Cool News
Warner/Legendary’s KUNG-FU Is Casting! And It Has A Director Now!
Hey, everyone. ”Moriarty” here.
Well, well, well...
This one had dropped off my radar a bit, but it looks like there’s finally some real forward motion on the new Warner Bros. big-screen adaptation of the ‘60s TV series, KUNG-FU.
The first bit of news is that there appears to be a director for the film now. I can’t find any reference to this guy’s connection to the film anywhere online, so I think this may be a scoop. It looks like Max Makowski, director of the Singapore film ONE LAST DANCE, may be onboard now to direct this one. We’ve had a few reviews for ONE LAST DANCE here on the site, and it seems to be generally well-liked, an action film that delivers.
So is Makowski the right guy for this? I know he was associated with a big-studio version of SHINOBI, too, but that appears to have gone nowhere in development so far. With them throwing this out to casting directors now, I’m guessing this is going to be a pre-strike project for Legendary/Warner, and we may start hearing more news about this soon. It looks to start production in China in March.
For now, they’re searching for “Caine, Male, 20-35. A handsome mix of East (Chinese/Asian) meets West (American). A man with the emotional capacity of a young Clint Eastwood. Charismatic and charming, Caine was raised by Shaolin monks after his mother’s murder and became a highly skilled fighter. In addition to being a strong actor with the right look, the actor for this role should be athletic and although not required, some martial arts training, gymnastics or ballet are a plus.”
What’s also interesting is that we now have an idea of what story the film will be telling.
“During the 1880’s, a half-Chinese Shaolin Monk roams America’s western frontier in search of his American Father, but winds up incarcerated in an exceptionally harsh prison where he must use his martial arts skills to survive.”
I’ve talked with some of the people developing this film at Legendary, and it sounds to me like the intention is to make something genuinely good and gritty and different. As with any remake, there’s certainly potential there, and the fact that it’s not “just” an origin story is encouraging.
We’ll have more on this one as it develops, and all thanks as always to my unnamed source.
Drew McWeeny, Los Angeles
Drew McWeeny, Los Angeles
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+ Expand All
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to watch
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Both in connection with this project and in general. Those guys seemed like they were going somewhere, then they did that pretty bad Jack the Ripper movie and disappeared. Not even so much as a puff of smoke. I coulda sworn they were supposed to be doing this one, weren't they?
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This might just be an interesting take on a old boot of a story.
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You know it's gonna happen.
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Hollywood's dead!
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The Grasshopper.
and for the record... David Carradine is much more sexy now than he ever was in Kung Fu. A cameo is a certainty. -
I'd see that.
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I think the weed may be stunting their ambition to get off the couch and make movies. Seriously.
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All these remakes and Tv shows turned into movies.What happened to CHIPS with Fez and the epic blockbuster TJ HOOKER:The Revenge of Zmed.Now that id pay to see...as long as theres a donkey involved.
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Mori, I actually saw this up on another site a few hours ago. Moviehole. Sounds like someone cut and paste their story 2 u and send it to u as scoop...
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The Hughes brothers were attached to this project and it's a shame they dropped out, as they need to pull their fingers out, from not doing anything new for 6 or 7 years. Tarantino would gladly do this, either as director, writer, or both, but Warner Bros can't offer it to him, as he isn't a directors guild member.
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The last thing the world needs is a "grittier" take on Kung-Fu. I grew up around dumb-fuck Neanderthals who thought the show needed to throw out all of that philosophy crap and get with the ass kicking. Now it seems they'll get their way. You want that, go watch a VanDamme flick. Tarantino would fuck it up as much as the next coked out dip-shit Hollywood hack. Just let it rest in peace.
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The Hughes Brothers were supposed to do this!
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Think about it. Rowan could really pull this off. He's got the "look", he's got the acting chops, and he's athletic. What more could you want?
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I think they should go with Jet Li.
Or a complete unknown.
But I hate how the casting call just emphasizes "looks" and then says martial arts skills are not necessary. What the F@#*?
If they get some Asian Abercrombe & Fitch model....thats gonna suck donkey balls.
They need someone with mad skills and intelligence to pull off the quiet philosophical side to Cain. Thats why I'd go with Jet Li...who may be alittle older....but someone with his qualities would be....a WISE choice.
Now...SNATCH this pebble from my hand! -
sure he's actually hawaiin but he has that half asian / half caucasian look and knows martial arts well of course....and it be sorta fitting that he play a role originally meant for bruce lee since he played a role originally played by brandon lee with the Crow tv series.
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After all he was Grasshopper in the original series and then again in FK - The Legend Continues in the early 90's.
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Not '60's.
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...sounds like a rehash of the show's pilot episode, where Caine was incarcerated and forced to work on the railroad.
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The Hughes brothers are unfortunately extremely slow and extremely picky with their film projects. They probably dropped out of KF, to opt to do a movie on based on a book about Richard 'The Iceman' Kuklinski, the infamous mob killer, which Variety mentioned a few months ago, not unless they've dropped out of that as well.
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perhaps Hollywood truly is out of new ideas
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Sep 12, 2007 7:48:19 AM CDT
The reason the series worked so well in the 1st place
by damned if i can login
Watch the commentaries. Carradine says the censors wouldn't allow more than 2 minutes of fighting per ep.Therefore the series focused on the *story*...not 15 minute sparring segments where every turn of the head is foleyed with a 4ft piece of bamboo 'swoosh'.One cannot deny that the viewing public was totally enthralled by KF as well as Billy Jack. However, the martial arts genre - for the American public back then - was *new*...which can't be said for today's audience. And yes, Crouching Tiger proved that a very good film *could* be produced in that genre, but it was 1 in 10,000.Watching the series now provides many textbook examples of storytelling perfection...especially in the methodology used to tie the flashback philosophy segments into the tale being told. And in retrospect those sequences are far and above the strength of the series.Unless the damned near impossible happens, this remake will most likely be overly laden with Wire-Fu and other (highly overdone) Fu theatrics....which might work if there weren't literally 10,000 films already made with that exact content.Hate to say it....but to quote the fanboys..."shitfest" comes to mind.
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But their both older than what they want. I think it would be better if they were older.
Maybe Ernie Reyes Jr? He needs work. -
...please don't let it be Bret Ratner!!!
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That's what Hollywood needs to dig up next.
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small to slim.
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Instead of using a squinting, flinty-eyed Caucasian like David Carradine; "That's sort of an *Asian* cast to his eyes, he'll do!"
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Nobody's thinking of doing HOGAN'S HEROES: THE MOVIE ??? I'd go see it on the big screen, and I would think that Johnny Knoxville could play Hogan quite well!
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I remember the Kung Fu episode with Angelique, and, I think, Jodie Foster played her daughter. Christ I'm old.
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Yes, I said it.
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...They need to bring back "B.J. & the Bear". "Sheriff Lobo" was just a mere spin-off.
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Brandon Lee would have been perfect for this role. Fist, he had the right ethnic mixture. Second, and of course, he possessed the training and skill. And third, he wielded a charismatic screen presence.
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Oh wait, too late, you blew that one.
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*really? They're really doing that? But I was sorta kidding..., I mean, nobody would really spend real actual money on a Shazam movie would they? They are? Really?
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Seriously, the wire-fu and all that other non-realistic stuff has to go. We need to see some real Kung fu, Wu shu, Wing Chun, or a mix up of all those plus other styles in the form of Jeet Kun Do.
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Mark Dacascos would be great in this role, but I'm not going to watch this shit anyway. Bruce Lee created this story and they fucking stole it from him. I'd rather watch Way Of The Dragon any day. DRAGON WHIPS TAIL ACROSS DAVID CARRDINE'S FACE. Nuff said.
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It wasn't Jodie Foster in that episode...it was Brandon Cruz, from The Courtship of Eddie's Father.Ironically, the episode you mentioned with Jodie Foster also included Kenneth Tobey who was in Billy Jack.In one fell swoop I prove completely that I am indeed *much* older....sheesh.
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Like many young people in the '70s, Kung Fu inspired me to study martial arts. I retired from teaching and fighting (competitively) 3 years ago. My son still has a couple of private students. So, regardless of how bad this may turn out, I have to go see the film from whence it all began. BOOT TO THE HEAD ! ! !
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"Uh-oh, hot dog!"
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or a western-eastern, I think Walter Hill or John Milius would kick ass as director. And thanks for the Bobby Lee reference Wyatt.
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sooo good in Iceman, Year Of The Dragon and The Lat Emperor..
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What the fuck you smokin Grasshopper?
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In the original Kung-Fu:The Movie
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Do you hear the grasshopper?NOOld Man how is it that you hear these things?Young Man how is it that you can not? Shia Labeouf for young Caine!
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He just did a fucking Southwestern Bell Yellow Pages commercial, for God's sake. I think he just might be available.
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The guy goes from Oscar rumors for Kill Bill to phone book commercials in just a few years?! I know thats sad, and he plays off his Caine character in those ads also.
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ok Im biased since I used to take KENPO but I thought the guy never got his due and Perfect Weapon was a fairly good movie with unique action scenes. God, Id be so fired if I brought up Speakman in a casting meeting...
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That would be awesome.
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Or reverse it with a cowboy in feudal Japan.
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He's a dead ringer for Bruce Lee and has a solid martial arts background.
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then i thought about it for a second. I'd kind of like to see that.
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the kid from the KARATE KID movies! Yes, he would be perfect. What-the-fucks his name??? uhhhh....Danyulson or something? He's the best actor, and with makeup could look oriental, and he's got to be a 10 to 12th degree master by now! and they could cameo that dead chick from the Clint Eastwood boxing movie as his outside-prison love interest who gets conjugal visits.
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...so I hope to God that this never gets made. It's one thing for Hollywood to be so uncreative that they can't do anything but remakes these days, it's quite another to take a cherished property and shit all over it. That's all Hollywood knows how to do these days. Shit. Granted the series wasn't perfect either, with the third season bordering on unwatchable. But the first season still goes down on my top five list for best seasons of any television show ever. This movie will be nothing but magical wire-fu with all the taoism either left out of it or perverted to fit the needs of the script. And the show was more about taoism then it ever was about "kicking ass."
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for the "Strike." 2009 is going to be an awful year for film, between this and G.I. Joe. How long before the Fanta Girls movie gets rushed into production?
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Isn't he half asian? He sure looks it.
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That Lloyd from Entourage post cracked me up. Bravo!
Seriously though, when reading this article, all I could think was that it's too badd Brandon Lee is gone. He would have ruled as Caine.
Tony Ja perhaps? Does he even speak english? I bet they go with some Smallville looking MOSTLY WHITE guy who has a slight asian look to him (or is good at squinting).
It depends on the casting as to whether I see this in theaters or download it for free. -
dammit Warner brothers pisses me off
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Hey kenpo brothers...lol..anyway met Speakman, and is was the real deal. Just made some back choices, remember that terrible atlantis flick?
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Jet Li? Jeff Speakman? Mark Dascascos? Plus everyone else mentioned thus far in this thread are all WAY too old for the role!
With the exception of maybe Ernie Reyes Jr & he's a midget by Hollywood standards. They'd never give him the lead in a big budget remake of a popular TV series & pop culture icon like KUNG FU.
Back to the age issue, Brandon Lee would also be too old for the role of Caine were he still with us today. Hell, he WAS the right age back in '91 or so when he played Caine's son in that made for television flick like someone had previously mentioned here. The charecter of Kwai Chang Caine was supposed to be a young man in his early 20s or so as he made his journey of self discovery across America. NOT some wisened old dude in his 40s with crows feet.
I think they're going to have to go the casting an unknown route on this one. -
After all, white guys playing Asian characters are cool again! Especially if the only thing "Asian" about them is their name, even when they're in makeup!If no white guys are available, maybe Will Smith will be free. After all, he made Wild, Wild West a HIT! :DAnd Cuba Gooding, Jr. co-starring as his deaf/mute/retarded sidekick would make this cinematic GOLD...
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glad to see that it looks like they'll be paying homage to the legendary "Caine performs Swan Lake" episode.
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Check it out: http://www.stephenwestrogers.com
I've been looking for a role like this to sink my teeth into! I even have some martial arts experience. Damn, a match made in heaven!
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