Ang Lee enters nepo baby discourse, will direct son Mason in Bruce Lee biopic
A Bruce Lee biopic has been the Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon director's passion project for years
Aux News Bruce Lee
Two-time Oscar-winning director Ang Lee’s next project will be a biopic of Bruce Lee, with the filmmaker’s son, Mason, set to star as the martial arts icon. The elder Lee is, of course, no stranger to directing spectacular action sequences, having been behind Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
“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 says in a statement provided to Deadline. “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’s daughter Shannon will serve as a producer on the project. She has long overseen her father’s legacy, speaking out against his depiction in Once Upon A Time In Hollywood and appearing in Bao Nguyen’s ESPN 30 For 30 documentary Be Water in recent years.
Mason Lee made his onscreen debut as a baby in his father’s film The Wedding Banquet. As an adult, he appeared in Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk in 2016. His other credits include Cathy Yan’s Dead Pigs and an episode of Fresh Off The Boat. Deadline reports that he has already been training for the physical demands of the Bruce Lee role for three years, which really shows an awareness of the inevitable nepo baby discourse.
“Bruce Lee is a longtime passion project for Ang and a deeply emotional story depicting the triumphs and conflicts of one of the foremost real-life action heroes of our time,” executive producer Elizabeth Gabler says. “All of us at Sony and 3000 Pictures are proud to help Ang and his filmmaking team create what we believe will be an extraordinary theatrical event.”
Ang Lee’s most recent feature was 2019's Gemini. He previously won Academy Awards for his work on Brokeback Mountain and Life Of Pi. His other projects include Sense And Sensibility, Hulk, and Lust, Caution.
12 Comments
I don’t blame parents for trying to give their children everything in the world that they can. I do blame the nepo babies for saying they made it on their own, and everyone who just accepts it uncritically.
Nobody of any sort makes it on their own. The amount of blind luck that goes into even being able to live comfortably is staggering. Being famous is a fraction of a fraction of a percent of that. Many wonderfully talented people should still admit that their skill would not, on its own, allow them to reach the heights they did. We’re all indebted to chance or providence.
Sure, but chance and providence is not nepotism. Chance and providence happens to everyone.
THIS. It’s not that nepo-babies are untalented or that they aren’t hard working (I mean, some are). It’s that they need to admit that there are folks every bit as talented and hardworking as they are who won’t make it in the industry because they don’t have the connections and insider knowledge of the nepo-babies. It’s not a pure meritocracy.
Would any of you turn down a leg up if offered by a well-placed family member?
I was offered to take over as head of my family business, but no thanks!Sincerely,
Thurston J. Kinja
VP of Slideshows
Of the Newport Kinjas?
Pffft. F those paupers…
I can imagine that there really do exist a small handful of people who would stand on principle and refuse assistance from a family member (because they deem it unfair), but almost nobody would; and it’s arguable whether they should. Wealth and opportunity disparity in our society is a huge problem and people accepting the help of family (and friends) is a symptom of it, not the cause of it.
There is only one way to settle the nepotism debate and that is by dropping all of the nepo-children on an island with all of the people who get really riled up by nepotism and have them fight to the death.
It would be more fitting if Ang Lee’s son played Brandon Lee.
I appreciate ‘Hulk’ coming right after ‘Sense and Sensibility’ in Lee’s list of works. Really shows what a weird and wonderful industry filmmaking is.