Ang Lee’s “Old Gold Mountain” has quietly pushed its production start date.
Initially slated to begin shooting this August in Northern California, sources close to the project tell Deadline the film is now looking at a spring 2026 start. The reason? Lee is reportedly still ironing out key creative elements.
With his Bruce Lee film in limbo, Lee has pivoted toward “Old Gold Mountain,” an adaptation of C. Pam Zhang’s acclaimed debut novel How Much of These Hills Is Gold. Originally conceived as a limited series, the project has since evolved into a feature film under Lee’s direction. It marks the “Life of Pi” filmmaker’s first narrative outing since 2019’s “Gemini Man.”
Set during the dying embers of the American Gold Rush, Old Gold Mountain tells the story of two orphaned Chinese-American immigrants navigating a brutal, unforgiving Western frontier.
Lee was supposed to shoot the film with none other than three-time Oscar-winning cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki (The Revenant, Gravity), who just wrapped Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s upcoming Tom Cruise-starring film. No word yet on whether he’ll be able to participate in the spring 2026 shoot.
The script comes from Korean-American playwright Hansol Jung, best known for her work on Apple TV+’s Pachinko. Avy Kaufman, a longtime Lee collaborator, is overseeing casting. While no official names have been attached, expect that to change soon.
There’s something comforting about Lee returning to this kind of material — personal, historical, immigrant-rooted. The Taiwanese auteur behind “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” “Brokeback Mountain,” and “The Ice Storm” has always worked best when exploring cultural dislocation and identity.