Hollywood continues to get in on that China Money... China's state-run National Film Capital has announced a slate of China-U.S. co-productions, all incorporating various Chinese elements, including a movie based on a script co-written by none other than Bruce Lee: China's State-run Film Fund Announces China-U.S. Co-production Slate.To be honest, I'm not particularly excited about Stan Lee's Chinese superhero movie, The Annihilator. But I am intrigued by The Silent Flute, the post-apocalyptic sci-fi epic based on a script co-written by the late Bruce Lee. That project originally couldn't get off the ground, but they're trying it again with the blessing of Lee's widow and daughter:
The Silent Flute, known as martial arts icon Bruce Lee’s lost movie, is also being developed with the backing of the fund. Based on the last and unfinished script co-written by Lee, screen legend James Coburn, and In the Heat of the Night screenwriter Stirling Silliphant – both martial arts students of Lee at the time – the project has been revived with the blessing of Lee’s widow and daughter. A dystopic scifi fantasy set 800 years in the future, the film is casting two male leads from China and Hollywood, and will be co-produced by Beijing-based Heshan Media, with Jay Rifkin, Kyle Jackson, and Heshan CEO Jiang Ping as producers.A version of the script was actually produced as the 1978 movie Circle of Iron
, starring David Carradine. I've never bothered to watch it.As a Bruce fan, this new project sounds cool, just for the novelty factor. But it has its limitations. Let's be real -- Enter the Dragon is not great because of a phenomenal script. It's all about Bruce. Alas, we're left to wonder just how awesome of a movie The Silent Flute, starring Bruce Lee and James Coburn, might have been.
