East and west beautifully meet in Jon Foo, the Eurasian wushu artist who plays Jin Kazama in Tekken, the movie version of the popular video game. His father is Chinese, from Singapore, and his mother is Irish, from London, where Jon grew up. He currently lives in Los Angeles.
“I’m a mix-match, a foreigner in every country, but a happy combination of the east and the west,” admitted Jon in an exclusive one-on-one with Funfare late Saturday night at his suite at EDSA Shangri-La Hotel, barely three hours after he flew in from Thailand where he’s shooting a movie called Rebirth, jointly produced by French and Thai companies. He’s here for just 50 hours to drum up for Tekken The Movie which opens nationwide on Aug. 4 (released by Pioneer Films, the same company behind the megahit Twilight Saga flicks). He’s flying back to Thailand today to resume shooting for Rebirth.
“I’ve been meaning to come but I never had an excuse,” disclosed Jon, a first-time Philippine visitor, “for vacation and a lot of other things. I’ve been hearing about your beautiful beaches but it’s a pity I don’t have enough time to visit one. Next time maybe.”
He described Rebirth as “an interesting movie which is kind of ridiculous.” Why so? “Well,” he continued laughing, “it’s about a guy who gets shot in the head and loses all emotion. I play that guy. Towards the end of the movie, he recovers from his injury and then…” Suspense! “No, it’s not inspired by another video game like Tekken; it’s an original story based on nonsense.” He laughed again, as if the joke was on him. “Yes, it has a lot of action. I’ll make sure the action is good. That’s all I can do.”
How does he prepare for physically challenging roles like those in Tekken and Rebirth?
“I’ve been doing wushu for 15 years and that’s good enough training. All I have to do is maintain my condition. I just do a few weights, jump rope and do some cardio back-up exercise.”
Jon was pleasantly surprised when he was met by excited fans when he arrived at the NAIA. Pioneer producer Wilson Que saw to it that there were “Welcome to Manila, Jon Foo!” placards. Jon was elated to learn that millions of young Filipinos are crazy about the Tekken video game which is about streetfighters now on its sixth edition.
“It was a lovely welcome. I knew how popular the game is, so when someone told me that a company was making a movie version, I said I was interested to be in it. I was a bit shocked when they offered me the lead because until then, the most that I usually did were small fight scenes.”
Aside from doing stunts for other actors, Jon has done small roles in about a dozen films, including Universal Soldier: Regeneration and Batman Begins (as a League of Shadows Warrior, uncredited), plus other mostly martial-arts-themed flicks.
Before the Tekken shoot, Jon said he carefully studied how Jin Kazama and the other characters work and did a lot of research on the game.
“Then they developed a story around Jin Kazama and when I got to the set, everything was like a blank canvas to me, so I just did what I was told to do since I’m a new guy.”
What is it about Jin Kazama that Jon identifies with?
“Having no money,” he said deadpan, and then he laughed again.
But doesn’t he have more than enough money now?
“Not having money is something that has been recurring in my life. It happens from time to time.”
Is Jin Zakama a principled guy?
“No, he’s not. His morals are not very good. He was small when his mother dies and he tries to get over that by going into a revenge mode and nothing else matters. He joins the the world’s largest tournament for tekken and fights all the different countries’ martial arts. Tekken is a Japanese word that means ‘iron’ (tek) and ‘fist’ (ken).”
Most of Tekken followers are young, impressionable people. Whether he likes it or not, Jon is a role model to them. What responsibility does he think goes with it?
“I’ve never thought about it.”
Jon has a little sister and two half-sisters (father side). He grew up in northwest London.
“Our family travelled a lot; we kept on moving around. Why? I don’t know why. Maybe because my parents were hippies. We’ve lived in so many different places. It’s good because I got to meet all kinds of people. That way, I’ve learned independence at an early age. My dad does karate and my mom does judo, so that’s I got interested in martial arts. I started doing kung fu when I was eight but I didn’t begin seriously training for wushu until I was 15.”
Asked if he idolizes Bruce Lee, the icon of martial arts, Jon said, “He was dead before I was born.” Lee died under mysterious circumstances in 1973.
And how does he maintain his wushu body?
“It doesn’t take much, really. I hardly work out. It’s easy for me to get back in shape. Diet? I eat whatever I want. I load up on protein. My favorite food is chicken rice. I must get at least eight hours of sleep per night. How do I unwind?” Yes, how? “I get drunk!” That made him laugh and laugh again. Very relaxing! And how does he act when he’s drunk…does he challenge people to a fight? “I’m not a violent person. When I’m drunk, I sing.” Ordinarily, he qualified, “I guess I’m generally clean-living.”
Talk about girls. What qualities does he want in a girl?
“I like creative and motivated type of girls. Sporty, athletic. I like big tits and nice legs.”
He confessed that he’s single.
“I’m busy working, going around the world, so I can’t go into a serious relationship. But when I’m not working, I have fun going to parties, or just going out.”
He blushed when asked what’s the last thing he does before he goes to sleep and the first thing he does when he wakes up.
“I shower before I sleep and I shower again as soon as I wake up. Didn’t I tell you I’m clean-living? Hahahaha!”
Any real-life hero he’d like to meet?
“Oh yes,” his eyes lit up, “I’d love to meet Manny Pacquiao. Maybe I can get some pointers from him. Could you introduce me to him?”
They would make a good match, Jon doing wushu and Pacquiao doing boxing.
(E-mail reactions at rickylo@philstar.net.ph or at entphilstar@yahoo.com)