This film is a feature length documentary, directed by Jamielyn Lippman, about the true life story of Erik Aude, an actor and a stuntman that was duped into drug smuggling and spent three years in a prison in Pakistan. “I look at the positives that came from it,” he said. “I’ve known Jamielyn since we were teenagers, we had the same agent back in the ’90s and we became good friends.”
“If people are having a bad day, they should check out this film,” he said. “It’s not a magic pill or anything but it will really help them see the better things in life. A lot of people need to realize how good they still have it despite the pandemic. They should watch this documentary, I think it can help them. Also, if any people have any questions, they can hit me up on Instagram. I try my best to answer them within reason.”
On being an actor and a stuntman in the digital age, he said, “It’s cool. I haven’t worked as a stuntman during quarantine. I was working with actors on three different shows and I was stunt-coordinating a couple of things before everything came crashing down. I am still working from time to time. It’s the job that I chose as a kid and I am sticking with it.”
During the pandemic, he shared that he has been doing well. “I am doing just fine during this quarantine. I have gone back to playing poker full-time and I am a good poker player,” he said. “As long as there is a poker game somewhere, I can make some money. As far as being isolated, I’m used to it, so this is nothing compared to what I’ve been through.”
He acknowledged that the only silver lining out of this pandemic is that people will realize how awful both sides of the government are. “Everyone needs to relax to get through this and to start working together as opposed to working against each other. It’s like a bad gambler, they don’t know when to stop,” he said.
Each day, he shared that he is motivated by his rescue dogs and his girlfriend. “My dogs cheer me up and I have a great girlfriend that makes me smile,” he said. “Also, life in general is a great thing. I want to wake up and see the sunrise or watch the plants that I planted to grow. A lot of things motivate me.”
Aude defined the word success simply as “being happy.” “You can be rich and a billionaire, and you can still be miserable. I would rather be poor and happy than rich and miserable any day. Being happy is priceless,” he concluded.
3 Years in Pakistan: The Erik Aude Story is available on such digital streaming platforms as Amazon Prime, Apple, Google Play, and YouTube, among many others.
To learn more about 3 Years in Pakistan, check out its Facebook page.
