Interview with Felix Silla

By Ralph van den Broeck

Felix, how many total stunts did you performed in Temple of Doom and which one was your favorite, because you were the stand in of Jonathan Ke Quan.

Yes I was actually a stunt double. I was doing all the stunts for, I don't remember his name but Short Round, I was the stunt man for him. And I did all the... The reason why they used a stunt man because they are not allowed to use children to do a dangerous stunt. They let a low person to do their work. I doubled him in the whole film. I think we were, all together about five months on film. We went to California, Hong Kong, India and from India we went to England about 4 months, and from London we went back to California to film the snow scene and the river scene on the raft. And then we went back to London for 3 or 2 weeks. And I did all the stunts for the kid.

Interview with Felix Silla Felix Silla Felix Silla in Indiana Jones flms

What was your favorite stunt that you did?

Well, the stunts were... We were kinda safe and I did the one on the bridge, when he was walking on the bridge and the thing broke and then, what was the name of the lady? Actually the stunt lady of Kate Capshaw. That was the most dangerous stunt, because like their we were 250 feet. The bridge was 250 feet from the ground and there were like 9 camera’s shooting from the bottom. They put a cable on and when I walked the thing broke and bam.

So it was on a real bridge?

It was a real bridge yes.

Who coordinated your stunts?

The stunts were coordinated by a gentleman named by J.R., a stunt coordinator from the United States, from California.

Which do you prefer, Star Wars or Indiana Jones and why?

Indiana Jones was nice, I got to work with Steven Spielberg and George Lucas. I worked with him before and you gotta work with a lot of nice people. And once you work with Steven Spielberg and George Lucas there's nothing being better. You get to travel around the world on film, so nice. You see anything. And it costs you nothing. Everything is paid, food is paid, rooms, and if you have time you can do some sight seeing. Very nice, very nice.

You did Jonathan's stunts, but which stunts were performed by Jonathan himself?

Jonathan?

Yes, Jonathan Ke Quan.

Oh yeah, yeah. He didn't do very much. Matter of fact, they got me first and then they hired the young boy. When I went to India, they told me that I was too short. And they were going to put something under my shoes so I look taller and the same size of the boy. But I didn't want to do it because, when you run and you fall you'll break something. It's not necessary to have because the camera is so far away.

Thank you very much for your time Mr. Silla.

Alright, thank you.

Special thanks to Mr. Felix Silla for his time and Ralph for conducting the interview.