Ode to Bruce Lee: 'Warrior' hopefully makes up for 'Kung Fu'

WARRIOR

Actor Andrew Koji plays lead character Ah Sahm in the upcoming television series 'Warrior/'

Little known fact: I once auditioned for Kung Fu, the TV series starring David Carradine.

In 1975, I still had dreams of becoming a screenwriter. I had a writing agent and submitted several ideas for Streets of San Francisco, which was also filming in the city at the time, and other projects -- all with Asian themes.

I didn't consider myself an actor and I make not claims to having any acting talent. I had no formal training (although I did attend the first class conducted by actor Rene Auberjunois which I promptly dropped at Cal) and only appeared in one movie because I was a friend of the director.

Kung Fu was in its third season and apparently, had used up all the known Asian American actors in Hollywood and was in search for new faces. 

My writing agent suggested to the Kung Fu talent scout that he see me. He knew I had some martial arts training and had an 8X10 headshot of me, just in case I sold a script and hit it big. Yeah, we both had high hopes back then.

The auditions were being held in my agent's agency's office, so I trekked my way into San Francisco.

I let the secretary know I was there for the audition. Mind you I had never auditioned for anything in my life. I fancied myself a writer. Being young and naive, I said to myself, "What the hell."

The search for new faces, apparently wasn't going too well, I surmised since I was the only "actor" there for the audition.

Finally, I went in and met the talent scout. He was friendly enough: broad smile, firm handshake and with the upbeat air you'd expect from Hollywood  He handed me a page of a script and asked me to read some lines with him reading the other parts.

I did the best I could, but I knew I was not "feeling" it.

The scout said, "Great, great. That was very good," in an attempt to get me over my nervousness and put me at ease. I thank him for that.

But then, he said, "Can you say the ilnes again with an accent?"

What? The only accent I knew how to imitate was a Filipino accent since I grew up with a community of Filipino American elders, mostly World War II veterans.

I knew what he wanted though. He wanted me to either use a sing-song accent, or a strong, clipped accent like the one used by the Asian American actors that appeared in the Kung Fu series that took place in the American West in the late 1800s.

I opted to imitate the strange accent used by David Carradine, the star of the Bruce Lee-inspired series.

I closed my eyes, imagining myself as the Shaolin monk Kwai Chang Caine. I went for it.

I knew I had blown the audition despite the enthusiastic scout's encouraging words ending with the dreaded, "You'll hear from us."

As expected, I wasn't surprised I never again heard from the scout or the series. The TV series. Kung Fu was cancelled two months later. David Carradine claimed he had sustained too many bruises and injuries to continue. But the real reason was the ratings were down.

I write all this because Warrior, a new series inspired by martial arts legend Bruce Lee will debut this April 5 on the Cinemax network. It is about a martial arts-trained warrior who arrives in during the Tong Wars of 1800's San Francisco and will feature a predominantly Asian cast who have the acting talent that I lacked.

The story behind the story, says that Lee, who had starred as Kato, the martial artist/chauffeur of the Green Arrow, submitted a script about a Shaolin monk wandering the old West doing good deeds and kicking the hell out of bad guys. The networks rejected his idea, but lo and behold, a year later, Kung Fu was developed starring a white guy doing Yellow Face.

Warrior, is based on the notes of Bruce Lee. His daughter Shannon Lee and Asian American director Justin Lin are among the executive producers.

Ironically, while the white actors in the new series will speak English appropriate to the time period, the Asian actors will speak English with a contemporary tone -- an apparent nod to the show's producers and the #NoWhiteWashing and #NoYellowface movements.

I harbor no resentment towards anyone associated with the old Kung Fu show, including that talent scout who auditioned me, but to them all, I can only say: "Accent? My ass!"

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Bruce Lee's dream project is coming to television

Andrew Koji and Olivia Cheng will head the Warrior cast

THE LATE BRUCE LEE's idea for about a martial arts expert in the Old West is on its way to becoming a TV series thanks to Justin Lin, who has been working on the project for four years.

“As Warrior comes together, I can’t help but feel the pride of correcting a wrong and helping bring Bruce Lee’s dream project to life,” Lin said. “We have assembled a cast of incredible actors from all over the world including our talented lead, Andrew Koji, an exciting discovery out of the UK. 

Cinemax has given a 10-episode straight-to-series order to 19th century crime drama titled Warrior, according to Deadline.  Inspired by the writings and work of martial arts icon Bruce Lee, the series is slated to begin production on Oct. 22 in Cape Town, South Africa.

Warrior is described as "a gritty, action-packed crime drama set during the brutal Tong Wars of San Francisco’s Chinatown in the second half of the 19th century. The series follows Ah Sahm, a martial arts prodigy who immigrates from China to San Francisco under mysterious circumstances, and becomes a hatchet man for one of Chinatown’s most powerful tongs (Chinese organized crime family)."

The cast includes Koji as Ah Sahm, a martial arts prodigy who travels from China to San Francisco and ends up becoming a hatchet man for the most powerful tong in Chinatown; Olivia Cheng as Ah Toy, Chinatown’s most accomplished courtesan and madame; Jason Tobin as Young Jun, the hard-partying son of a powerful tong boss; Dianne Doan as Mai Ling, a beautiful and ruthless Chinese woman who, through sheer force of will, has achieved a position of power in one of the tongs.

Justin Lin

The show was developed based on handwritten notes from Bruce Lee that were brought to light by his daughter, Shannon Lee.

“As a show that proudly bears the imprimatur of Bruce Lee, it’s our intention to deliver not only explosive martial arts action – which we will – but also a powerful and complex immigration drama that is as relevant today as it was in the 1870s,” Jonathan Tropper told Deadline in a statement.

“I’ve always admired Bruce Lee for his trailblazing efforts opening doors for Asians in entertainment and beyond,” said Lin. 

Growing up as a Bruce Lee fan, I've heard the stories that the martial artist had a concept for TV that would have starred Lee. As I heard the story, Hollywood decision makers didn't think U.S. audiences would accept an Asian leading man. As the story goes, Lee's concept was intriguing enough that someone "thought up" a show starring a white actor pretending to be Asian. The result was Kung Fu starring David Carradine.

“When Shannon shared with us her father’s writings: rich with Lee’s unique philosophies on life, and through a point of view rarely depicted on screen – Danielle and I knew that Perfect Storm had to make it," said Lin. 

“The martial arts genre a lot of times has been relegated to B-level action," said Lin, who is best known for his work the Fast and Furious franchise and Star Trek Beyond movie.  "And that’s not something we wanted to do. Going off of Bruce Lee’s original material, we wanted to build something that is character-driven, that has important themes and that also takes place in a part of American history that rarely gets talked about. That to me makes it something you haven’t seen before.”

A premiere date for Warrior has not been announced, but it’s expected to launch in late 2018/early 2019.
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