Cinemax's 'Warrior' brings Bruce Lee's 50-year-old script to life with an Asian lead
Bruce Lee's eight-page long script about a young Asian warrior who arrives on the shores on the 19th century San Fransisco was rejected by many major production houses due to its demand for an Asian lead. Yet, almost a year after Lee had pitched the idea, in 1971, Warner Bros. aired a series called 'Kung Fu', which was based on the exact premise of Lee's idea but had whitewashed the lead character with David Carradine playing the role of the Asian lead. Just as Lee's story went, 'Kung Fu' followed a Shaolin monk, Kwai Chang Caine played by David Carradine, as he traveled through America's Old West looking for his half-brother, Danny Caine. As he travels across the land, all he has to help him is his spiritual training and his skill with martial arts.
While the show is still criticized for its utilization of the "yellowface" phenomena in Hollywood that would often see white actors painting their faces yellow in order to play extremely demeaning representations of Asian characters, Cinemax picked up the script in all its authenticity. Lee's daughter Shannon had herself brought in the scripts for the show, creator Justin Lin immediately knew that the show had to be made. 'Warrior' follows a young skillful martial arts warrior, Ah Sahm (Andrew Koji), who arrives in Chinatown in San Fransisco looking for someone close to him. However, he soon finds himself between the gripping racism of the white supremacists and the ongoing secret battle between the Tongs.