'Warrior': Why Bruce Lee's passion project had been rejected by Warner Bros. 50 years ago
Hollywood, for the longest time, has been unable to envision a show or movie which can have leads or a cast that does not include any white actor or actress as its primary focus. However, with creator Jonathan Tropper taking the initiative of landing 'Warrior' on Cinemax this April, for the first time, television will see a show that is based on America but is led by a series of Asian actors. What is even more unique about the show is that it picked up something that Hollywood did not consider good enough for its screen, 50 years ago. 'Warrior', starring Andrew Koji and Olivia Cheng, is based on the writings of Bruce Lee, a man whose profound philosophy was never entirely appreciated by the Western or the Eastern film industries.
Lee had pitched the idea way back in 1971 for a series called 'The Warrior', where he would act as the lead and tell the story of a martial arts warrior who had crossed the sea and immigrated to the Old West. However, none of the studios, including Warner Bros, where Lee had pitched his idea, were able to envision a successful series that would have a Chinese as its lead. Warner Bros. only a year later aired a series called 'Kung Fu', which was revolving on the exact premise of Lee's idea but had whitewashed the lead character with David Carradine playing the role of the Asian lead.
