It’s confirmed, Ang Lee will direct a feature film dedicated to the icon of martial arts cinema: Bruce Lee! And we already know the actor chosen to portray the star who died in 1973.
The mythical Bruce Lee, superstar of martial arts cinema in the 70s, will be entitled to a new biopic on the big screen! Rob Cohen had already told his story in 1993 in Dragon, the story of Bruce Lee.
This time, it’s an Oscar-winning filmmaker who takes control of this project, a certain Ang Lee! The latter was awarded the statuette for best achievement for Brokeback Mountain in 2006 and The Odyssey of Pi in 2013.
According to Deadline, the Taiwanese director has finalized an agreement with 3000 Pictures, a subsidiary of Sony. He will therefore sign this feature film dedicated to the actor who died tragically in 1973 at the age of 32, when he was at the height of his glory.
Ang Lee, to whom we owe in particular Tiger & Dragon and The Secret of Brokeback Mountain, has already chosen the actor who will interpret the famous martial artist. This is his own son, Mason Lee!
Born in 1990, the latter is not a beginner in the profession. He has already acted in many films in China. He is particularly known to Western audiences for his role as Teddy in the schoolboy comedy Very Bad Trip 2.
Deadline Bruce Lee and Mason Lee
It is not yet known which angle the director chose for this biopic. Will he wipe out all of Bruce’s life or will he focus on the comedian’s film career? We will know more soon. In the meantime, Ang Lee mentioned this project, which seems very important to him.
“Neither entirely American nor entirely Chinese, Bruce Lee bridged the gap between East and West, and also brought Kung Fu to the world. He was an iconic combat scientist and performer who revolutionized the both martial arts and action cinema”underlines the director.
“I feel compelled to tell the story of this brilliant and unique human being who desperately sought some form of belonging. He had tremendous strength despite his small build. Through tireless hard work, Bruce transformed impossible dreams in reality”concluded Ang Lee.
The filmmaker will therefore bounce back with this ambitious project, 3 years after the bitter failure of Gemini Man with Will Smith. This action feature film only brought in $173 million in worldwide revenue for an estimated budget of $138 million.
Note that Shannon Lee, daughter of Bruce, will produce the film. It will be written by Dan Futterman, writer of Foxcatcher and creator of the American Rust series. The release date has not yet been confirmed. Note that Shannon took the floor in 2019 to criticize the way Tarantino had portrayed his father in Once Upon A Time In Hollywood.
“He could just shut up. That would be really nice. Or he could apologize and say, ‘I don’t really know who Bruce Lee was. I portrayed him that way in my movie, but you don’t have to. take as a reflection of who he really was'”she lambasted.
With Ang Lee’s project and her status as a producer, she will be able to control how her late father will be resurrected on screen. For the moment, we do not know the release date of this future biopic.
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