"Birth of the Dragon," a film that depicts the early years of martial artist Bruce Lee, premiered at this year's Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). The 41st TIFF officially kicked off on Aug. 8, Thursday.
Written by Christopher Wilkinson and Stephen J. Rivele, "Birth of the Dragon" is set in 1965 San Francisco. It heavily revolves around the "Fist of Fury" star, who challenges the Shaolin Master, Wong Jack Man, to a no-holds-barred fight because of a young martial arts student, Steve McKee.
The biopic has been selected to be screened in the Special Presentations section at the 41st TIFF, along with "The Age of Shadows", "American Pastoral", "A Death in the Gunj", "Things to Come" and more, Deadline reported. The film stars Philip Ng as Bruce Lee, Xia Yu as Wong Jack Man, Jin Xing as Auntie Blossom, Billy Magnussen as Steve McKee, Jingjing Qu as Xiulan and Simon Yin as Vinnie Wei.
On Sept. 6, Tuesday, producer Michael London and director George Nolfi talked to Variety about the persisting prevalence of Lee and the reasons why they believed that the biopic could turn into a cross-cultural phenomenon. The latter stated Lee remained the most acclaimed martial artist of all time and, at the same time, the most famous Asian person in the west.
"There is not a single place - in China, or the United States or Canada or the rest of the world - that people don't know his name or have an enormous affection for him and for his story," said Nolfi. "He did something that was thought impossible in the early 1960s - to be an Asian man who became this major star in the West."
"The Bourne Ultimatum" director went ahead to explain why the fight between Lee and Wong Jack Man is legendary to Kung Fu aficionados across the globe. He said that it was because of the specific fight Lee reinvented his style and ostensibly developed the concept of mixed martial arts.
Check out Lee in 1972's "Fist of Fury" below: