Bruce Lee biopic ‘Little Dragon’ to focus on his youth

Another Bruce Lee biopic is on the way, and this time, the martial arts legend’s daughter, Shannon Lee, is involved in its development.

Entitled “Little Dragon,” the biopic will focus on Bruce Lee’s youth in 1950s Hong Kong. As such, it will also delve into the country’s political and social landscape at the time, and show how these forces shaped the man who’d one day become one of history’s most celebrated martial artists and actors.

Previous Bruce Lee biopics barely scratched the surface of the star’s formative years. It is for this reason that Shannon Lee’s extensive new research for the film focused on her father’s early years.

“I always thought that a film about how my father’s life was shaped in his early years in Hong Kong would be a worthwhile story to share so we could better understand him as a human being and a warrior,” she said.

The young Bruce Lee studied under legendary wing chun master Ip Man, himself the subject of several films. Photo: Bruce Lee Family Co.

Lee herself is co-writing the film’s screenplay. Her company, Bruce Lee Entertainment, will be producing “Little Dragon” alongside Converge Entertainment. Pre-production is already in progress, while shooting is expected to commence in July in Malaysia and China.

Indian director Shekhar Kapur, who is co-writing the script with Shannon Lee, will be helming the project.

“The film will be a contemporary take on Bruce Lee who, aside from being considered the most gifted and famous martial artist of all time, is now accepted as a major philosopher in his own right,” Kapur said in a statement. “It is important that audiences today can relate their own lives to the journey of Bruce Lee, who manages to tap into his inner wisdom and harness his true destiny before it was too late.”

Kapur previously directed 1998’s Oscar-nominated biopic “Elizabeth,” and its 2007 follow-up “Elizabeth: The Golden Age,” both of which starred Cate Blanchett and Geoffrey Rush. So it looks like “Little Dragon” is in good hands.

Bruce Lee has been the subject of a number of biographical dramas, including 1993’s “Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story,” and 2016’s disastrous “Birth of the Dragon.” The latter was embroiled in a whitewashing controversy, thanks to its focus on the fictional white protagonist, Steve McKee, who in the story is Bruce Lee’s friend. — BM, GMA News