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If you've been reading Mothership recently, you'd probably know that Hong Kong actor Donnie Yen was in town last week.
The 59-year-old was here to promote his latest film, "Sakra", which starts showing in theatres today (Jan. 16).
Childhood hero
As someone who used to do a wide range of martial arts from Taekwondo to Wushu, I consider Yen to be one of my childhood heroes.
Look at this badass kid.
If you ask me about anything about his past works like "Ip Man" and "Flash Point", I'll be able to give you a breakdown of the techniques used in the various action scenes.
But my admiration for Yen didn't just start out of the blue. You see, my parents are also huge fans of the man himself, particularly my dad.
According to him, he has watched every single Donnie Yen film ever released.
In fact, when my parents were dating, one of the first movies they watched together was his 1996 film "Iron Monkey 2".
Photo via IMDB
Growing up, I remember how we would sit down together as a family during Chinese New Year just to watch one of Yen's films.
Although we don't really do it now, this memory still holds a special place in my heart.
So when I was tasked by my colleague to meet Yen for an interview, I naturally obliged.
Needless to say, my parents were over the moon when they heard the news.
Here were their initial reactions:
Dad: "Can I tag along with you?"
Mum: "Make sure you get a picture with him ok?"
First interview experience
When the day finally came for me to meet him in person at the Marina Bay Sands Theatre, I was super nervous (obviously).
Photo courtesy of Golden Village Pictures
Since it was my first time leading an interview, I had no idea what to expect.
As I was rehearsing what I would say to Yen when he entered the room, he strolled into the room with his entourage.
With a warm smile, he casually introduced himself while holding a Starbucks cup in hand.
Here were some thoughts running through my head at that moment:
"Wah, he looks so young for his age."
"I wonder what drink he got."
"He could probably knock me out in one punch."
On that note, here's what he talked about during the interview:
Took an impromptu picture
Shortly after the interview session, my colleague took the opportunity to ask Yen if he would take a picture with me.
He was very accommodating despite having to rush off to the next interview.
As you can probably tell, I was very nervous.
Here was what my mum said after I sent her the photo:
What does Donnie Yen get at Starbucks?
As we were packing up to leave, we realised that Yen forgot to take the Starbucks cup he was drinking from during the interview.
Curious, we decided to see what he ordered.
Seems like he got a Grande Caffe Mocha with Oat Milk.
Nice.
Top image by Lee Wei Lin