Clockwise from top left: Arman Darbo with Kung Fu Man's executive producer Keanu Reeves; Darbo with the crew; Darbo in Deep Sleep No More. Photos Provided to China Daily

Discovered in a Beijing shopping mall, Arman Darbo is now a leading actor in a Sino-us kung fu movie produced by Hollywood star Keanu Reeves

When most movie stars attend a premier its all about red carpets, glamor, screaming fans and flashy limousines. But for Arman Darbo it was more like a family outing, with even his nanny sitting down to watch the film with him.

But then Darbo, the co-star alongside rising Hong Kong actor Tiger Chen in this summer's latest kung fu flick, is just 11 years old.

Born in France, but raised in Beijing, Darbo stars in Kung Fu Man, a Sino-US co-production in both English and Chinese, directed by Ning Ying and Yuen Cheung Yan, and produced by Keanu Reeves, that was released across China on July 19.

Darbo plays a kidnapped American boy who is rescued by a simple Chinese man turned superhero, played by Tiger Chen. Tiger is best known for his stunt work in The Matrix and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

For Darbo, making the movie, which was shot from November 2009 to March 2010, was a great adventure that involved running across rooftops and being suspended from cranes on wires as he and Tiger fled from his kidnappers.

"He had to wear the wires because sometimes they would throw him from here to there," says his father Igor Darbo.

"It felt a little bit dangerous at first. As a parent you feel like, 'are you sure?' But the team that worked with him was very professional. They used to work with Jackie Chan."

Far from being scared by the experience, the young Darbo enjoyed everything about it.

"Through acting you can experience a new life, a life you may never have in your real life," says the boy, who appears shy, but becomes talkative on the topic of acting.

Kung Fu Man was not his first taste of acting. Darbo had previously made a few television appearances on advertisements and shows.

And after Kung Fu Man he played a Jewish refugee from Eastern Europe who flees to Shanghai with his sister during the World War II in the Sino-Australian co-production Deep Sleep No More. That movie was shot in 2010.

"Everyone wore costumes from the 1940s. It was so much fun," Darbo recalls.

Kung Fu Man is his debut on the big screen, but the youngster already sounds like a professional. The secret to acting is to "feel the emotions for real. It is better than faking," he says.

For Darbo, the hardest part of acting is not the action, but crying. His biggest challenge during the making of Kung Fu Man came on the second day of shooting among the mountains of Yunnan province in southern China. The movie was not shot in order and Darbo was filming a scene from close to the end where he is in a car that is about to fall off a cliff, and he has to cry.

It was an extremely emotional scene to film so early on and Darbo says, "It was very difficult because I had to cry on purpose."

The directors told the young actor he should think about experiences that could elicit true emotions. Darbo succeeded in crying at the second try, but he won't say what he thought about to bring tears to his eyes.

He seems like a natural actor, and comes from a family of movie lovers - his mother is a scriptwriter and his father set up a film production company in 2012 - but in fact his acting career began by accident.

It began when he was just 6 years old during a family shopping trip in Beijing, when a casting agent approached the youngster's parents.

"The man asked if he wanted to do some commercials as a model for some clothes and we thought that was OK. Then the word spread. A TV series at China Central Television's children's channel wanted him to appear in one episode and then a small documentary in Mongolia asked for him as well. Then Kung Fu Man called for an audition," says his father.

"It is a very good exercise in building self confidence. He is very much into daydreaming and thinking with a creative type of mind. Acting fits well with his personality."

Darbo went through two auditions for the part and impressed the casters instantly with his golden hair and big green eyes.

And he now has a new role to take on as the son of a US architect who comes to Beijing to build the world's tallest tower in The Dragon Angel, which hasn't yet begun shooting.

Although he is now a movie star, it hasn't affected his life. Few classmates know he is an actor and Darbo doesn't brag about it.

His friends may have noticed his new hobby though - Shaolin kung fu - which he began practicing two to three times a week after the making of Kung Fu Man.

However, it is another passion altogether that is now tempting Darbo in a different direction from acting - football. Asked whether he would like to make a career from acting he says: "How about I act in football movies? That's the best."

mengjing@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily European Weekly 07/26/2013 page28)