Bruce Lee is one of the most well-known martial arts actors of all time, if not the most notable. So his story should finally be brought to life by someone who has admired and researched his entire career and is so passionate about telling his story right. But instead, martial arts movie director Ang Lee has been preparing his son to take on the role of the legendary icon. The question now is whether or not Ang Lee’s son is the right choice for the Bruce Lee biopic.
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This Bruce biopic has been in the works for some time now. The film has a comprehensive set of filmmakers behind the project wanting to bring it to life. Director Ang Lee has wanted to delve into the making-of-a-legend film for as long as he can remember. Now, it is finally being developed by Sony’s 3000 pictures.
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. 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, through tireless hard work, made impossible dreams into reality.”
The filmmaker and crew want to tell the story of how Bruce Lee came to the U.S. to teach his own unique form of martial arts that he developed, Jeet Kune Do. He developed it by mixing and matching the best qualities of the different martial arts styles that he knew to create the best one.
Lee was one of the first Chinese-American actors to break through into primetime TV but wasn’t satisfied as a mere sidekick. Unfortunately, he died at 32, just before Enter the Dragon was released in 1973.
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Film Crew
Ang Lee Tap is an Oscar-winning director who created his legacy in the martial arts genre after winning Best Foreign Film for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon in 2000. The film is still the highest-grossing martial arts film in the United States.
Dan Futterman, the genius mind behind Capote and Foxcatcher, is currently working on the script for the Bruce Lee biopic. The screenplay has been worked on several times by writers like Alex Law, Jean Castelli, Mabel Cheung, and Wells Tower.
The film producers are Ang Lee himself, Ben Everard, Brian Bell, Lawrence Grey, and Shannon Lee. They are joined by Elizabeth Gabler and Marisa Paiva, who will oversee the project on behalf of Sony’s 3000 Pictures. This isn’t the first time that Lee, Gabler, and Paiva have worked together. Together with Tom Rothman will be reunited for this movie after working together on Life of Pi in 2012.
Mason Lee
Mason Lee, Ang Lee’s son, has been training for the role of Bruce Lee for the last three years during the pandemic in Asia. He is now 32 years old, the exact age of Bruce Lee at the time of his passing.
Mason already has an impressive list of appearances on screen, including Billy Lynn’s Halftime Walk, The Hangover Part II, Taiwanese romantic comedy Stand By Me, HongKong drama Limbo as well as Who Killed Cock Robin(Mu Ji Zhe), the last two of which got him nominated for the Golden Horse Award for Best Supporting Actor.
Ang Lee is one of the world’s greatest directors, so there is no doubt that this Bruce Lee biopic will be a spectacular work. We can’t wait to learn more about the film.
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