Latino Review has grabbed an exclusive scoop from a “confirmed source” that Ninja Assassin star and Korean pop star, Rain, is set to star in a remake of the 1973 Bruce Lee classic, Enter The Dragon. Screen Rant reported on this “sort of” remake almost two years ago, and much of the details remain the same:
Awaken The Dragon will be about a lone FBI agent who pursues a rogue Shaolin monk to get him to participate in the world of underground fight clubs. Warner Bros. is hoping for the FBI agent to be played by an already established American actor, and the monk to be played by a “fight star.” And Latino Review’s scoop says that fight star will be Rain.
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The Shield writer/producer Kurt Sutter is writing the script for, and making his directorial debut with, Awaken the Dragon. The aim is to make the 21st century update of the Bruce Lee classic have a Noir feel. The story of the original was that of a martial artist who is drafted by a law enforcement agency to enter into a fighting tournament and take down a drug-smuggling operation run by the guy in charge of the tournament.
Here’s what Sutter had to say about his contemporized take on Enter the Dragon:
“I’m a huge noir fan, and this plot lends itself to the film I want to make… I wanted to set it in these underground fight clubs where the action is really raw and expose the brutality of Shaolin Kung fu. This will be more ‘Raging Bull’ than ‘Crouching Tiger’ in its viciousness.”
Rain is starring in the upcoming Ninja Assassin, an English-language action film from the director of V For Vendetta, James McTeigue and Matrix producers The Wachowski Bros. After starring in a few Korean films and TV shows (including Park Chan-wook’s charmingly peculiar I’m A Cyborg, But That’s Okay), Rain got his first English language role in Speed Racer. And, after seeing the trailer for Ninja Assassin, I can say Rain looks absolutely kick ass in martial arts role, eradicating any doubts people may have had about a pop star becoming a great action star.
I know I’d certainly be up for Rain getting the lead role in Awaken the Dragon.
At the start of the year, fellow Screen Rant writer Rob Keyes posted a video showing the behind-the-scenes stuntwork of Ninja Assassin by the infamous 87Eleven stunt team. Rob pointed out something interesting: If Rain does indeed get the Awaken The Dragon gig (which it seems likely he will), and with the amount of movies 87Eleven have worked (300, Watchmen, Bourne trilogy, on and on), could we see the same stunt team work on Awaken The Dragon? I’d actually be surprised if WB didn’t already have them in mind for it.
I don’t usually like remakes because of one simple thing: most of them tend to lack much originality and are just trying to capitalize on the popularity/success of the original to make money. Having said that, if they can make Awaken The Dragon different enough that it doesn’t just come off as a rip-off, then I’m all for it.
Awaken The Dragon certainly sounds interesting – will it have more martial arts-style versions of the fight scenes from Fight Club, perhaps? 87Eleven did the stunts for that, too. Interesting…
Screen Rant will keep you up to date on whether or not this casting news turns out to be true.
Ninja Assassin to is set to be released on November 25th in the US, and on November 27th in the UK, both in 2009.
No word yet on when Awaken The Dragon is aiming to be in theaters.
Source: Latino Review
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9 Comments
Interesting
They will have to be VERY VERY VERY careful in remaking Enter the Dragon, a movie which is considered the absolute best martial arts movie by a lot of people.
I wasn’t too interested in Ninja Assassin after the trailer, but the stunt real showed RAIN doing some pretty cool stuff.
Still, it’s Bruce Lee. Just that alone will result in criticism of the remake.
Being a huge fan of Bruce (read all his books, watched all the documentaries, etc.) I obviously know that “RAIN” will never come remotely close to capturing the audience the way Bruce did but as a movie fan I say go for it, as long as it’s a quality movie.
Maybe Sony can get Rain to play Kato, since Stephen Chow left the roll.
they should not promote this as a remake. they should Just make the best action movie they can and avoid any comparisons that could handicap it before it’s ever released.
@ stuntmanJ & ogb: I couldn’t agree more. There is NO way to approach this as a remake without it being a disaster. There was only one Bruce Lee, and the world just has to get by without him. Because he was the best at what he did, there will never be anyone who can replace him… especially in that role. If they want to remake something, why not try to remake Game of Death. Bruce only appeared in something like 8 minutes and the rest was a body double wearing a horrible fake beard or a motorcycle helmet.
I cant wait to this movie come out.
november
this is just the movie, cant wait, after this movie, there will be no more for this year….
waitiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnnnngggggggggggggg!!!!
It seems like forever waiting for this movie. I can’t wait to see it. I loved Rain in A Love to Kill. I hope he is as good like Jet Li as we need a new martial art actor – can never have enough!!!
Rain could be the martial art fighter in Awaken the Dragon and Johnathan Rhys Meyers as the government agent. Would work for me.
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