“Tiger Man” Promotional Poster
Director James Campbell, who is currently prepping his feature-length debut, The Moonshine Gang of Cheyenne, is developing Tiger Man, a martial arts actioner to star professional wrestler Paul London as Elvis Presley.
In the film, Elvis (London) is seeks revenge for the murder of martial arts legend Bruce Lee. “There are two things that people have never known about these two pop culture icons. First, is that they intended to produce, and star, in a film about two undercover agents taking down a huge drug organization. Second, is that the film they were about to shoot was based on a True Story,” says Campbell.
Other cast members include Cornelius Geaney Jr (Escape Room, Homeland), Kris Saddler (Await Further Instructions), Jacob Anderton (13 Graves), Natasha Goulden (Wolfblood), and – last, but definitely not least – rising martial arts star Jean-Paul Ly (Jailbreak, Nightshooters, The Division), who’ll also be choreographing the film’s fight scenes.
In real life, Elvis was passionate about Karate. He was first exposed to the martial art in 1958 after he was drafted into the Army and stationed in Germany. His first instructor was a German shotokan stylist named Juergen Seydel who taught Elvis at his off-base housing in Nauheim until 1958. During his vacation in Paris he would take private lessons with Tetsugio Murakami, one of Japan’s top shotokan stylists, who would help pioneer shotokan in Europe (via EA).
His next Instructor was Japanese Shotokan Master Tetugio Murakami who became the Shotokan master of Europe. In 1960 Elvis, with Japanese style training under his belt, Elvis met the Father of American Kenpo, Ed Parker at the Wilshire Beverly Hills Hotel after a Karate demonstration. Mr. Parker introduced Elvis to Hank Slomanski, an Instructor at Fort Campbell to test for his black belt. It was Hank who promoted Elvis to ‘Black Belt’ on July 21, 1960 and personally gave Elvis his own personal Black belt when he promoted him. He is said to have sent word back to Ed Parker ‘Your boy ain’t pretty anymore, but he’s a black belt’ (via EA).
For more details on how you can make Tiger Man happen, visit the production’s Indiegogo page. Otherwise, check Tiger Man’s New “Proof-of-Concept Action Short” below (via FCS).
And don’t you dare miss this fight scene featuring the REAL Elvis from the 1968 Comeback Special:
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Love this. Looking forward to seeing it.
When I saw Paul London and Jean Paul Ly’s names, I knew I had to support this project! Can’t wait to see the wrestling star excel with HK styled action!