Universal Pictures and producer David Leitch have reportedly found their lead actor for a feature film reboot of the beloved martial arts western series “Kung Fu.” Deadline says that veteran action star and director Donnie Yen has been selected to lead the new incarnation. Yen, known for his martial arts abilities, has been a versatile actor moving between Hollywood, China, and Hong Kong productions throughout the last 20-plus years (working decades longer in Asian cinema before nabbing Hollywood parts) with his Western credits including “Blade 2,” “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” “John Wick 4,” and “Shanghai Knights.” He’s likely most known for leading the “IP Man” franchise which focuses on a dramatized version of the life of the famous Wing Chun Master, who taught a young Bruce Lee in Hong Kong before he moved to California to pursue an acting career and opening his own martial arts school.

“Kung Fu” has a script penned by Stephen Chin (“War Dogs”) and Leitch is expected to potentially direct the martial arts film having an extensive stunt background himself. Some of the many projects Leitch has worked on in the past include the original “John Wick,” “Bullet Train,” “Hobbs & Shaw,” “Deadpool 2,” and the upcoming Ryan Gosling pic “The Fall Guy.” The latter film due to be released on May 3 is also a feature film based on an older television show.

The original series in retrospect is steeped in controversy as the legendary Bruce Lee saw “Kung Fu” as the perfect project to help transition into leading roles after having done supporting stuff including playing the sidekick Kato in the popular “Green Hornet” series in the 1960s. Instead, the main role would go to David Carradine, the son of veteran actor John Carradine, who had zero martial arts training at the time. Once Lee was passed over, the actor decided to return to Hong Kong where he originally started out as a child actor in movies such as “The Kid,” and created a new action persona for himself with “Enter The Dragon” before his untimely death in 1973 at the young age of 32. Launching a new wave of modern martial arts movies to counter The Shaw Brothers’ period films within the genre of wuxia that quickly became extremely popular in the West.

Some of the controversy stems from Carradine, a white actor, playing a Shaolin monk named Kwai Chang Caine. In the show, Caine’s European ancestry was explained with the character being an orphaned American boy living/raised in China who would leave the temple as a young man to wander the American West but obviously, the part was meant for an Asian actor. The series would eventually get a revival in the 1990s with a descendent of Caine navigating a modern New York City alongside his son, who worked for the NYPD, but like his father had also trained at the Shaolin temple.

More recently there was the CW series reboot starring Olivia Liang that ran from 2021-2023.

It’s unclear when “Kung Fu” will begin shooting but with Yen attached, the movie is now in great shape to go in front of cameras very soon. This isn’t the only big project Yen is expected to be looked at as there had been some chatter within Lionsgate that his “John Wick 4” character Caine could end up getting his own movie spinoff and he’s been attached for ages to a feature film adaptation of the cops vs. Triads video game “Sleeping Dogs.”

SOURCE: DEADLINE