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  1. #1
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    Birth of the Dragon

    A new Bruce Lee biopic. The WJM duel again.
    Bruce Lee Biopic Draws ‘Adjustment Bureau’ Director (EXCLUSIVE)


    Jim Spellman/WireImage
    May 30, 2014 | 12:30PM PT
    Film Reporter
    Dave McNary
    Film Reporter @Variety_DMcNary

    “The Adjustment Bureau” director George Nolfi has come on board to helm Bruce Lee biopic “Birth of the Dragon” for Groundswell Productions and QED International.

    The film will be produced by QED topper Bill Block, Groundswell CEO Michael London, Janice Williams, Christopher Wilkinson and Stephen Rivele. Kelly Mullen of Groundswell exec produces.

    London told Variety that producers are aiming to begin shooting next spring.

    The film is inspired by the true story of Bruce Lee’s historic 1965 duel with Wong Jack Man, China’s most famous kung fu master at a time when San Francisco’s Chinatown was controlled by Hong Kong Triads. The story of the match is told from the perspective of Steve Macklin, a young disciple of Lee, who ultimately joins forces with Lee and Wong to battle a vicious band of Chinatown gangsters.

    The team of Wilkinson and Rivele, whose credits include “Nixon” and “Ali,” came on board last year to write the script.

    Lee began appearing in films in the early 1970s before passing away in 1973.

    QED is producing Bill Murray’s “Rock the Kasbah” and financed and produced Brad Pitt’s World War II actioner “Fury.” Groundswell productions include “Milk,” “The Visitor,” “Win Win” and “Very Good Girls.”

    Nolfi’s writing credits include “Ocean’s Twelve,” “The Bourne Ultimatum,” “Need for Speed” and “The Adjustment Bureau,” which he adapted from the Philip K. **** novel.

    Nolfi is also an executive producer on “Allegiance,” a drama about a young CIA analyst that received a series order earlier this month from NBC. Nolfi wrote and directed the pilot.

    He’s repped by WME.
    Gene Ching
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    The project got bank

    Bruce Lee Film, ‘Birth of the Dragon’ Gets Financing
    By Clayton Davis on August 14, 2014@@AwardsCircuit



    Read the Press Release:
    (PR NewsChannel) / August 14, 2014 / LOS ANGELES

    Bliss Media Ltd. announced today that it is joining forces with QED International to co-finance and co-produce the upcoming Bruce Lee film, “Birth of the Dragon.”

    “We’re excited to work with QED International to bring this story to life,” said Wei Han, president of Bliss Media Ltd. “Bruce Lee was not only a worldwide phenomenon, he helped create and shape a whole new sub-genre of the action film: martial arts movies.”

    QED International, which is a leading independent motion picture production, financing and sales distribution company, has been behind A-list films such as: “Fury,” “That Awkward Moment,” “Elysium,” and “District 9.”

    Led by experienced industry leaders in finance, production and screenwriting, Bliss Media is dedicated to linking the Chinese Motion Picture Industry with the rest of the world.

    “Birth of the Dragon” is inspired by the true story of Bruce Lee’s legendary duel with China’s most famous kung fu master, Wong Jack Man, in San Francisco’s Chinatown. Told from the perspective of one of Lee’s disciples, the film then follows Lee as he takes on a vicious band of Chinatown gangsters.

    Utilizing real-life events and characters, the film blends fiction with reality to create an original story that breaks the mold of the traditional biopic.

    “Birth of the Dragon” will be directed by George Nolfi (“The Adjustment Bureau,” “Ocean’s Twelve,” “The Bourne Ultimatum”) from a script written by Christopher Wilkinson and Stephen Rivele (“Nixon,” “Ali”).

    For more information on Bliss Media, visit www.blissmedialtd.com.
    For more information on QED International, please visit http://www.qedintl.com/.

    About Bliss Media Ltd.: A fast growing international film corporation that is actively involved in film financing, production, acquisition, sales and distribution, Bliss Media has offices in Los Angeles, Hong Kong and Shanghai. The company is led by a team of experienced Hollywood industry players in top equity finance, production and screenwriting, including renowned producers who work exclusively on their dealings in China. Bliss Media is dedicated to pioneering a business model that links the booming Chinese Motion Picture Industry with the rest of the world.
    I wouldn't call Wong Jack Man 'China’s most famous kung fu master in San Francisco’s Chinatown' - maybe he is now because of the fight, but not back then.
    Gene Ching
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    You could be the next Bruce Lee!



    Actor Search for Young Bruce Lee

    From the director of The Adjustment Bureau comes
    BIRTH OF THE DRAGON
    Produced by Groundswell Productions, the producers of The Illusionist, Milk and Sideways, and Kylin Films
    Written by the Oscar nominated writers of Nixon and Ali
    Casting By: Joanna Colbert and PoPing AuYoung

    In San Francisco in the 1960s, a legendary fight took place between Bruce Lee and Wong Jack Man. It occurred in an abandoned warehouse before twelve witnesses, no two of whom could agree on what actually happened. But it changed the history of martial arts. This story is inspired by that fight.

    Submit Your Audition
    Follow these steps:
    Role : Bruce Lee - Search
    Download and read the audition taping instructions and scene / sides provided
    Read and follow the video uploading ( Mac and Windows instructions )
    Tape your video
    To submit:


    Cast It Talent FAQs
    Bruce Lee - Search
    Male. Age 20s - 30s. Young Bruce Lee. An experienced martial artist highly desired. Submit headshot and resumes for now, and a video example of martial arts skills.

    IT IS FREE TO SUBMIT THROUGH THIS PAGE.

    IF YOU ARE A TALENT REP AND WOULD LIKE TO SUBMIT MULTIPLE CLIENTS AT ONCE YOU MAY SET THEM UP YOURSELF OR INVITE YOUR ACTORS TO CREATE CAST IT PREMIUM ACCOUNTS AT WWW.CASTITTALENT.COM

    IF YOU ARE AN ACTOR AND WANT TO SEND
    A MORE DETAILED PACKAGE YOU CAN SIGN UP FOR A CAST IT TALENT
    PREMIUM ACCOUNT AT WWW.CASTITTALENT.COM
    I truly hope a forum member gets cast. Then again, I also truly hope a forum member cures cancer.
    Gene Ching
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    But who plays Lee?

    They must know by now. Maybe it'll be ScarJo.

    HOLLYWOOD NORTH: Bruce Lee biopic begins filming in Vancouver next month
    Scott Brown, Vancouver Sun 09.14.2015


    Birth of the Dragon, a long talked-about Bruce Lee biopic, is scheduled to finally begin shooting next month at North Shore Studios.Handout / Files

    Birth of the Dragon, a long talked-about Bruce Lee biopic, is scheduled to finally begin shooting next month at North Shore Studios.

    The movie, which will be directed by George Nolfi (The Adjustment Bureau), has been in development limbo for 20 months. A lawsuit filed against Bill Block, one of the film's producers, may have played a part in the delay.

    The script, penned by the writing duo of Christopher Wilkinson and Stephen J. Rivele, whose credits include Ali, Nixon and the upcoming Tupac, is described as an "origin story." Instead of being a traditional biography, the movie will tell the story of Bruce Lee's most legendary fight.

    "A young, up-and-coming martial artist, Bruce Lee, challenges legendary kung fu master Wong Jack Man to a no-holds-barred fight in Northern California," reads the Internet Movie Database plot description.

    There is no word on who will play Lee.

    Production for Birth of the Dragon, which is scheduled to be a seven-week shoot, will begin Oct. 28.
    Gene Ching
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    This is getting more interesting

    China, US collaborate on Bruce Lee biopic
    By Zhang Rui


    Pang Hong, CEO of Kylin Pictures, speaks at the U.S.-China Co-production Film Summit held in Los Angeles on Nov.2, 2015. [Photo courtesy of Kylin Pictures]

    A Chinese producer of the new Bruce Lee biopic said they will retell Lee's story in an international perspective at a U.S.-China film summit held in Los Angeles on Monday.

    "As an internationally well-known Chinese Kung Fu star, Bruce Lee had a legendary life and starred in legendary works," said Pang Hong, CEO of Kylin Pictures, at the U.S.-China Co-production Film Summit, "We are expecting to show Lee's legend from an international perspective no matter what is going on in terms of production team selection or the storyline itself."

    "The Adjustment Bureau" director George Nolfi has signed on to direct the biopic. He came to China for early preparations at end of October to research locations, including Lee's ancestors' home in Shunde, Guangdong Province, and study Chinese martial arts of a variety of styles, especially Lee's master Yip Man and his Wing Chun style.

    Nolfi learned a lot about Lee and the environment he once lived in, as well as Chinese Kung Fu, in terms of actual combat techniques and philosophy, during his China trip.

    Kylin Pictures will collaborate with Groundswell Productions and QED International to produce the film. It was reported that the story is inspired by the true story of Bruce Lee's historic 1965 duel with Wong Jack Man, China’s most famous Kung Fu master at the time when San Francisco's Chinatown was controlled by Hong Kong Triads. The film will also tell the story of Lee's life before he became an international Kung Fu megastar.

    Nolfi's writing credits include "Ocean's Twelve," "The Bourne Ultimatum," "Need for Speed" and "The Adjustment Bureau." However, the Lee biopic script is being written by Christopher Wilkinson and Stephen J. Rivele.

    Shooting Lee's biopic is also a learning process for Chinese filmmakers, Pang said.

    "Though China may soon surpass the North American film market and become the biggest in the world, Chinese films are still a small part of the world market," Pang said, "We have to take care of our own business while we share a piece of the global film market."

    Pang said investing in Hollywood projects is not just investing money, but also a chance to get Chinese involved and learn from the veteran Hollywood film industry. "We can then tell the Chinese story to the world by using the industry’s mature techniques," he said.

    The film is expected to begin shooting next spring. Chinese actors Jin Xing, Xia Yu and a collection of Chinese martial arts masters will star in the film.


    Director George Nolfi sits in Bruce Lee's old house in Shunde, Guangdong Province during his four-day China trip to research relevant history and locations on Nov. 1, 2015. [Photo courtesy of Kylin Pictures]


    Director George Nolfi learns Kung Fu techniques from Taichi Kung Fu master Wang Xi'an in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province during his four-day China trip to research relevant history and locations on Oct. 29, 2015. [Photo courtesy of Kylin Pictures]
    Tai Chi. No disrespect to GM Wang, but Bruce had no love lost for Tai Chi.
    Gene Ching
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  6. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by GeneChing View Post
    Tai Chi. No disrespect to GM Wang, but Bruce had no love lost for Tai Chi.
    I hope they do as good a job as Rick Wing did with his fine book- Showdown in Oakland.

  7. #7
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    Commentary on this from Paul Bowman

    Wong Jack Man versus Bruce Lee Mythology: On Bruce Lee Legends and the forthcoming George Nolfi 'bio-fic'

    The origin story of Bruce Lee's Jeet Kune Do hinges on Lee's 1964 fight with Wong Jack Man. This is a crucial event in the martial arts biography of Bruce Lee, because it prompted his subsequent reflections on why he had not won quickly, cleanly and decisively. This caused him to revaluate critically his 'classical' or 'traditional' martial arts training and to begin researching and experimenting with both new theories of combat and innovating with new training methods and techniques.

    So far, so good. But what about his opponent, Wong Jack Man? What does the origin story do with him? And, given the fact that Wong is still alive and disputes key aspects of the story, what might this tell us about 'reality'?

    In many accounts – both in writing and in film – Wong is said to have challenged Lee to the fight because Lee was offending the Chinese martial arts community by teaching kung fu secrets to white and black westerners. In this narrative, Lee is a representative of an open-minded multiculturalism. If we follow the chain of dominoes that falls down from here, this means that Wong is conversely the representative of an essentially racist and closed Chinese community. If Lee is the future, Wong is the representative of a separatist, hierarchical and racist past. Wong writes his formal challenge letter and has it hand delivered to Lee by a deputy. In some versions, the letter actually comes from the elders and rulers of the Chinese martial arts community tout court, and Wong is their champion.

    In these versions, the Chinese community is formal and structured. As such, for the word 'community' we can easily hear the word 'triads'. And the liberal multiculturalist Bruce Lee is accordingly anathema.

    Of course, in literal terms, in this narrative, the Lee-Wong fight most frequently becomes a fight to decide Lee's right to teach martial arts at all, never mind to non-Chinese people. The point that is emphasized is that if he loses, he loses his right to teach at all. But, as I have been suggesting, the story has a strongly symbolic or even symptomatic dimension.

    Given the symbolic character of the key coordinates of this hugely overdetermined narrative structure, the bits and pieces of information that we have been given about the plot line of the forthcoming 'biopic' on Bruce Lee, directed by George Nolfi, are understandable. As one site writes: 'It will focus, in part, on Bruce Lee's 1965 duel with famous kung fu master Wong Jack Man and the attempts all three men made to stem the influence the Triads had around San Francisco'.

    Now, at first I found this laugh-out-loud funny. For what we have here is a total flight of fantasy. Bruce Lee teaming up with Wong to fight the triads?! But in terms of the overdetermined character of the Jeet Kune Do origin myth, this kind of thematic exploration makes a kind of perfect sense. For, if we think about these narratives, the fight takes place at a transitional time: Bruce Lee has yet to escape from his martial arts culture. He's struggling with it. He's an ethnically Chinese man in the US, with a white wife and a burning ambition. But in many respects he's still stuck in 'China'. As Gina Marchetti writes of the intra-ethnic struggle played out by Brandon Lee in Rapid Fire, to become smoothly 'Asian-American', there must be a battle with something 'Asian' that must be vanquished (Marchetti 2006, Bowman 2013). Thus, Lee comes into contact with the representatives of China-abroad, fights and wins. He is now free to renounce and transcend something of his past and embrace the future.

    In these narratives, Wong becomes the bearer of all of the negative symbolism of a formal, ancient, traditional, violent, Triad-China. And Lee must beat this, to prove not just 'his' but also modern multicultural US superiority. But what of Wong? In real life, very little attention has been given to what Wong has said very about the fight, although the Wikipedia entry that appears highly in an online search on him is suggestive: 'According to Linda Lee Cadwell, Bruce Lee's wife, Lee's teaching of Chinese martial arts to Caucasians made him unpopular with Chinese martial artists in San Francisco. Wong contested the notion that Lee was fighting for the right to teach Caucasians, as not all of his students were Chinese' [accessed 14 December 2015].

    Nonetheless, in the films, such as Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story, and even supposedly sober documentaries on Bruce Lee, such as one I appeared in (I Am Bruce Lee), Wong is roundly dismissed as a Chinese racist, pure and simple – a kind of capo of the racist Chinese 'authorities'.

    As Sylvia Huey Chong has argued in her book, The Oriental Obscene (Chong 2012), the problem with this kind of narrative is that it locates racism related to the Chinese in the US firmly in the Chinese community: the Chinese are racist, because their community is closed and impenetrable, and so on. This means that even the celebratory narrative myths of Lee 'struggling against racism' displace the lion's share of 1960s racism away from the white hegemony and onto the shoulders of the ex pat Chinese community.

    Given this, a reconsideration of famous characters like Wong in films like the forthcoming one from Nolfi do not seem surprising. But, on all the evidence we have to date about the likely plot structure, it seems that the film is following film-history rather than the biographical-history of Bruce Lee. But, this is hardly surprising: as Meaghan Morris has pointed out, it is easy to forget that films are primarily about films, at least as much as and before they are about anything else (Morris 2001).

    In this light, it seems that George Nolfi's film will be in some sense responding to representations of Wong as typified by films like Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story, and undertaking a reflection based primarily on them. And indeed we should ask, whether informed by film or by history: what about Wong? If Bruce Lee learned so much from this fight, what did Wong learn?

    Surely both the real and the mythological Wong must have learned from the fight with Lee. And if Lee beat him, then what is the lesson that the mythological Wong might? That Lee's modern 'Western' ways are superior, perhaps even the future… Such a Wong might renounce the triads and indeed 'team up' with the mythological Lee on his ineluctable battle against iniquity, tradition without reason and blind conformity to style, etc.

    Of course, I have scanty information about the film at this time. Only time will tell what the film comes to be. But we do have information about Wong, and his fight with Bruce Lee.
    Continued next post
    Gene Ching
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    continued from previous

    As mentioned, according to the Bruce Lee Posthumous Myth-Making Machine, Wong challenged Lee because Lee was teaching non-Chinese. However, according to Wong, he did not actually challenge Lee because of this. Indeed, many people have stated that Wong was actually responding (as an individual) to Lee's own open challenge to any martial artist to come and see how good he was. This makes so much more sense than the version peddled by certain members of the Lee family (see I Am Bruce Lee for a good example of this), in which Wong was angry at Lee for teaching white people. Moreover, in some of his few published statements, Wong notes that he was not actually racist at all and was indeed teaching white people kung fu at the time himself. His motivation for the fight was mere headstrong youthful arrogance and aggressiveness, pure and simple.

    But why has this never been properly been heard, acknowledged or engaged? Why do people ignore the 'two arrogant young men jostling for position in their own egos' narrative and prefer instead the 'beating Chinese racism' narrative? Doubtless there are many reasons (this is what 'overdetermination' means): because a lot of cultural thinking takes place via symbols, metonyms and stand-ins (Freud regarded 'condensation and displacement' the key aspects of 'dream-work', and this can be applied to the ways that cultures deal with 'issues', such as, say, racism – we dramatize them via stand-ins and proxies, good guys and bad guys); because Bruce Lee supporters, including the family members who have since gone on to rely on Lee's brand for their income, have actively encouraged it; because we want the battles of our heroes to be parables, allegories, and to bespeak larger truths; and so on. Unfortunately, in this mushrooming mythological process, one living individual, Wong Jack Man, has been transformed into an enduring anti-hero, both bad guy and victim.

    In the essay, 'Dominici: or, The Triumph of Literature', in Mythologies, Roland Barthes argues that a certain shared type of literary and cultural education became a key part of the prosecution's case against a man accused of murder in post-War France. The prosecution, said Barthes, relied entirely upon the kinds of association one would find in certain genres of literature to convert circumstantial evidence into 'proof' of the accused's 'inevitable' thoughts and behaviours. The case of Wong Jack Man has similar contours. But there is no courtroom for Wong other than the interminable media myth machine. Perhaps the most we can hope is that Nolfi's 'bio-fic' comes to redeem Wong in the mythical realm.

    But, we have to wonder, who will them become the new bad-guy? One might suspect, 'Old China', again. Yet, China in 2015/16 is not the same as China in the 1960s, 70s, 80s or even 90s. Reports that in researching his story Nolfi went to China to research the taiji of Bruce Lee's father are tantalizing in this regard. For, if Nolfi is combining a reworking of the Wong Jack Man Fight Myth with an argument that Lee's 'one inch punch' can be traced back to taiji, then this sends out a clear signal that the film has transnational aspirations. For taiji is, of course, in Adam Frank's words, the very symbol of 'Chinese-ness', in both the PRC and indeed for the rest of the world (Frank 2006) – taiji has long been what Douglas Wile called China's cultural ambassador to the world (Wile 1996).

    (In this light, if I were to indulge further in this kind of amateur plot diagnosis, I would be inclined to wager that it seems likely that 'the bad element' to be purged in the forthcoming bio-fic will not be 'old China', but rather the abomination/mutation that is 'China abroad', China unanchored, the China that has left China… And although this is surely going to be the Californian Chinese community, it also sounds a lot like the much reviled 'neither here nor there' China-outside-China that has long been played by Hong Kong.)

    To my mind, if the film is set to combine the mythologised fight with a claim that Lee's Jeet Kune Do owes a direct causal debt to traditional taijiquan (in the form of a claim that taiji's 'short power' is the source of Lee's 'one inch punch', for instance), then this attests to the transnational ideological alignment of the Bruce Lee Industry and the dominant ideology of the PRC. Transnational-Lee seems likely to be set to work for both Hollywood orientalism and the huge markets of the PRC – when 'PRC' no longer stands for the 'People's Republic of China' and now refers more to the 'Public Relations of China'.



    References


    Bowman, Paul. 2013. Beyond Bruce Lee: Chasing the Dragon through Film, Philosophy and Popular Culture. London and New York: Wallflower Press.

    Chong, Sylvia Shin Huey. 2012. The Oriental obscene: violence and racial fantasies in the Vietnam era. Durham: Duke University Press.

    Frank, Adam. 2006. Taijiquan and the Search for the Little Old Chinese Man: Understanding Identity through Martial Arts. New York and Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Marchetti, Gina. 2006. From Tian'anmen to Times Square: Transnational China and the Chinese Diaspora on Global Screens, 1989-1997. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

    Morris, Meaghan. 2001. "Learning from Bruce Lee." In Keyframes: Popular Cinema and Cultural Studies, edited by Matthew Tinkcom, and Villarejo, Amy, 171-184. London: Routledge.

    Wile, Douglas. 1996. Lost T'ai Chi Classics of the Late Ch'ing Dynasty. New York: State University of New York.
    For more, see Bruce-Lee-vs-Wong-Jack-Man-fight & Martial-Arts-Studies-Disrupting-Disciplinary-Boundaries-by-Paul-Bowman
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
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    Filming in SF now!

    Man, I'm just back from vacation and swamped playing catch-up or I'd give Philip a holler.

    Bruce Lee Biopic 'Birth Of The Dragon' Filming In SF This Week


    Bruce lee as kato 1967 Photo: Wikipedia
    Thu. January 7, 2016, 10:19am
    2015 03 20 at 12.40.55 pm by Geri Koeppel

    A new biopic about legendary martial artist Bruce Lee is filming in San Francisco this week. Titled Birth of the Dragon, it's the story of the famed 1965 fight between Lee, then 25, and Shaolin Master Wong Jack Man. George Nolfi, writer of Ocean's Twelve and The Bourne Ultimatum, is directing, with Hong Kong martial arts star Philip Ng as Lee.

    According to the San Francisco Film Commission, shooting on the film began yesterday and will continue through Monday. Lincoln Park Golf Course, near the Legion of Honor, was the shooting site yesterday, and will continue today. From there, the production will move to the SS Jeremiah O'Brien-National Liberty Ship Memorial at Fisherman's Wharf. The final shoots will take place in Chinatown—on Spofford Street, one of the neighborhood's alleys, and near Grant Avenue and California Street.

    A tweet shows another Dragon-related filming notice, for Leavenworth & Union and Leavenworth & Grant from 7am–2pm Saturday:



    Channing Thomson
    ‏@CHANNINGPOSTERS
    Hollywood is shooting a 1960s Bruce Lee biopic near my place this weekend. #SanFrancisco #BirthoftheDragon #BruceLee

    According to the notice, vehicles from the 1960s, the era in which the film is set, will be placed in the vicinity.

    "The 75-year-old Wong, who remained silent about the fight for many years, currently lives in the Bay Area, and retired from teaching martial arts in 2005 after 45 years," says an article on Comingsoon.net. He'll be played in the film by Chinese actor Yu Xia (In the Heat of the Sun, The Painted Veil), with Tony Award nominee Billy Magnussen (Into the Woods, Bridge of Spies) as Steve McKee, a young martial arts student torn between the two fighters.
    Gene Ching
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    Vintage Chinatown

    This would have been fun to see.

    Bruce Lee Movie Set Recreates 1960s Chinatown


    Photo: Mahmoud F.
    Sat. January 9, 2016, 4:37pm

    by Eric Eldon
    @eldon

    Chinatown location Grant Avenue and California Street, sf, ca

    What were all the classic cars and people dressed in vintage clothing doing in Chinatown today?

    They were part of the set for Birth Of The Dragon, a biopic about Bruce Lee and his controversial 1965 fight as a young martial arts star against Shaolin Master Wong Jack Man.



    George Nolfi, writer of Ocean's Twelve andThe Bourne Ultimatum, is directing, with Hong Kong martial arts star Philip Ng as Lee. The Chinatown set wraps up a series of shoots that have been happening for the movie around the city.

    More details in our earlier post.

    And now for additional photos from readers.


    Chinatown resident Wilma Pang (front left) sent in this photo from her part as a background actor on the set.




    Above photos by Mahmoud F.


    Photo by Jennie K.


    Photos by Alister H.
    Gene Ching
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  11. #11
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    In Variety last weekend

    How a Bruce Lee Origin Tale Is Taking Flight With Chinese Money and Abundant Diplomacy


    MOVIESTORE COLLECTION/REX SHUTTERSTOCK
    JANUARY 28, 2016 | 04:01PM PT
    James Rainey Senior Film Reporter @RaineyTime

    Despite clouds and the threat of rain, San Francisco spreads gloriously before director George Nolfi and the cast and crew of “Birth of the Dragon.” From their perch high atop Twin Peaks, they are shooting the climactic shot of the “kung fu fable” — their Steve McQueen-ish hero riding his motorcycle off to a new life.

    When the sun shoots suddenly through the gloom, Nolfi shouts for another take: “Get the motorcycle down here! There’s light on the city!” And, indeed, just as doubles for Billy Magnussen and his girlfriend (played by Jingjing Qu) roar past, sunlight splashes across the panorama and the golden dome of City Hall behind them.

    “That was great, right?” the usually more reserved director Nolfi calls across the hillside. “That was bad ass!”

    The makers of “Birth of the Dragon” have much to celebrate, beyond Mother Nature’s gift. Their origin tale on the emergence of Bruce Lee as martial arts superstar and cross-cultural role model is nearing the end of its 45-day shoot. They stand ready to capitalize on one of the few figures who could resonate with audiences from Dallas to Hangzhou – promising a shot at box office magic in the two biggest film-viewing nations in the world. And, unusually, the Chinese-American co-production obtained its entire $31 million production budget from a single Chinese company, Kylin Pictures, a rarity in a business in which risk and reward are normally sliced in myriad ways.

    The fact that “Birth of the Dragon” arrived at this juncture — with principal photography wrapping in Vancouver this week with Hong Kong-born Philip Ng playing Lee — is a tribute to the tenacity and determination of its producers on both sides of the Pacific. It’s also a case study in the cultural acuity required in still fledgling Sino-American entertainment collaborations.

    For director Nolfi that meant traveling to China at the 11th hour, on the eve of shooting, to drink copious baijiu toasts with his producers and other hosts, to dine on live scorpions and to submit to a (literal) throw-down from a martial arts master. For producer Michael London, of Groundswell Productions, it meant making an emergency trip to China over the Christmas holiday, when the Chinese funding spigot threatened to run dry.

    “You have a Chinese company funding a movie about one of the great icons of the global film industry and making the first film actually about this icon that will be seen in China and it is being produced by an American company. Now, how cool is that? That is really cross-pollination,” said Andre Morgan, the producer behind the 1973 documentary “Bruce Lee: The Man and the Legend” and longtime China hand.

    “Birth of the Dragon” springs from the true story of Bruce Lee’s 1965 showdown with Wong Jack Man, another martial arts master. It is set against the backdrop of San Francisco’s Chinatown and under the shadow of the Hong Kong organized crime triads. Magnussen plays Steve McKee, the audience’s emissary to this emerging world, caught between the two martial arts masters.

    The project gained steam with a script from Christopher Wilkinson and Stephen J. Rivele, the team behind two previous winning stories about major historical figures, “Nixon” and “Ali” and then the signing of Nolfi (who helmed the Emily Blunt, Matt Damon-starrer “The Adjustment Bureau”) to direct.
    continued next post
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
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  12. #12
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    Tiff 2016

    I cherry-picked the significant titles of figures mentioned here. Follow the link if you want the full line up.

    Toronto Film Festival 2016: Magnificent Seven, La La Land to screen
    Slate also includes new Christopher Guest ensemble 'Mascots,' Justin Timberlake's 'JT + the Tennessee Kids'
    BY JOEY NOLFI • @JOEYNOLFI

    Posted July 26 2016 — 11:24 AM EDT

    The first round of films playing at the 41st Toronto International Film Festival have been announced, with Antoine Fuqua’s The Magnificent Seven set to kick off the event with a western-infused bang on Sept 8.

    Fuqua’s opening night film stars Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt, Ethan Hawke, Vincent D’Onofrio, and Byung-hun Lee in a tale of seven outlaws recruited by a local woman (Haley Bennett) to do battle with an oppressive industrialist (Peter Sarsgaard) encroaching upon her hometown’s territory.

    Other titles screening at this year’s festival include Christopher Guest’s new ensemble comedy, Mascots, in addition to Damien Chazelle’s Ryan Gosling/Emma Stone musical La La Land, Werner Herzog’s Salt and Fire, Ewan McGregor’s American Pastoral, and Nocturnal Animals, Tom Ford’s directorial follow-up to A Single Man.

    This year’s star-studded Gala slate features Amy Adams’ Arrival, Mark Wahlberg’s Deepwater Horizon, Ruth Negga’s Cannes drama Loving, the Lyndon B. Johnson biopic LBJ, Nicole Kidman’s Lion, and the Lupita Nyong’o-starring Queen of Katwe, among others.

    Closing the annual event’s 2016 edition is The Edge of Seventeen, Kelly Fremon Craig’s directorial debut revolving around the angsty life of a teenage girl (Hailee Steinfeld) grappling with the awkwardness of growing up as her best friend falls in for her popular older brother. The film also stars Woody Harrelson and Kyra Sedgwick.

    TIFF spearheads a four-pronged dive into awards season on the festival front as it, along with events in Telluride, Venice, and New York, plays an important part in facilitating the rise of emerging Oscar contenders. As a key precursor in the awards race, all eyes will be on TIFF’s full lineup, which often hosts high-profile premieres of Oscar-bound films, and is set to be revealed in installments in the coming weeks.

    As a time-tested launching pad for awards hopefuls, the largely non-competitive festival’s only major accolade is bestowed by festivalgoers themselves, as the TIFF People’s Choice Award is voted on by the public, not a curated jury of industry professionals. Since 2008, seven of TIFF’s People’s Choice Award winners have gone on to either win or be nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars, including Silver Linings Playbook, 12 Years a Slave, and Precious. Last year’s champion, Lenny Abrahamson’s Room, scored four Academy Award nominations, with star Brie Larson winning in the Best Actress category.

    The 2016 Toronto International Film Festival runs from Sept. 8-18. Additional titles playing at the festival will be announced soon. Check out the just-announced list of Special Presentation and Gala titles playing at TIFF 2016 below.

    GALAS:

    The Magnificent Seven, Antoine Fuqua, USA - World Premiere
    Director Antoine Fuqua brings his modern vision to a 1960 western classic. With the town of Rose Creek under the deadly control of industrialist Bartholomew Bogue, the desperate townspeople, led by Emma Cullen, employ protection from seven outlaws, bounty hunters, gamblers and hired guns. As they prepare the town for the violent showdown that they know is coming, these seven mercenaries find themselves fighting for more than money. Starring Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt, Ethan Hawke, Vincent D’Onofrio, Byung-Hun Lee, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Martin Sensmeier, Haley Bennett and Peter Sarsgaard.

    SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS

    Birth of the Dragon George Nolfi, USA/China/Canada - World Premiere
    Set against the backdrop of San Francisco’s Chinatown in 1964, this cross-cultural biopic chronicles Bruce Lee’s emergence as a martial- arts superstar after his legendary secret showdown with Shaolin master Wong Jack Man. While details of the fight are hotly disputed to this day, one thing is clear — out of that epic fight, Bruce Lee emerged as The Dragon, the man who brought Kung Fu to the world. Starring Billy Magnussen, Xia Yu, and Philip Ng.

    The Handmaiden (Agassi) Park Chan-wook, South Korea - North American Premiere
    A crook-turned-servant falls for the vulnerable heiress she had originally schemed to swindle, in this audacious, visually sumptuous, and highly erotic period piece from writer-director Park Chan-wook. Starring Kim Min-hee, Kim Tae-ri, Ha Jung-woo, Cho Jin-woong, Kim Hae-sook, and Moon So-ri.

    The Wasted Times (Luo Man Di Ke Xiao Wang Shi) Cheng Er, China - World Premiere
    Love, hatred, and betrayal abound in Shanghai during the chaotic, war-torn 1930s. Mr. Lu is ambushed during an important meeting with the Japanese army, but his sister’s husband, Watabe, sacrifices himself to save Mr. Lu. Worse still, the Japanese brutally murder Mr. Lu’s children and sister. To avenge their deaths, Mr. Lu’s mistress attempts to kill the culprit but ends up dead. Years later as the Sino- Japanese war comes to a close, Mr. Lu visits Mrs. Wang, the abandoned wife of his former boss who reveals an astonishing truth about the tragedy. Cast includes Zhang Ziyi, Ge You, and Tadanobu Asano.
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
    Support our forum by getting your gear at MartialArtSmart

  13. #13
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    Hold the phone...

    Is that Wong Jack Man in a monk robe?

    Click the link below to see:
    TIFF
    FESTIVAL 2016/SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS (FESTIVAL 2016)
    Birth of the Dragon
    George Nolfi
    USA / China / Canada 103 minutes World Premiere 2016 STC COLOUR

    Set against the backdrop of San Francisco’s Chinatown, this cross-cultural film chronicles Bruce Lee’s emergence as a martial-arts superstar after his legendary secret showdown with fellow martial artist Wong Jack Man.
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
    Support our forum by getting your gear at MartialArtSmart

  14. #14
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    NOV+DEC cover leaked

    ...leaked by this issue's cover master, Phil Ng.

    straightblast5 Chicago, Illinois
    Follow
    Kung Fu Tai Chi Magazine (November / December 2016 issue) www.kungfumagazine.com #KungfuMagazine #KungfuTaichiMagazine @jedinitekrew.emperor
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    straightblast5Kung Fu Tai Chi Magazine (November / December 2016 issue) www.kungfumagazine.com #KungfuMagazine #KungfuTaichiMagazine @jedinitekrew.emperor


    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
    Support our forum by getting your gear at MartialArtSmart

  15. #15
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    Our official announcement

    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
    Support our forum by getting your gear at MartialArtSmart

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