Harry J Wall will floor you!
Today, I’m chatting with the very dynamic actor, director and martial artist, Harry J Wall. You might already be familiar with Harry from one of the RACV Insurance TV ads. If not, this is one actor that is on the move upwards and you’ll certainly be familiar with him soon.
DB — Hi Harry. Thanks for making the time to chat with me today. I must say that you stand out from many of the others that I’ve interviewed recently due to your martial arts background. Can you tell us a bit about that?
HJW — I began training in Goju Karate back in 2006 after a string of several other sporting activities which I struggled to commit to. Anyone can tell you that my disobedience and larrikin nature created a wide expectation that I would leave the dojo within a short amount of time, but the martial art helped me to mature as a person and has since become a major staple of my life. It’s kept me physically fit and given me an unflinching fighting spirit that has brought me a major understanding of discipline in multiple aspects of life, and now I actually work as a karate instructor under the same sensei I began with. Now that I’ve grown into a passionate filmmaker, I applaud my younger self for a willingness to learn the skills that can help me add exciting action sequences for my future projects.
DB — I noticed that you were a “karate zombie” in dead man running, however, your martial arts background hasn’t been a factor in most of the other shoots you’ve done. It seems that you haven’t had to pull that card to get yourself into films. Can you tell me a bit about your work in acting so far?
HJW — I began acting classes back in 2010 and found an agent through my acting school. As a result I landed my first major role as the lead in the VCA short film A Frigid Night where I worked with a professional crew on a film with many major adult themes. Since then I’ve done bit parts in multiple short and feature films, some amateur theatre productions and four major commercials. I’m most frequently pulled up for doing an RACV commercial which has been on the air for about three years.
DB — From acting, you’ve moved into directing. Can you give us an overview of what you’re doing in the directing front, and has this new experience helped give you a deeper perspective on your acting?
HJW — Like any budding filmmaker I’ve been making short films as far back as when I tried to be a YouTube sensation in High School. And after reading that Steven Spielberg directed his first feature-length film at 16, I took it upon myself to do the same thing as a Year 12 art project. I made a feature-length low-budget experimental science fiction drama entitled The Line of Nature which earned strong approval from family, peers and assessors. Since then my biggest project to date has been the action-horror film Dead Man Running where I got to choreograph and star in my first major fight scene, and I’m currently in production of the sequel entitled Battle for Salem Hill where I’ve worked with multiple Martial Arts experts to create a kickass action spectacle.
DB — A lot of people are already going to be impressed by your martial arts, acting and directing Harry, so I hope that this doesn’t blow their minds too much. You’ve done quite a lot in the music industry too and are not far off of releasing an album. You gotta tell us about it.
HJW — I’ve long called myself a heavy metal musician trapped inside a hip-hop artist’s body. I’ve only just begun learning guitar since I spontaneously purchased one on a trip to Hollywood, but I’m more renown for my rap music. I began doing freestyle hip-hop in high school and after watching 8 Mile too many times I decided to take it to the next level. Under the alias “Redd Five”, I began performing in mid-2016 with a lyrical style influenced mostly by Ice Cube and Rage Against the Machine. Though I’ve been on hiatus for most of 2017, I’ve since returned to my music and am close to releasing my first EP under the title “Second Coming” with an intent to begin performing again before 2018. My music is an expression of my internal rage and frustration in life, and lately the writing content has become inspired heavily by the work of Rob Zombie.
DB — Harry, between the music, martial arts, acting and directing … do you see them all converging in the future? Basically, I’m curious as to where you are going with all this. Is it going to be one direction that brings it all together, or are you planning on separate things?
HJW — The plan is to channel it all into one big ambition. Two key cinematic influences for me are John Carpenter and Jackie Chan. John Carpenter takes it upon himself to do most duties with his films by being director, writer, producer, editor and even composer. Jackie Chan similarly directly involves himself as an actor, fight choreographer and stuntman. Ideally I’d like to be able to do all that and create my own brand of film to change the face of Australian cinema, and I’ve been met with overwhelming support for my ambitions from peers for many years now. And along the way I want to act in other projects, compete in more karate tournaments and fire off a full-fledged career as a hip hop artist. My plans have been slowed down lately by a three-year stretch at university, but upon graduation I’m preparing to take the world by storm.
DB — Thanks for taking the time to chat to me today Harry. Do you have some links that people can visit to follow your career?
HJW — Absolutely. All the information for my film projects can be found on my Facebook page. s far as my hip hop goes, you can follow my Facebook page and my SoundCloud
David Black regularly writes for Oz Indie Cinema and is the lead singer/ bass player for Darkness Visible