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Bruce Lee Biopic Gets New Life At Sony Division, Ang Lee Tapped To Direct Son In The Lead Role

Media mogul Shannon Lee has been pursuing a biopic about her late father, actor and martial arts sensation Bruce Lee for years but now it looks like we have a solid footing over at Sony’s 3000 Pictures. What’s more is that celebrated Life Of Pi, Hulk and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon director Ang Lee is on deck to direct the film with none other than his son, Mason Lee (The Hangover II, Who Killed Cock Robin?) attached to play the part of the screen legend.

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WARRIOR Official Season One Trailer: ‘Somebody Has To Fight Back!’

As it stands, the future couldn’t be brighter for the fate of martial arts cinema on television. With Into The Badlands making its exit from AMC in a few weeks, Cinemax is officially next in line with its own roster led by breakout actor Andrew Koji in the new series, Warrior, born and bread from the mind of the late Bruce Lee and re-birthed through the auspices of daughter Shannon Lee, and creators Justin Lin’s Perfect Storm and Jonathan Tropper’s Tropper Ink.

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Cinemax’s New Martial Arts Series Drama, WARRIOR, Sets Its Cast!

Conclusively, I couldn’t be more proud of Koji this week, and that brings us to the longstanding developments of Cinemax’s upcoming ten-episode martial arts drama, Warrior which is set to go before cameras in South Africa on October 22. Netflix series Fauda helmer Assaf Bernstein is directing from a script by Banshee creator Jonathan Tropper, in turn inspired by the unproduced work of late martial artist multihyphenate, entertainer and film legend Bruce Lee, and has since been shepherded by daughter Shannon Lee, founder and CEO of Bruce Lee Enterprises. Lee is executive producing as will Tropper via his Tropper Ink Productions banner, and Lin along with Danielle Woodrow hailing from Perfect Storm Entertainment.

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Bruce Lee-Inspired Martial Arts Drama, WARRIOR, Gets A Straight-To-Series Order At Cinemax

“Warrior follows in the spirit of the tradition of adrenalized Cinemax dramas that we established with Strike Back and Banshee,” said Antholis, listing the network’s two most successful original series to date. “We are brimming with excitement for this unique martial arts series combining Bruce Lee’s inspired conception with the immense storytelling talents of Jonathan Tropper and Justin Lin.” 

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Shannon Lee’s ‘Definitive Bruce Lee Biopic’ Gets A Director, Production Date And More

Say what you will about the most recent pesudo-adaptatation of late legendary martial arts master Bruce Lee’s life as depicted in George Nolfi’s Birth Of The Dragon. That is still on deck for release later this year following its acquisition by BH Tilt and WWE Studios back in February, but there’s no love lost there with actress and entrepreuneur Shannon Lee having stood staunchly against the project in wake of its TIFF premiere in late 2016.

As for Lee, the past few years have revealed news of her own research and inquiry into her father’s past for what has been reportedly persued as the “definitive” Bruce Lee biopic. That development now comes with an update with word on the new movie, Little Dragon, inspired by the on-screen nickname the late martial arts star took on among several during his lifetime. Shannon Lee, whose Bruce Lee Family Company shingle, Bruce Lee Entertainment, is heading the production with Los Angeles-based Convergence Entertainment. Shekhar Kapur who helmed the Oscar-nominated Elizabeth (1998) and Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007) has been tapped to direct the film in addition to having co-written the film’s screenplay with Lee.

per Variety:

The story is a contemporary dramatization of the 1950s Hong Kong social and political forces that shaped Bruce Lee into both the most famous martial arts star of all time and a significant modern day philosopher. Themes include family disappointment, young love, true friendship, betrayal, racism, deep poverty and an inner fire that threatened to unravel his destiny.

Pre-production is now underway with cameras rolling in Asia slated for July. US casting is headed by Mary Vernieu.

“This film is a deeply personal exploration of Bruce before his inner power and discipline forged him into the ground-breaking icon that continues to this day to inspire people throughout the world,” said Tim Kwok of Convergence. 

“It is important that audiences today can relate their own lives to the journey of Bruce Lee, who manages to tap into his inner wisdom and harness his true destiny before it was too late,” said Kapur. 

“I always thought that a film about how my father’s life was shaped in his early years in Hong Kong would be a worthwhile story to share so we could better understand him as a human being and a warrior,” said Lee. “I’m really excited that Shekhar will breathe life into the first film from Bruce Lee Entertainment.”

Little Dragon is a U.S./Hong Kong/China co-production with financing from Dadi Media Group, Beijing Golden World Pictures, Shanghai Longzhilin Cultural Investment Partnership and Kirin Media.

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Well Go USA To Release LEGEND OF BRUCE LEE: VOL.1 On DVD This November

I remember first seeing the trailer to the CCTV-1 broadcast of the Shannon Lee produced series, The Legend Of Bruce Lee a bit less than a decade ago. Having already been a fan of director Rob Cohen’s Hollywood treatment, I wasn’t too impressed and I guess because it felt a bit like excess for there to be another pseudo-fictional telling of the life and legend of the Jeet Kune Do founder and martial arts film star.

I think nowadays, however, my perspective has changed a bit since then and particularly considering that lead actor Danny Chan reprised the role opposite Donnie Yen in the hit film, Ip Man 3, it’s understandable that fans would probably take a ceremonial liking to this show which casts a number of well-knowns and through a showcase of various styles of martial arts to interpret how Lee adapts to win his battles. It’s a martial arts series and sells, for certain, but there’s definitely a continued base among Bruce Lee fans who will love anything and everything Lee-related, good or bad, and either two of the choices will be up to those who choose to purchase their copy of Well Go USA’s forthcoming Volume One DVD issue of the series on November 1.

PLANO, TEXAS. (October 20, 2016) – Danny Chan (Ip Man 3, Kung Fu Hustle) brings the legendary figure of Bruce Lee and his incredible story to life in 10 action-packed episodes when LEGEND OF BRUCE LEE: VOLUME ONE debuts on DVD November 1 from Well Go USA Entertainment. The life story of the renowned martial arts icon follows him from Hong Kong to America and back again. LEGEND OF BRUCE LEE: VOLUME ONE also stars Michelle Lang, Gary Daniels, Ted Duran, Natalia Dzyublo, Wang Luoyong, Hazen McIntyre, Ray Park, Tim Storms, Michael Jai White, Traci Ann Wolfe, Mark Dacascos and Ash Gordey. 

Synopsis:Young Bruce Lee (Danny Chan) has no interest in studying and is obsessed with martial arts. After losing a street fight, he resolves to master Kung Fu under the tutelage of Master Ye Wen. Targeted by street gangs after standing up for the weak, Bruce has no other option but to leave Hong Kong for a strange and far off land: America. At the University of Washington Bruce starts teaching martial arts and befriends an American girl named Linda (Michelle Lang). An extraordinary performance at a national karate championship launches Bruce, his film career, and his Kung Fu school on the path to international renown.

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Lin To Direct Cinemax Bruce Lee-Inspired Crime Series, WARRIOR

Well this is fancy!

Cinemax is reportedly beefing up efforts toward developing a Bruce Lee-inspired serial crime drama titled Warrior. Fast And Furious franchise helmer Justin Lin is  poised to executive produce and potentially direct the pilot from a script by executive producer, Banshee co-creator Jonathan Tropper which centers on an anti-heroic, gifted fighter who is thrown into a crisis that undermines his quest for revenge.

The series was the first of several projects that began conception early on as Lin pacted with Chinese media magnate Bruno Wu for the launch of TV enterprise, Perfect Storm Entertainment a few years ago. The project is based on Lee’s earlier writings which never saw the light of day after his death in 1973, until they were discovered by Shannon Lee, daughter of the iconic film legend and CEO of Bruce Lee Enterprises, prior to jumping aboard with Lin and Wu and introducing it to Cinemax.

The series is another meaty add-on to the forthcoming roster for Cinemax with its currently successful line-up of action-heavy shows with Banshee getting ready for new season and Strike Back premiering its forth and final season soon. The series also serves as a reminder of the prospects that await as Lee herself is getting ready to assemble what she deems as the “definitive” Bruce Lee biopic.

It’s busy times indeed. There’s plenty of Bruce Lee-releated material in development other than the aforementioned, so fans of the late film legend should be quite excited. In the meantime, Lin’s latest producer credit on the June 26 release of American/Asian cross over road comedy, Hollywood Adventures, while his pilot for the second season of True Detective airs on June 21.

Lin is also directing Star Trek 3 which has a July 8, 2016 release.

In seperate TV-related news, NBC has reportedly dropped the pilot for its own series similarly-titled Warrior, which may see its new home at Fox instead.

Stay tuned.

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