INTERVIEW: Joe Eigo's break
Newest member of Jackie's crew talks
by Chris Jones
04.06.2003 - Joe Eigo is the newest member of the Jackie Chan Stuntman Association, a world-class stunt team who have been working with Jackie on all of his films since the early '80's. They are a hard-working and dedicated team partially responsible for Jackie's success as an international star thanks to their collective efforts in making each action scene look as good as possible. Recently, our own Chris Jones caught up with Joe in Thailand during the filming of Jackie's latest film, Around the World in 80 Days to discuss how Joe made the grade in this exclusive interview.
CJ: First of all, tell us about yourself, your martial arts background and training.
JE: I am Joe Eigo from Aurora Ontario, Canada. I am 23 years old and have trained gymnastics from age 9-13. Over the years I taught gymnastics part time and continued training and teaching myself new moves. As for martial arts background, I just tried a bit of everything, just like break dancing and other fun hobbies. I don't really train like I used to during gymnastics. I just have fun and consider my training like playing... cuz I do it anytime and anywhere. "The world is my playground" and life is training.
CJ: When and why did you decide to move into film work?
JE: I always wanted to get into film work cuz as a kid I watched Bruce Lee movies all day. It's been a life long dream to be seen in movies or become a big star or legend! I want to make history and leave my mark in the world, that I did exist and never wasted my talents.
CJ: You have recently become a member of the famed Jackie Chan Stunt Team. How did this come about, and what is it like to be a member of this prestigious team?
JE: A.Solon So of the Jackie Chan company emailed me Jan. 3rd 2003. He said both Jackie and himself saw my demo tape and were very impressed. He wanted to know what I planned to do and if I was willing to train hard to be part of their group. I agreed and they said the best way to get started would be to participate in one of Jackie's new films, Around the World in 80 Days. So I joined as a stuntman.
I [first] met Jackie Chan when he was shooting the tuxedo in Toronto. I was really shy to approach him but I did anyways and gave him my website and we talked for a bit, and I told him about what I do. The next day we met I gave him my picture and resume, but no demo tape. Since that day I continued making a demo tape for a straight week, filming each day. The third time we met I saw him on set, really busy and rehearsing so I gave it to his assistant. Later I got a new computer and took my demo tape and posted some of my samplers on the net, especially bilang.com and in no time many of them went around Kazaa as Capoeira Trix 2000.
Over time, I kept filming more and more samplers and continued training harder. It was march 4th, 2002 when I met Tommy Chang from Blackbelt World who got me into TV and film work. He is also from Toronto and heard about me from my good friend Danny Abraham, who met him on set and referred me. Tommy Chang is very supportive of me and is always helping me, because he sees big potential. He has big connections in the movie industry and knows a lot of people including Jackie Chan! He asked me to make a second demo tape for Jackie Chan. In September I filmed a sampler. I took the footage and put it up on my site. At that time, my site was getting 20-30 visitors a day and when I released that video it grew to 2000-3000 hits a day. [The] funny thing is that when I met Tommy Chang exactly one year after that, I joined the Jackie Chan stunt team here in Thailand.
CJ: What are your plans for the future? Anymore projects up and coming?
JE: I have many plans for the future and always post up my ideas and news on my site (
www.joeeigo.com) as much as I can. In December 2003 I plan to do a special wrestling match with "Macho Man" Randy Savage and Bill Goldberg called "Feel the Madness" (
www.machoman.com).
CJ: Thanks go to Joe Eigo, the newest member of Jackie Chan's Stunman Association, who took time to answer these questions during shooting of Around the World in 80 Days.
©2004 Kung Fu Cinema
