"J.A. Media plans trilogy on kung fu master's life | AboutHK.Com - more information about HK"
| CLIFFORD COONAN  The family of martial arts king Bruce Lee is working with China’s J.A. Media Group to make a three-part biopic about Hong Kong’s most famous native son, who died 36 years ago this week.
“Bruce Lee,” which will start shooting in October, will be produced by Li Chen and directed by Manfred Wong. Tony Leung Ka-fai will play Lee’s father, but no other cast has been set.
Initial investment in the first movie will be 50 million yuan ($7.3 million) and it is scheduled for release on Nov. 27, 2010, the 70th anniversary of Lee’s birth.
Lee’s brother, Robert, and sister, Phoebe, appeared at a press confab with J.A. Media for the project in Beijing on Monday.
Robert Lee said he wanted to give an authoritative account of his brother’s life.
“We’ve read many books and seen many movies about Bruce Lee, but there are many inaccuracies in them,” he said.
The Hong Kong government is also memorializing Lee, whose success was crucial in bringing the local biz to a worldwide aud, by launching a design competition to build a museum for the kung fu master.
Lee’s daughter, Shannon Lee, and a panel of architects and town planners will judge the competition, and the winners will be announced in November or December. The museum is expected to include a kung fu studio, a film archive and a library.
The 5,600-square-foot town house was donated to the Kowloon regional government by real estate tycoon Yu Panglin, who has put up $13,000 in prize money for the design competition.
Rita Lau, Hong Kong’s secretary for commerce and economic development, said the government has also commissioned a documentary about the building of the museum and a biography of Lee.
Lee was born in November 1940 in San Francisco and raised in Hong Kong, before his father sent him back to the States after a brawl as a youngster. As well as his martial prowess, he was also a ballroom dancing champion.
Lee made 46 kung fu movies, and his popularity around the world paved the way for stars like Jackie Chan and inspired filmmakers like Quentin Tarantino.
He was just 32 when he died of a swelling in the brain in 1973, while starring in and directing the movie “Game of Death” in Hong Kong, less than a month after the release of “Enter the Dragon,” the movie that turned him into an international star.
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