See Donnie Anne. He looks at me. I look away and pretend I didn't know who he was. He still looks at me. I look back and he sort of gives me this acknowledgement. He just looks at me, goes, yeah, imagine being one of your idols. Is yours, Bruce?

Jason Wong

Yeah.

Uyi Agbontaen

Bruce is one. Obviously, I'm never going to meet you.

Jason Wong

He was around store.

Uyi Agbontaen

But obviously I worked in the airport for years.

Jason Wong

Right?

Uyi Agbontaen

So I've met, like, so many famous people. I've never met an idol of mine. I've met Tina Turner, like, I'm talking about mega stars. I've met Lana Richie, mega star, met Mirai Kerry. All these people and my behalf said, who would you actually be excited to meet? And I said, If Jackie Chan came, I would be fucking super my excitement for that.

Jason Wong

And Jackie Chan, I'd also be like, going crazy about it as well. It took everything in my body not to cry and not to go there and go, man, you want one of my idols? You're one of the reasons why I've always wanted to do action cinema and why I want to grow. I would have done that. But I could have because there's rules and decorum in that place you can't do. But then my next door, my next door. And I said this to you. I looked at him. I was like, I could be what.

Uyi Agbontaen

You want to beat up it, man.

Jason Wong

You crazy.

Uyi Agbontaen

The guy played man.

Jason Wong

I could fight him down because I was like, because on screen, I thought he was going to be bigger. He was going to be bigger. But then I just came back to really? And you told me, bro, you got fire items. But there was a part of my brain that we don't remember the story, man. I told you, the locker room. I remember saying that in my head.

Uyi Agbontaen

I was like, what was it like on the gentleman? You're in another Guy Richie movie? What am I talking about? Yeah, half of man as well.

Jason Wong

That's my second film with Statham. Yeah. Jason Statham. And that was great. But the gentleman be on that set was incredible. I just sat there and just shut my mouth and be quiet and just watched and observed because you had some of the finest actors, like, I grew up watching and everyone's in that a game. And even though there was one scene when I was in the boot, I kept tripping over Charlie Hundam's lines, and I kept tripping over his lines. He went Ji. Come on. Let's just quickly run these lines quickly so we don't trip over each other. He helped me out.

Uyi Agbontaen

I mean, it was a memorable sequence. You had an interesting outcome. Let's just leave it in case people haven't seen him.

Jason Wong

But for me, it was a great environment, like there with McConaughy, who's just, like, one his Oscar about two years before that. He did.

Uyi Agbontaen

That is phenomenal.

Jason Wong

That was another one that I manifested like. I feel like I manifested like, I work with him.

Uyi Agbontaen

Yeah. I was watching shooting exercise, and I was like, this guy is fucking incredible. He is incredible.

Jason Wong

His mind is like, when he's on set with you, like, he's thinking about other things, you know, that he did it with schools daily. He was doing something similar.

Uyi Agbontaen

Oh, really? He'd be an interesting person to have a conversation with.

Jason Wong

I don't have his number. This I can't call for you, bro.

Uyi Agbontaen

Come on, man. What's the point in knowing people like you, huh?

Jason Wong

Yeah. But for me, he was super present.

Uyi Agbontaen

You talked before about the representation of Asian actors in cinema and TV in the west, basically in America and in the UK. And it's been really lacking up until recently, I would say. And I was thinking about this a little while ago, maybe about a year ago. But it's kind of sad because obviously crazy rich Asians came out and it was a massive success, right?

Jason Wong

Yeah.

Uyi Agbontaen

And I thought, how sad is it that the biggest stars in biggest Asian stars in Hollywood, which is the biggest film industry, are not from America, like, literally, Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee were the biggest stars of all time. Then maybe Daniel, the only person I can think of who was on that level was Lucy Luke. Not even on that level. But was a big star.

Jason Wong

Lucy Liu was the first. She was the first big blockbuster. Hollywood female style recently talks about that in her interview with Evoke magazine and online, you can watch it. And she was like, I wasn't the first Lucy did it before me. But some of my argument, Brucey was technically Asian American, so he was.

Uyi Agbontaen

But I guess it's a loose argument. But I hear what you're saying.

Jason Wong

Born in San Francisco, which is raised in Hong Kong. And you have there's been people like John True is coming up, cowboy Bebop sunkang. But again, really underutilized sunkang. He's an amazing actor. But I don't believe we've been really given the opportunity to play those characters or the risk hasn't been there. Yeah, I believe that because a lot of Chinese investors are investing a lot more in Hollywood. We're going to start seeing more of that now.

Uyi Agbontaen

I've noticed a lot, actually, that there's always, like, a side character in whatever new blockbuster film is there's someone who's like, oh, there's this doctor from Hong Kong.

Jason Wong

Yeah.

Uyi Agbontaen

What are you feeling about that?

Jason Wong

You see why? Because China allowed nine foreign films a year. It might be more than I'm not entirely sure, but you only need one of those films to open and do great. And you're going to get your return, your money. And three, five, five fan Bing Bing. She's one of China's biggest star. She's in this film and with her name associated to it go opening straight up opening in China. My understanding is going to open in China because people want to see it because she's got a huge fan basement. So business wise, it makes sense. That's why it's exciting to see The Five Rings of Legend of Shanghai.

Uyi Agbontaen

I was thinking about that.

Jason Wong

Actually, it's great to see Simo, Aquafina, Tony Lyon come back to cinema.

Uyi Agbontaen

Yeah.

Jason Wong

He's an amazing actor in the mood for love. And we talked about the other films he's done. We see how he plays, he never played villains, how he resonates. And you guys have been in the world who's been one of my mentors and has been a great influence with me. Creatively support behind the scenes championing me. And he's quiet. Check out this project and him referring me to certain projects and going, you should get Jason Morgan for this. And he's always there. But he's an interesting person to talk to, actually, because he doesn't have any representation. Benedict Wong represents Benedict Wong. Really. But it's amazing to see how that's going to have the effect, because they saw off the Black Panther, how much that meant to their community to show superheroes, whether it's going to resonate in the east, where that's going to resonate to them will be very fascinating to see, because we've already had Chinese superheroes already. They're used to seeing that. So for us in the west, we're not so used to seeing that, but we're so used to seeing that in Asia. So how does that resonate? I think that's why you'll see, like, crazy rich Asians, all of them are now doing well, which is great because they've become bankable. They've proven the gentleman, and he's proven he's a proven product. He can bring those bums on seats. And that's what they want to see. Unfortunately, if he can do that, he can do those projects, and he can do snakes. He can play the lead. And just coming through here, I saw his face on the poster. I was like someone I worked with, what I respect. And he's an Asian brother on a bus recording. And I see my other boy who says point lead. Andrew Koji. Me and Andrew Koji started about the same time. We're just doing play, runs, play readings here, just trying to work as a jobing actor. And now he's up there. He's got post drop on the bus. And I see that. I'm so proud to see that, because everyone's got their little journey going on.

Uyi Agbontaen

It's about time, man. Yeah, it's about time.

Jason Wong

Hopefully this rain of East Asian excellence coming through just keeps moving forward. Then we can start telling stories like Steven Yen when he did Minority. The next is just in tune. You got to watch out for that one. He's just an amazing film that just gave you the cans. That is going to be a big powerhouse. And he's a Korean orphan who grew up in the BIOS. I think it's called Blue Bio, actually. And he directed that. And who else is in the cast with him? Alicia Vicanda, ex Machina. I think so. Adopted Asian tech in the South Texas, tattooed up, not your conventional, like, Asian brother that you see on screen, like geeky and stuff like that. And he's got in a relationship with Canada. That's progressive. But he had to write that story himself, and that had a low budget. But he produced that as amazing. I don't just get my inspiration from these guys, like musicians, creatives artists, artists. Yeah. I'll tell you what my biggest inspiration is, right? And you know him really well. You know, Dom, English, Dom, who owns his Academy in Matt house. He's one of my biggest inspirations, okay. And late Matt Fee as well. Why? Because he's someone who's worked hard for what he's got. He came from nothing. He worked hard, and now he's got his own business. He's got a family. His work ethic is seconds, and he always strives to work harder, to be better, to do other things. And when someone asks me who my biggest inspiration, he's my biggest. I hope he doesn't listen to this because he's a massive smile. But he is one of my biggest inspirations to keep working hard, because every time I hear what he's doing, I see what he's doing. I really admire him, and it's weird because that's probably the last person you thought I mentioned.

Jason Wong

Probably.

Uyi Agbontaen

But listen, I think people have many heroes in their life, and not everyone's hero is someone who is like a celebrity, right? People have personal heroes that they own people. The hero worship their fathers and their mothers and their grandson, their aunts and their sisters and their brothers. And that's cool, right? Like everybody is trying to fulfill their life in their own unique way. And you've got to admire people who do it now. It's not always the same way. And I don't think success is just about the Fame or money. There's many forms of success. So it's nice to hear when someone says, you know what my hero is, someone you don't know, but this is who my hero is.

Jason Wong

But you hear people say.

Uyi Agbontaen

My hero is my teacher.

Jason Wong

Do you know what I mean?

Uyi Agbontaen

So, yeah, I wasn't expecting to say, donate what you're saying. And yeah, that man does have a very strong work, very strong mindset. And he's a very strong man as well. Thompson, very strong man.

Jason Wong

It's just amazing to see how he's grown from literally doing night shifts in a restaurant to doing food delivery. So having his own business, when I see how hard this guy works and stuff that I take for granted that he's worth everything.

Uyi Agbontaen

He's got a migrant story, man.

Jason Wong

Yeah.

Uyi Agbontaen

He came to the UK and he's put the hard work in and he's put the grind in.

Jason Wong

I can't but sit back and said, my someone who took nothing from anyone but made it himself. I mean, obviously the store struggles as a business as a business owner, and the new business is scarier. But that jump and leap in life to quit his job, to go and open the Jiu Jitsu Academy. He didn't know if it was going to work out. And he's got a young family now, and he's still working hard watching.

Uyi Agbontaen

Sometimes it's nice to hear those stories, man, because it puts things into perspective for me.

Jason Wong

Work ethic, wise and mentality being strong. I get it from you guys. Jiujitsu has done. I can't not talk about Jiuitsu coming onto this, but all the guys that have given me so much confidence and a place to express and be myself because it's been a massive, amazing outlet has given me the mental capacity to continue with that thing. Because when that thing takes us toll like it's a business or rejection all the time, imagine that your work, someone telling you you're not good enough, not essentially those words. No, all those notes are you're not good enough? Someone else is better and you have to really focus that mindset. And there's nothing else you can do about it because you got essentially a few people in your hands, and it's a make or break. It's a feast of famine situation. And one moment you're lacking me. Change. The next minute you'll fall on hard times, how do you mentally stay consistent and stable?

Uyi Agbontaen

It is a very good point, actually, I don't think people think about it much, but actually, I guess because you're going for auditions, only one person gets the job. So whoever doesn't get the job has to deal with the rejection and then go again through the process.

Jason Wong

Right?

Uyi Agbontaen

Get stronger, get better, go again. So you have to admire that. You have to admire that eventually you've got to where you are because you didn't give up. Which is what judge is about. It's about not giving up. We have done 2 hours.

Jason Wong

Okay.

Uyi Agbontaen

Yeah. So I think we did a pretty good long chat. Where can people what are you working on for people to look out for? And where can people follow you?

Jason Wong

All right. So you can hit me up on my Instagram. Officially underscore Wong and Twitter, it's Jason C. One Instagram is where I'm more active on a couple of shows. Coming up. Rapha Man, directed by Georgety Jason Stathon and Garcia Josh Hartner makes his return post Malone in it. And that's going to be coming out sometime this year in the UK. Three out in the US and Bluray. And this autumn September, Santa Willis comes out where I made my debut as the new lead where I'm taking over Liz Cart and Richard Lynn's place. That's where the media Fox and David case. That would be on one of the BBC channel. And then later on next year, we got three, five, five or female spy film. Jessica Chastain, Penetrape Cruz The Bito Angle Fan Bing Bing, Diane Kruger. And then after that, 2023 is Dungeons and Dragons with yours truly and a whole list of people. I don't want to keep name dropping.

Uyi Agbontaen

But it's been a journey, man. It's been a great conversation. I want to see a lot more of you in the year. Come in. Cool.

Jason Wong

Thank you, Mr. Wong.

Uyi Agbontaen

Thank you. Okay, guys. That was Jason Wong. I hope you really enjoyed the show. Check out some more details about my guest in the show. Notes. I'll be back in a couple of weeks with a new episode.

Jason Wong

Make sure you check that out.