PHOENIX: Even nearly 50 years after his death, Bruce Lee can still make ripples.
From this summers ESPN documentary, Be Water, to Quentin Tarantinos heavily criticized depiction of him in Once Upon a Time … In Hollywood, the martial arts legend continues to captivate audiences.
That continues with Warrior, a Cinemax historical drama inspired by his original idea and premiering its second season Friday. A screen icon who struggled with racism, Lee is now influencing the careers of the mostly Asian cast as Hollywood faces a national reckoning on race and representation.
Im more proud of something like Warrior than if I was putting on a superhero costume and being the token Asian, said leading man Andrew Koji, who credits the show with helping him land the role of Storm Shadow opposite Henry Golding in the upcoming G.I. Joe movie Snake Eyes.
It has helped me open doors, literally, but also in terms of confidence in my ability.
Koji plays the series titular warrior, Chinese immigrant Ah Sahm who arrives in 1870s San Francisco. Game of Thrones level carnage ensues. Instead of warring houses, there are warring Chinatown gangs known as tongs. The crime drama doesnt shy away from showing anti-Chinese racism painfully relatable 150 years later in the COVID-19 era.
They wrote this a year and a half ago, Koji said. Its just scary how relevant it is because we havent learned.
The production came from an eight-page, typed treatment Lee offered to Warner Bros. in 1971. But the studio wouldnt sign off on having a Chinese man star in an American TV series, according to daughter, Shannon Lee.
The treatment and Lees accompanying handwritten notes sat in his familys garage until 2015, when The Fast and the Furious franchise director Justin Lin asked Shannon Lee about it. Lin helped get the concept on the development track and became an executive producer. Jonathan Tropper, co-creator of the show Banshee and a Lee fan-boy, boarded as showrunner.
Koji, who is of Japanese and British descent, studied martial arts growing up but knew little about Lee. Hes since consumed Lees movies, writings and philosophies. In the beginning, Koji was worried that he was essentially playing Lee and that people would compare them. But Shannon Lee assured him that they wanted the best actor, not martial artist.
She said No, just keep doing your thing. Dont worry about finding out who Bruce Lee is, Koji said.
It remains unclear whether Warrior will get a third season. Cinemax decided earlier this year to stop producing original programming. Canceling it would especially hurt in a TV landscape with few Asian-led vehicles.
Shannon Lee isnt giving up on finding a new home for Warrior, which will eventually be available on HBO Max. Its helped reveal another side of her father, she said.
I think hes really getting his due as a creative someone who knows how to story-tell, Shannon Lee said. Were finally getting to see he wasnt just a flash in the pan.
Any fan of Lee who died in 1973 at age 32 after an allergic reaction to pain medication will recognize his DNA in the brutal, blood-spilling fights.
Dustin Nguyen, a star on the original 21 Jump Street series in the 80s, plays a menacing tong leader and directed an episode this season. A huge fan who studied under Lees old training partner, Nguyen helped sprinkle in nods to his idol.
Its just little things that the writers put in there to pay homage to Bruce Lee without being a caricature, which I think is the danger zone whenever you get to the subject of Bruce Lee, Nguyen said. Theres lots of bad caricatures and portrayals of who he is and what people think he is.
One of those, in Shannon Lees view, was her fathers cameo in last years Once Upon a Time … In Hollywood movie. She was incensed watching a boastful Bruce challenge Brad Pitts stuntman to a fight. It was especially irresponsible as Tarantino never consulted her but spoke with families of other real-life characters.
He was not a bully and he was not arrogant, she said. Quite frankly, my father was treated in that film like he was by white Hollywood when he was alive.
It was sheer coincidence that the documentary, Be Water, aired on ESPN in June. Almost like a tonic to Tarantinos film, director Bao Nguyen fleshed out the difficult path Lee had to stardom through archival footage and interviews, including with Shannon Lee. The title comes from Lees belief that fighters need to be formless and adapt like water.
If Lee were alive, his daughter believes he would be part of the current national conversation about Hollywood white privilege and support Black Lives Matter.
He believed in celebrating peoples cultures and backgrounds and not holding it against them, Shannon Lee said. He was interested in people showing up as themselves and being authentic.
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Tang reported from Phoenix and is a member of The Associated Press’ Race and Ethnicity team. Follow her on Twitter at https://twitter.com/ttangAP
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