Acclaimed director Ang Lee (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) will soon begin production on Bruce Lee, an upcoming biopic for Sony’s 3000 Pictures. The film is being penned by award-winning writer, Dan Futterman, who wrote 2005’s Capote and 2014’s Foxcatcher.
The filmmaker’s son, Mason Lee, who is perhaps best known for his roles in 2011’s The Hangover Part II and 2017’s Legend of the Demon Cat, will be playing the iconic martial arts superstar. Mason has spent the last five+ years training and learning Bruce Lee’s fighting style in order to accurately portray the legend (via Movieweb).
“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,” Ang Lee told Deadline in 2022. “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 who, through tireless hard work, made impossible dreams into reality.”
Bruce Lee will be produced by Lawrence Grey, Shannon Lee (Bruce’s daughter), Ang Lee, Ben Everard and Brian Bell, with Elizabeth Gabler and Marisa Paiva overseeing the project.
It’s safe to assume that the Shannon Lee/The Bruce Lee Estate-endorsed Bruce Lee biopic by director Shekhar Kapur (read about it here) has been cancelled indefinitely, especially considering Lee’s involvement with Ang Lee’s biopic.
Throughout the years, many actors/martial artists have portrayed Bruce Lee in many different projects from around the world, including Mike Moh (read our interview with him), Philip Ng (read our interview with him), Jason Scott Lee, Danny Lee, Danny Chan, Aarif Rahman, Ho Chung-tao (aka Bruce Li), Ho Chung-tao (aka Bruce Le), Kim Tai-chung, Leung Siu-lung, Stephen Au Kam-Tong, and David Wu Dai-Wai. For more on this subject, read our article, They Call ‘Em Bruce: People who played Bruce Lee.
Bruce Lee will begin production in early 2025 (via WOR).
We’ll keep you updated on this project as we learn more. Until then, we leave you with our personal favorite Bruce Lee biopic, Bruce Lee: The Man, The Myth:
I wonder how they will tackle this biopic this time. Hope there’s some amount of scenes that include a young Brandon and Dan Inosanto.
Well, I hope everything works out in the best way. I’m a little concerned about the involvement of the Bruce Lee Estate. People say their involvement on the documentary, “Be Water” ended up making the film biased and not as objective as it could have been. The same thing could happen here.
Lets hope this the Ang Lee of Eat Drink Man Woman and Crouching Tiger and not the Ang Lee of Hulk and Gemini Man
“Accepted as neither fully American nor fully Chinese”…
Well, Hong Kong (Chinese people in fact) accepted him first…then after Hollywood began to look at him with…interest.
I like Lee’s Hulk a lot. Not even sorry for it.
Enter the Dragon is getting an anniversary theatrical re-release. https://www.boxofficemojo.com/release/rl2297070337/?ref_=bo_hm_RELEASE_DATE_CHANGES_WIDGET_3
Uni uploaded a scene from Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story. https://youtu.be/Z9wRTt_Ojbo?si=TZPaPNVHQ8uXwDQu