Ang Lee’s next film is a Bruce Lee biopic starring his own son, Mason, in the lead role. A few months ago I had reported that the script was finally done and a production start in 2025 could happen on the film.
Speaking with a Chinese outlet, Lee confirms those plans, mentioning: "It took me several years to figure out how to crack this film and come up with a way to connect with it."
He’s still eyeing his son to play Bruce Lee, saying, "Neither of us can go back in time, so we hope to start making this film as soon as possible."
Lee, who hopped onboard the project in November 2022, is going to direct the biopic. Talented screenwriter Dan Futterman (“Capote,” “Foxcatcher”) was originally tasked to write the script. There have been a few delays on this one, mostly having to do with strikes and rewrites, but things seem to finally be coming together.
The biopic, titled “Bruce Lee,” is set up at Sony’s 3000 Pictures. That’s the same place that, in 2013, Lee began development on a film dramatizing Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali's heavyweight title fight, known as the Thrilla in Manila. I’m told that film, titled “Thrilla in Manilla,” has been put “on hold” for the time being.
However, unlike his last three films, don’t expect Lee to shoot “Bruce Lee” in 3D, or maybe even high frame rate. Earlier in the year, the filmmaker admitted that not only is it “too hard” to film in 3D, but that the end results just weren’t worth the hassle (“3D is bad”).
Lee’s impressive filmography includes such films as “Sense and Sensibility,” “The Ice Strom,” “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” “Brokeback Mountain,” “Lust Caution” and “Life of Pi.” He hasn’t directed a film since 2019’s “Gemini Man.”