Bruce Lee in 1973’s ‘Enter the Dragon.’
They may share a surname, but Ang Lee is in no way related to Bruce Lee. Yet the director of movies such as ‘Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon’, ‘The Ice Storm’ and ‘Brokeback Mountain’ clearly feels inspired by the martial arts icon.
And he’s now realizing a long-held (albeit kept quiet) plan to make a movie about Bruce Lee’s rise to stardom and the obstacles he faced in his career. Ang has also found the person he wants to play Bruce – the director’s own son, Mason.
According to Deadline, it’s all finally coming together at Sony after a few years of development that included Mason––who has appeared in some of his father’s work, such as ‘Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk’, but also ploughed his own acting career––training through lockdown and beyond to be in fighting shape.
And he’ll need to be. Lee arrived in the U.S. at the age of 18 and became an accomplished teacher to actors like Steve McQueen and many others. He approached it like a scientist, mixing and matching the best qualities of all kinds of styles that he melded into Jeet Kune Do.
(L to R) Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris in 1972’s ‘The Way of the Dragon.’
The charismatic, handsome Lee became one of the first Chinese American actors to crack primetime television when he played the sidekick Kato in ‘The Green Hornet’, yet much of his early career was marked by the frustrations he endured as a trailblazer who was not content to be a supporting player.
The setbacks included when white actor David Carradine was tapped to play the Chinese monk in ‘Kung Fu’ over Lee in 1972—said by some to have originated the concept—because TV execs felt audiences weren’t ready for a series led by an Asian actor.
And while he found huge success in Hong Kong movies, he died tragically young at 32, just before ‘Enter The Dragon’ was to make him an even bigger star in the States.
“Accepted as neither fully American nor fully Chinese, Bruce Lee was a bridge between East and West who introduced Chinese Kung Fu to the world, a scientist of combat and an iconic performing artist who revolutionized both the martial arts and action cinema,” Ang Lee tells Deadline. “I feel compelled to tell the story of this brilliant, unique human being who yearned for belonging, possessed tremendous power in a 135-pound-frame, and who, through tireless hard work, made impossible dreams into reality.” Jean Castelli, Alex Law and Mabel Cheung and Wells Tower all wrote earlier versions of the screenplay, which is now in the hands of ‘Foxcatcher’s Dan Futterman.
“Bruce Lee is a longtime passion project for Ang and a deeply emotional story depicting the triumphs and conflicts of one of the foremost real-life action heroes of our time,” Sony’s Elizabeth Gabler says in a statement. “All of us at Sony and 3000 Pictures are proud to help Ang and his filmmaking team create what we believe will be an extraordinary theatrical event.”
(L to R) Bruce Lee and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 1972’s ‘Game of Death.’