Siblings give blessing to Bruce Lee trilogy

A new, historically accurate attempt at filming the life of Bruce Lee is underway with the full support of the late martial arts superstar’s older sister, Phoebe Lee, and younger brother, Robert Lee. The announcement was made with J.A. Media and Lee’s siblings at a signing ceremony in Beijing on Monday, exactly 32 years after the death of Lee.

BRUCE LEE, a US$7.3 million production that will be the first entry in a planned trilogy, is set to begin production in October. Producer Manfred Wong said it will cover Lee’s teenage years and focus more on his personality.

“There will be kung fu…but more importantly, we want to portray the real Bruce Lee. What is the real Bruce Lee like? He was very humorous. He was very obedient to his parents. He was very kind to his family,” said Wong.

Robert Lee stated that while he had read many books and watched many movies about Bruce Lee they had many inaccuracies.

Phoebe Lee added, “I’m more than 70 years old. I’m old. I want to do something for my younger brother – to promote Bruce Lee’s life story.”

No announcement has been made on who will portray Lee but Hong Kong actor Tony Leung Ka-fai has been selected to play his father.

Likewise, no director has been named but Variety reports that Zhang Yimou has repeatedly expressed interest in helming a film about Lee’s life.

BRUCE LEE is scheduled for release on Nov. 27, 2010 which will be the 70th anniversary of Lee’s birth.

Bruce Lee mania is on the rise again. Most recently, The History Channel aired the documentary HOW BRUCE LEE CHANGED THE WORLD. Chinese state broadcaster CCTV recently aired THE LEGEND OF BRUCE LEE, a 50-part prime-time TV drama starring Danny Chan (KUNG FU HUSTLE) as Lee. A young Bruce Lee will be appearing in IP MAN 2, the sequel to director Wilson Yip’s biopic of Lee’s Wing Chun instructor with Donnie Yen in the lead. Yen is also planning to portray Chen Zhen for a second time. The character was the semi-fictional student of Huo Yuanjia and was originally played by Bruce Lee in FIST OF FURY and again by Jet Li in FIST OF LEGEND. Another character first portrayed by Lee may be heading to theaters in the U.S. as comic actor Seth Rogen gears up to star in THE GREEN HORNET with a still unknown actor portraying Kato, the role Bruce Lee became famous in.

Sources: The Baltimore Sun, Variety

Tags: Bruce Lee, Bruce Lee (2010), upcoming