Birth of the Dragon finds the iconic Bruce Lee subject to one of the strangest franchise treatments in film history — not an expected biopic or series, but a fantasized origin story complete with action and vigilantism.
According to a recent report from The Playlist, screenwriters Christopher Wilkinson and Stephen Rivele have written Birth of the Dragon, an origin story based on the Bruce Lee ideal: a concoction of the Bruce Lee we know of and the larger-than-life Bruce Lee persona immortalized on screen.
Birth of the Dragon takes inspiration from a real life duel Lee had with Wong Jack Man, a famous kung-fu master in San Francisco’s triad controlled Chinatown. According to the report, this duel will serve as a “jumping-off point” for a potential franchise which will find Lee and Wong fighting Chinatown gangsters in the 1960s.
“Stephen Rivele and Chris Wilkinson have taken a little-known chapter in the life of Bruce Lee and used as a jumping-off point for a bold, exciting story about the making of an international legend,” said producer Michael London, in regards to Birth of the Dragon.
So far, Wilkinson and Rivele have treated the story of Muhammed Ali quite dutifully with Michael Mann’s Ali, as they have with Richard Nixon in Oliver Stone’s Nixon. They’ve also written the biopic for Freddie Mercury with Mercury, which is set to star Sacha Baron Cohen (spot on, if you ask me).
Notwithstanding, those films are in no way like Birth of the Dragon will be. For starters, those films are actual faithful to the lives and events of real people. Birth of the Dragon will showcase an actor pretending to be the character from Enter the Dragon carrying out a plot straight out of Tango & Cash.
Needless to say, it’s difficult to support Birth of the Dragon. Bruce Lee is without a doubt one of the most iconic figures in film history, and it’s a complete sacrilege to turn a real person’s life into an action filled fantasy. When you look at Bruce Lee’s life without any sort of fiction, it’s already more than intriguing — why not just make a biopic? Oh yeah, that’s right, it’s been done before. In any case, be sure to check back for updates.
