Budo international Martial Arts Magazine Jul.-Aug. 2014 | Page 114

JC has made over 50 movies, and worked with so many
cast and crew over the years, but when some of them have
had problems, he's the first to lend his support, be it moral
or otherwise. My old flatmate in Hong Kong, was
Australian martial arts actor Mike Miller whose credits
include everything from Once Upon a Time in China 2
with Jet Li, The Black Sheep Affair with Chiu Mancheuk and Tsui Hark's action comedy Knock Off,
which saw him facing off against Jean-Claude in a
very high impact fight scene that saw Mike visiting
the emergency room more than once as he took
some very hard hits and falls for the sake of a great
fight. Mike was and still is a hell of a Van Damme fan,
so it was like a wish come true to be battling his hero,
so he took them all in his stride. But about a year and a
half after the movie wrapped, Mike had to
cut short his stunt career after suffering
kidney failure which resulted in him having
to return to Australia and have transplants
and step away from the screen.
We've always kept in touch, and on
two occasions when he's hit a
rough patch, the first being when
his parents passed away in
quick succession and most
recently when he suffered a
relapse of his kidney
issues, Jean-Claude was
very happy to record a
video message for Mike,
sincerely wishing him
the
best
and
encouraging him to
keep on battling away.
Both messages were
warmly received by
Mike, and he has
said to me they did
help lift his spirits
when they were at a
very low ebb.
JC also lifted the
spirits of one of the
directors he worked with
early in his career quite
recently, when I told him
that Cyborg director Albert
Pyun had been diagnosed
with multiple sclerosis and was
having health issues that
threatened his career and
livelihood and JC was quick to