It’s been a couple of years since actor, writer and musician RZA presented filmgoers with his latest directorial debut, the 2012 flick, Quentin Tarantino Presents: The Man With The Iron Fists. The film drew mixed reactions but also received enough attention to warrant a conversation about a hopeful sequel once rumored as The Man With The Iron Fists 2: The Sting Of The Scorpion.
That was late last year, and now, Impact has broken the news confirming the existence of the aforementioned sequel shot in Thailand, and title, which sees RZA providing the script as well as reprising his role as The Blacksmith for Death Race 2 and 3 helmer Roel Reine sitting in the director’s seat. The remainder of the cast is a mixed bag of old and new faces, which include actor Dustin Nguyen and Man Of Tai Chi actor Ocean Hou, along with actors Cary Tagawa, Carl Ng and actor Simon Yin, with returning actor Andrew Lin and actress Grace Huang reprising their roles briefly from the first film as The Gemini Twins; as of this writing, the film’s official IMDb page also lists actor Rick Yune as returning in the role of X-Blade, and his character’s fiancé, Chi Chi, played by actress Zhu Zhu, although that still needs confirming.
RZA‘s 2012 English-language kung fu/spaghetti western homage, which also starred Rick Yune, Russel Crowe, Byron Mann, Cung Le, Lucy Liu, Jamie Chung, Dave Batista, Daniel Wu and the legendary Gordon Liu saw RZA‘s character on the lam and in the welcome arms of a Shaolin temple prior to landing in Jungle Village, unwittingly caught at the center of political espionage, sex, treachery and danger between warrior clans with a fabled treasure of gold at stake. The film ultimately left an open-ended conclusion for the possibility of a sequel, and in light of this week’s official news, any info on the plot of the new film is paper thin, but the film is being stated for a late 2014 release. It might not get a nationwide release since the first film came commercially short at the box office, which could mean a limited theatrical release or a day-and-date release with digital download availability.
It’s all up in the air at the moment, so stay tuned for more info.
In the meantime, fans can catch Nguyen in his own action directorial debut, Once Upon A Time In Vietnam, now available on DVD and Blu-Ray as of earlier this month in North America from Lionsgate/Grindstone. Nguyen’s next appearance will be in the U.K. release of Zero Tolerance this October, followed by director Matt Eskandari’s Game Of Assassins on September 23 in the U.S.. Meanwhile, RZA‘s latest appearance opposite action star Tony Jaa in The Protector 2 comes home on DVD and Blu-Ray on July 29.
H/T: City On Fire