By A new film about Bruce Lee is in the works called Birth of the Dragon. To my knowledge this is the first big screen narrative film exploration of Bruce Lee’s life since 1993’s Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story. The film will be written by Christopher Wilkinson and Stephen Rivele. The duo previously collaborated on Michael Mann’s Ali and Oliver Stone’s Nixon, and also wrote a forthcoming Freddie Mercury biopic with Sacha Baron Cohen.
Whereas Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story was a straightforward life story, Birth of the Dragon goes in a different direction. Here’s what Heat Vision/The Hollywood Reporter said about the plot:
[Birth of the Dragon] is inspired by the true-life duel between Lee and Wong Jack Man, who was China’s most famous kung fu Master. The no-rules fight took place in San Francisco in 1965, when the city’s Chinatown was controlled by Hong Kong triads. The writers are using this true event as a jumping-off point for a wider-canvas action movie in which Wong and Lee team up to battle a band of Chinatown gangsters.
This sounds kooky enough to work depending on the execution. If they need a candidate to play Bruce Lee, I would have suggested Donnie Yen if he wasn’t middle-aged (he has the broken rhythm of Jeet Kune Do down). So maybe Nicholas Tse? Wu Jing?
What do you think of this movie idea, and who should play the young Bruce Lee?
[Via Heat Vision/THR]