Although I think we should file this one in the rumour drawer until it’s been absolutely confirmed, it’s being suggested that Shaolin soccer director, Stephen Chow, is working on a remake of the Bruce Lee movie Way Of The Dragon. When he stepped out of the director’s chair of The Green Hornet last year, it was said he was doing so because he was working on his own big Hollwood movie.
Shortly after that it was rumoured that this unknown film would be a big action spectacular starring Jack Black and Anne Hathaway. Now a report on Channel News Asia says that the movie will be called Tai Chi and will be based on Way Of The Dragon (Chow is a massive Bruce Lee fan).
As well as directing, Chow will play a Chinese migrant to the US who works as a dishwasher and hides his skills as a martial arts master. However he’s soon forced to stand up to gangsters who are intent on oppressing his fellow migrants, eventually opening a school to share his knowledge of Tai Chi. However, as that synopsis doesn’t sound too much like Way Of The Dragon (although it does a little bit), and Channel News Asia also fails to say where they got their info, it may turn out Chow’s film has nothing to do with the Bruce Lee movie, even if it is about a martial arts dishwasher.
The reason there’s been such a delay between Chow leaving The Green Hornet to work exclusively on this movie and the planned shoot start in June is said to be because he’s keen to ensure the script is absolutely perfect. He’s also apparently slightly nervous about directing such a high profile English-language film with major Hollywood stars like Hathaway and Black, and has engaged a tutor to ensure his language skills are up to the job.