Tv Western About a Monk Wandering the Old West Fixing Injustices With Martial Arts

For decades, it was a half-whispered rumor, another puzzle piece in the already considerable mythology surrounding Bruce Lee.

In 1971, simply 2 years earlier his death at the age of 32, Lee wrote a pitch for a Television receiver show about a martial arts principal in America'due south Old West.

But Hollywood studios turned it downwards, unsure of whether American audiences were prepare for a Chinese atomic number 82.

After, Warner Bros. made a series called Kung Fu (1972-75), starring white role player David Carradine every bit Kwai Chang Caine, a half-Chinese Shaolin monk wandering through the Onetime West.

The show's creator, Ed Spielman, claimed it was based on his own experiences in New York'due south Chinatown. But many suspected that Warner Bros. had stolen the concept from Lee.

(Read more than: We'll never know if Bruce Lee could've been America's beginning Asian leading man)

Decades after his decease in 1973, Lee's daughter went through his belongings and stumbled beyond a collection of drawings and notes"handwritten and typed"describing his vision for an unfulfilled passion project.

Now, that vision is finally beingness realized with the series Warrior, which premieres on Cinemax and HBO Go on April 6.

Directed by Justin Lin, whose bona fides include iv Fast & Furious films, the serial follows martial arts prodigy Ah Sahm"played by Fast & Furious 6 star Andrew Koji"who immigrates from Communist china to San Francisco in the 1800s.

Searching for a mystery woman from his past, he finds himself caught up in the tong wars, the brutal battles fought between the city's powerful Chinese organized criminal offense families.

But Warrior is more than just an action flick. It'due south as well a historical drama about immigration, xenophobia, and civilisation clash. And that's exactly how Bruce Lee intended it.

"My father wanted something of the authentic Chinese feel to be reflected in Hollywood and in the world."Shannon Lee

"My male parent wanted something of the accurate Chinese feel to be reflected in Hollywood and in the world," says Shannon Lee, his daughter.

"He wanted this character to be an immigrant, to be arriving in the United states in this specific time period, which was mail-Civil War, pre-Chinese Exclusion Human action, and right at this time when the railways were finished, the gold blitz was catastrophe, and Chinese people are now in the U.S. and there's a lot of tension effectually that."

This fraught history underlying the action-filled plot reflects Bruce Lee'south creative philosophy to never show violence merely for the sake of violence.

In a 1971 interview with Canadian journalist Pierre Berton, Lee said a story ought to explain "why the violence was washed, whether correct or incorrect," and the racial tension of 1800s America offers but that.

In the same interview with Pierre Berton, Lee was asked whether executives discussed the race issue.

"Such question has been raised. In fact, information technology is being discussed," Lee said. "And that is why The Warrior is probably not going to be on. Unfortunately, such thing does be in this world, in certain parts of the country, where they retrieve, business-wise, information technology's a take chances, and I don't blame them."

Although he admitted that race was one of the reasons why Warrior was shelved, it remains disputed whether Kung Fu, starring David Carradine, was a riff off Lee's thought. Warner Bros. claimed it had been developing the concept for some time, while Bruce Lee's widow, Linda Lee Cadwell, insisted that it was Lee who came up with the concept.

"It had always been part of Bruce Lee lore that this transpired," says Shannon Lee. "Simply information technology wasn't until belatedly 2000, when I took over looking later my male parent'southward legacy, that the archive came into my possession"all of my father's writings, photos, and memorabilia. In the process of going through information technology, I came across the treatment for this show and a number of notes and drafts."

"That's when we decided, 'Let'southward complete what he started.'"Justin Lin

A calendar week later, she met upwardly with Justin Lin, and they went through Bruce Lee'south eight-page handling.

"Growing up, I was so confused watching David Carradine," Lin says. "I'thousand like, 'Expect, he's Chinese? Merely he'due south not Chinese.' So it's ever been kind of my life'southward journeying to find out what the hell happened."

"It was amazing to be holding it in my paw," Lin says of the treatment. "That'southward when we decided, 'Let's complete what he started.'"

"It's a drama action thriller," says Rich Ting, who plays Bolo, a friend of the main graphic symbol. "Information technology's not a romantic comedy. You're not going to scout it and merely feel good about yourself. Y'all're going to watch it and be grabbed by the intensity, the accuracy, by the violence, the claret, the sex."

For Justin Lin, the series was an opportunity to rewrite the Western.

"Growing up in America, information technology was always frustrating to go to American history grade and run into there's barely a paragraph on Chinese Americans," Lin says. "Then y'all scout Westerns, and the Chinese are usually the guys with the queues doing laundry."

(Read more: Why the Chinese laundry stereotype persists)

Many of the actors in Warrior are working on a major production with a bulk-Asian cast for the outset fourth dimension. Such a project is yet a rarity in the North American entertainment industry.

"I've always been the only Asian or the token Asian on ready to the point where I've kind of got used to it," says Dianne Doan, who plays Mai Ling, the adult female that Ah Sahm is searching for. "But our cast really is like a huge family. It's amazing to see all of the states together on photographic camera."

"There'south nada funny nearly Warrior, and that'due south what I'yard most proud of."Rich Ting

For the actors, it was likewise an opportunity to upend stereotypes about Asian men and women.

"We dive into a time where the Asian male was so emasculated in the media and through the American lens," says Olivia Cheng, who portrays powerful Chinatown madam Ah Toy, a fictionalized version of a real historical figure. "We don't shy away from diving into that perception and playing within that as a way to reply to the social injustice of the time."

"There'southward zilch funny about Warrior, and that's what I'm nearly proud of," Ting says. "It represents the history of Chinese clearing, the brutality of working on the railways, and the reality of being influenced and pressured to join these notorious Chinatown gangs.

"Information technology'south not a experience-good serial," he adds. "It'due south a existent series."

Adapted from an article outset published in the South Prc Morning Post.

Copyright (c) 2019. Due south China Morning Mail service Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.

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