He is not a martial artist. He trained in martial arts. Big difference.

We all know that Bruce Lee can’t be duplicated, but why can’t a good story be re-told?
Nobody will think that Rain is trying to BE Bruce Lee… he is simply playing a character in a story. (right?)

Back to the history lessons — Bruce Lee started out as an actor.. he was a child star who got beat up a lot!!! To try & keep from getting kicked around all the time he learned Kung-Fu. (He learned it VERY WELL…)

Jackie Chan was trained as a child to be a performer & learned the martial arts as a part of that. In China if you’re an actor you are EXPECTED to be a singer as well. Like the people who win “American Idol” they MAKE you do a lot of junk you normally wouldn’t – just because. (He also has a clothing line, not unlike the Miley Cyrus stuff showing up in Wal-Mart these days.)

David Carradine was an actor who got a role CREATED by Bruce Lee in a effort to upgrade the american image of asians. Bruce Lee did a LOT for the Asian image in American Cinema, as well as culture.
Life was VERY different pre-1960s. A LOT of people suffered a LOT of stuff to get rid of a LOT of the racism that was just sort-of normal and accepted back then.
(Oh yeah, David Carradine had a background in DANCING, not martial arts when he got the job as Caine. He learned the fighting as he went.)

Although martial arts are hard & require LOTS of training… we’re making MOVIES here, people. That requires … ACTORS… (am I missing something here?)

Rain seems to have a lot going for him. He’s little & cute like Bruce Lee. (Yes, Bruce Lee dripped “boyish-charm” in a lot of his movies – that’s how he got the girl!) So, why CAN’T he play a part in a remake of a movie.. and still do well on his own merit?
The WORST that could happen is, it could flop and the people involved will embarass themselves. (loose money, etc.)
OMG give the boy a chance!

Before Bruce Lee, Asians in Hollywood movies were, for the most part, were severely stereotyped. Bruce Lee helped change that. Everyone was so impressed with his physical abilities and his charisma that they actually listened to him, put him on screen as himself, etc. Of course racism didn’t just vanish over night and it still exists today, but Bruce had a HUGE role in making it better.

I myself am not Asian, although I was born on the Asian continent.

Actually, I wouldn’t mind seeing Game of Death remade. Bruce perished before he could complete that film, and the scenes he is in (the pagoda) are fantastic, but the film as a whole was horrible. I usually just fast forward till I get to the pagoda.

I agree. That is one of Bruce’s movies I would not mind seeing redone. Although, as evidenced here, “they” would be hard pressed to find a suitable leading man.

I will confess that I don’t know much about Rain, except that the man is HOT. I could have watched hours of him doing hand-stand push-ups on a bed of nails!! OH MOMMA! HOLY COW!!!!!!

Whew…okay….let me catch my breath!

Okay….all that aside, let me state my qualifications just for the record. I have been a Bruce Lee fan since I was 8 years old (32 y. o. now). I haven’t read everything he has written, but I do understand his philosophical outlook, have watched all the movies, seen all the documentaries, watched all the movies about him, and have probably exhausted the internet looking for every picture ever taken of him. No one was hotter than Bruce!!!! I am a white girl. I grew up in rural Texas.

Now that you have some concept of my background, here’s my take….

Bruce was a straight up master of the martial arts movie.
There can be no debate about that point.

What made Bruce truly unique was his SUPERHUMAN abilities as a martial artist.

His dedication to his craft was amazing. He had PASSION for it. This was abundantly clear in all his movies. Also, if you watched the documentaries and read anything about him, you know he was a perfectionist about how the scenes were shot and ultimately looked in the final product.

All of these things made for great masterpieces of martial arts cinema.

It certainly wasn’t because of some dialogue-heavy script. He did convey his philosophy through use of some dialogue. However, most of what he wanted to say was through his gestures, looks, and some classic fight scenes.

Now, do you have to be a fairly decent actor to convey that? Yes. Do you have to be an AMAZING one? No.

Do you have to be an AMAZING martial artist? ABSOLUTLEY!!!!

Before someone jumps off a cliff with anger, let me say that I am NOT saying Bruce was a bad actor. All I’m saying is that the movies he made weren’t about being Al Pacino in ‘The Godfather’, they were about his passion for and desire to share the beauty of martial arts.

I mean, how many people saw Bruce’s movies for the dialogue? Anyone?

My point is that Rain’s abilities as an actor are of little consequence. His acumen as a martial artist is more to the point. Period.

So…ogb, I agree with you that there might be someone more appropriate.

But, I also agree with raepyt (interest moniker) that boys are more likely to “hate” on Rain due to his pop-star status as if that invalidates everything else.

I am not very optimistic about a remake of any of Bruce’s movies either. However, deep pockets will do what deep pockets do. We as a “fan community” can do what WE will do by not going if we don’t like it.

Yet, it doesn’t make you any less of a Bruce fan if you go. People demonstrate their “fanness” (so obviously NOT a word) in different ways.

Incidentally, ogb, can you please qualify your statement below a little more? Do you mean from the ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s” Asian to ??? I’m interested in hearing what your view is in detail. Also, would you mind telling us if you yourself are Asian?

>He represented change in the Asians are perceived and helped diminish the negative stereotypes and racism towards Asians. I could go on forever.

Check out my reel.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2Hhw343_h0

Want more evidence this guy is not right for the role?

Here’s part of an interview he did:

What favorite actors do you have that were in martial arts films?
I love Jackie Chan and Bruce Li. They are my heroes but I’m so much faster, I’m so handsome – you know, it’s my turn. [Laughs]

Have you kept up with your work-out routine that you did for this film?
When I finished Ninja Assassin I said, “No more chicken breasts! No more work-outs! No more vegetables! I’m going to eat junkfood – hamburgers, pizza, french fries.” You know, I got three hamburgers last night? I hate work-outs. How long was it to work out to get that physique? Eight months, eight hours a day. How do you balance your music and movies? Half and half. Sometimes people ask, “Which one do you like more: singing or acting?” This question is like asking, “Do you prefer your mother or your father?” I will concentrate on both. I love both singing and acting.

What a freaking joke

How do you know some ppl here don’t know Rain? Maybe they do know him but don’t want him to play the role of Bruce Lee

I never discredited you because you’re a girl. Being a fan of Rain however does imply a bias.

Now, Rain took martial arts seriously for his role in Ninja Assassin. Bruce lee was a martial artist, in the purest sense of the word, FIRST. He used acting to expose the rest of the world to martial arts.

Early reviews of Ninja Assassin are already noting Rain’s acting as not very good at all.

I get it, Rain has dabbled in acting, singing and dancing but he’s not exactly a master of any of those.

You’re right, the actor doesn’t have to be a carbon copy of Bruce Lee, but they can pick someone more appropriate than Rain.

btw, Jackie Chan started singing later on in his career. He started out as a stuntman, became a movie star, then a pop star.

Ogb, perhaps you didn’t read what I wrote. Because what I said is basically that Rain is NOT just a “Korean pop star”.

AND my whole point was that he is NOT slated to be in any Bruce Lee remake. And personally, I hope he doesn’t do it, because I’d like to see Asian actors in big budget Hollywood movies that aren’t about martial arts for once.
All I’m saying is don’t think he “can’t” do it because of the words “pop star.”

Him being Korean shouldn’t have anything to do with it, either.

Again, you underestimate ME because I’m a girl who is a fan of Rain. Don’t act like you know ME because of a few sentences I typed on a comment box. I haven’t typed out my whole life story here, and don’t intend to. How can you assume I know nothing about Bruce Lee, when as a kid I was obsessed with him? I read so much about him, and watched so many documentaries about him, and watched so many of his movies growing up.

I just feel like a MOVIE is not so serious that you must go find a person who is a clone of the original actor, or the person they are portraying, with their life’s path or history.

Was Will Smith actually the greatest boxer of all time, or even a boxer at all? No. But he still did a hell of a job playing Ali in the movie.

All I’m asking is that you fanboys stop throwing around “pop star” as a way to discredit Rain. That has absolutely nothing to do with martial arts ability, or acting ability.

You’re right, a lot of us DON’T know Rain. At the same time, don’t pretend like you know who Bruce Lee is and what he represents just because you saw his movies and read about him. He’s more than just some martial artist or an actor. He represented so much more than that. Because of him, martial arts evolved more in those years he was alive than it did for hundreds of years before him. He represented change in the Asians are perceived and helped diminish the negative stereotypes and racism towards Asians. I could go on forever.

As others said, picking a Korean pop star to fill those shoes would not do justice to Bruce Lee.

Not taking into consideration that this “pop star” can probably still kick their butts.

But guys, just because I’m a girl doesn’t mean I don’t call it like I see it. I’m a fan of many pop singers who attempted acting, who I said SUCKED (Justin Timberlake is a prime example. He was only enjoyable on SNL. His movie roles were horrible.) Rain DOES NOT SUCK as an actor. He also DOES NOT SUCK AT MARTIAL ARTS. (I’m also a fan of many martial arts films, I own a collection of Bruce Lee, Tony Jaa, Jackie Chan, and Jet Li fims.)

Stop talking like you know about Rain, or his skills as an actor or martial artist, just because you saw the words “pop star” or “pop singer.”

It’s unfair. (Jackie Chan, btw, is ALSO a pop singer.)

That’s why I wish they would’ve promoted this movie calling Rain a “South Korean actor” and not a “South Korean pop-star”. “Pop star” immediately turns guys, in particular, off.

In more recent interviews, he said he was not attached because the film was not greenlighted, but that he would be interested in it.

And anyway, people who keep saying he has no background as a martial artist are wrong. He studied tae-kwon-do since he was 10-years-old. And since when does singing pop music mean you’re not a fighter? People are allowed only one skill?

My brother sings, plays football, AND is a black belt in tae-kwon-do. And he’s great at all three.

Just because Rain’s first love, and what he was first discovered as is a singer, doesn’t mean he shouldn’t do martial arts films.

Also, he doesn’t even WANT to do only martial arts films (all though he’s very capable of them, as that is ALL HIM in ninja assassin.) He wants to do whatever type of film he can do. He’s an actor. It’s no different than Russell Crowe being in Gladiator. Russell Crowe wasn’t a trained gladiator, he trained for the movie.

And they chose Rain for Ninja Assassin because he was “a natural.”

Stop using the words “pop singer” to mean that Rain can’t do anything but “sing and dance” and be hot to girls. He’s actually a pretty good actor… any problems he has in Ninja Assassin will be due to language barrier. (Think Sukiyaki Western Django.)

And he’s be perfect for any “Enter the Dragon” remake. Who else looks a bit like Bruce Lee, and can move that good?

Bringing in a “POP SINGER” to fill a role once played by THE “TRUE LEGEND OF MARTIAL ART WORLD” is an insult not only to Bruce and his family, but to the martial art community also.

Let’s not forget that Bruce turned acting to promote the martial art form to the rest of the world.

If Hollywood decides to bring Rain in, they might as well bring Britney in as well and make it a “Enter the Musical 1″

Respect people, respect…