Another one-off gig I took was to appear in a Chinese commercial. The commercial was for a company called Haier, a multinational home appliance and consumer electronics company based in my city of Qingdao. The company designed the HVAC systems for our newly built subway system and this commercial was meant to show off this feat of engineering.
I had been introduced to a casting director from a friend who was cast as a westerner plant for a meeting. Many companies believe that having westerners involved in their companies is a sign of status. As a result, for large conferences and conventions, these companies will often hire western faces to pretend to work for the company for the day. Usually, they are not required to speak and are just supposed to show up, pretend to be involved with what is going on, and look like a proud westerner doing business in China.
My friend had been cast for a planning conference for the annual beer festival, the largest in Asia. His duties included showing up to a posh 5-star hotel on a Friday morning in a suit and drinking free beer all morning. For this, he was paid the equivalent of $600 USD. Hearing of this, I demanded an introduction to the casting director.
We met a few days later in a Starbucks. She took some photos and said she’d be in touch. Not too long after, she messaged me to see if I’d be interested in the Haier commercial. It was to promote the newly opened subway and I would play an engineer that designs the HVAC.
They gave me a call time of 8:00 the following Thursday morning at one of the subway stations. I asked them if they wanted me to supply anything costume-wise but was told it would be taken care of. Still, knowing how small Chinese clothing sizes run, I brought two sets of shirts, pants, and dress shoes with me. Better have it and not need it than need it and not have it has always been my mantra on set and I was determined to carry that ethos to working in front of the camera, as well.
I arrived at the subway station a few minutes early and met Ksenia, a beautiful blonde Russian woman, who would also appear in the commercial. They introduced us to the three Chinese actors who would be joining us in the commercial. None of them spoke any English but we introduced ourselves in Chinese and then went through the usual set procedure of checking in and then sitting around and waiting.
Very soon, the costume designer approached me with an H&M bag. Inside was my costume, purchased the night before, as evidenced by the receipt. The tags were still on the clothes and they asked me not to take them off, as they planned on returning them the next day. I pulled them out of the bag and realized that they’d decided to costume me in skinny jeans and a skinny-fit dress shirt. Needless to say, I don’t have the body to pull off skinny anything. They also provided a belt and shoes that didn’t match. I asked if they’d rather use some of the wardrobe options I brought but was told to please dress in the clothes provided.
I squeezed into my wardrobe, tucked the tags out of view, and walked over to the first camera setup. The first shot was to be a tracking shot following us, five talented engineers, walking down the subway concourse while looking up at a heating duct and then referring back to a set of blueprints Ksenia would be holding. We pulled it off without a hitch in just a few takes, walking and pretending to talk. We even made gestures from the blueprint to the ducts, just like real engineers.
We shot a few more things inside the subway station, culminating in us boarding and riding in an actual subway car. The city wouldn’t allow us to shut down the subway, so we had to shoot on a live subway. We boarded a car and the Assistant Director tried his best to clear out the tail car but a few old-timers refused to move for anything, so we waited patiently until they reached their destination before sealing off our car for a shot.
After the subway shoot, we broke for lunch and had a company move to an office location for the afternoon. Lunch wasn’t too bad, a spicy noodle soup with seafood. We ate in the office cafeteria which was right next to where we’d be shooting in the afternoon.
The first shot of the afternoon would be of the five engineers in a meeting, apparently discussing the planning of the upcoming subway build. They surrounded us with design photos and more blueprints as we gathered around a table, pointing to more things. As we were shooting, the director kept yelling out to the AD in Chinese that he wanted to see more of the “white faces.” He also repeatedly called Ksenia and me ‘laowai,’ a pejorative term for foreigner. Ksenia and I weren’t sure if he realized that we both understood Chinese enough to know what he was saying but we rolled with it.
Next up, would be my first big solo shot. The idea was to put me at a drafting table, working on the all-important design. They told me where to stand and how to make it look like I was drawing something without actually making any marks. Then, right before the camera rolled, the director approached and told me my motivation. In broken English, he told me that he wanted me to be “an artist frustrated.” I am trying to design the perfect air conditioner but I can’t get it right. I am repeatedly balling up and chucking a design before beginning anew on another sheet of paper. Finally, he tells me, inspiration hits. Then he wants my eyes to go big and for me to laugh. I ask him if he really means laugh. He replies, “Yes. ‘HA-HA-HA!’ I have done it. I have designed subway’s greatest air conditioner!”
I do as he says, but he wants me to go bigger with my laughing. I cackle like an evil villain, cartoonish and over the top and he loves it. I ball up the paper and throw it, but he wants me to try it in different ways. Shoot it like a basketball. Over my left shoulder. Over my right shoulder. We shoot it a dozen ways before he’s satisfied.
For my final shot of the day, they bring me into an empty auditorium. The shot will be of me sitting alone at a chair in the middle of the room while a lone spotlight shines down on me. This is to be my dark night of the soul. The night before the final draft of the subway plan is due. I am sitting in an empty auditorium, as engineers often do, I guess, having no clue how I will make the deadline. I sit alone and ponder my fate, wondering and hoping the muse will hit and I will create something that the subway Gods will approve.
After this last shot, I’m dismissed from set. The director shakes my hand and tells me to look out for the commercial in about two months on CCTV-1, the top channel in China. I’ve never seen the commercial, nor has anyone I know. I’m told it aired several times, though. I’ve asked for a link to the finished copy but the casting director hasn’t been able to get one. I truly hope that one day I can track down this gem and post it.
The casting director has called me for a few more roles but, unfortunately, the days and times have clashed with my job and I’ve been unable to accept them. I even had to turn down two film extra roles in two movies that turned out to be big box office successes. The first, Crazy Alien, would have had me working alongside Tom Pelphrey, who played Laura Linney’s brother on the most recent season of Ozark. The second was for a role as a scientist in Wandering Earth, China’s biggest sci-fi film ever, which is currently streaming on Netflix.