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As the star
of ``Rapid Fire,'' Hollywood is already hailing him as ``the
action-adventure hero of the 1990s.'' It is true that the genre is losing
its punch. Chuck Norris, once Lee's martial arts instructor, has turned to
TV. Declining profits have forced Rambo out to pasture. And ponytailed
Steven Seagal was long in the tooth when he got into the fray. It's time
for fresh blood, and Hollywood's decision makers, never long on originality,
have hunted down none other than the 26-year-old son of Bruce Lee, an
international cult figure of the action flicks of the 1970s. The hope is
that the son also rises. Sitting in
the lotus position, his tennis shoes on the antique sofa in his Atlanta
hotel suite, young Lee doesn't seem cowed by all the pressure. ``I don't
mind walking in my father's shoes,'' he said. ``It's the way I was raised.
I'm proud to be my father's son. I was never made to feel that I would be a
failure. I'm just out to do the best work that I can do.'' The first
thing that hits you about Lee is his size - he's a small guy - wiry, not
bulky. His vulnerability, not his aggressiveness, leaves an impression.
``Fame is
nothing new to me,'' he said. ``I grew up around a lot of it. In Hong Kong,
my father was a national treasure. I've seen what it can be like. I had to
grow away from that. The novelty has long since worn off. I don't think I'll
be overly impressed by whatever happens with this picture - one way or the
other.'' Bruce Lee
was born in San Francisco to a touring vaudeville family from Hong Kong.
Something of a hothead youth, he studied kung fu as a teenager and
eventually opened his own martial arts schools. After studying philosophy at
the University of Washington, he turned to acting, landing supporting roles
in the TV series ``The Green Hornet'' and ``Longstreet'' and appearing in
several episodes of ``Batman.'' It wasn't
until he went to Hong Kong in 1972 and made ``Fists of Fury,'' followed by
``Enter the Dragon'' and ``Return of the Dragon,'' that Lee became an
international star. He almost always played the underdog, matching the
system punch for punch. Lee's
untimely and mysterious death July 20, 1973, at age 32, furthered his cult
following. He became the Asian James Dean. His wife,
Linda, an American of Swedish heritage, took their children, Brandon and
Shannon, now 23, back to America to grow up in a quiet Los Angeles suburb.
She was
determined that they would have a normal upbringing. ``I was 8
years old when my father died,'' Brandon Lee said, ``but I knew about his
fame. I grew up with posters of him on the walls of my friends' houses. . .
. I grew up with a built-in comma after my name. It was wilder when we were
in the East. In Hong Kong, Korea and all over the East, he was treated like
a god. He was a much bigger star there than in the United States.''
Lee said it
wasn't until junior high school that he put his father's larger-than-life
image behind. ``I was
just like another one of his fans to my friends,'' he said. ``They soon
learned that I couldn't tell them anything that hadn't been printed in other
places. I didn't have inside stories, so they forgot it.'' Lee talks
freely about all aspects of his life except one - his father's puzzling
death. Ask about it and he'll tell you, curtly, to read his mother's book.
Bruce Lee
died during the filming of a picture in Hong Kong. The coroner ruled it was
a cerebral hemorrhage, probably caused by a freak reaction to a painkiller.
This is the version supported by Linda Lee's book; others, however, claim
the reaction was aggravated by use of marijuana. And one popular theory
holds that the government was involved. Lee's films had spawned violent
rebellion against authority by Oriental youths throughout the Far East.
The actor's
following was so fanatic that producers started making films with
lookalikes, billed as Bruce Li, Bruce Le and Bruce Lei. There was even a
film called ``The Clones of Bruce Lee.'' His original screen test for ``The
Green Hornet'' was trotted out for theaters, as were several episodes of the
TV series. Meanwhile,
Brandon Lee turned down periodic offers to make movies. ``They were
not things I would want to be associated with,'' he said. In ``Rapid
Fire,'' he plays Jake Lo, a college student who is threatened by the mob
after he witnesses a killing. It is directed by Dwight H. Little, who scored
a hit with ``Marked for Death'' starring Steven Seagal. It is the first of a
multipicture deal young Lee has with 20th Century-Fox and Carolco.
Lee's
features do not suggest his Oriental background; by his own account, he
looks more like his American mother. His training is as much in acting as in
the martial arts. He majored in theater at Emerson College in Massachusetts
and studied at the Strasberg Academy in Hollywood. ``I've
wanted to be an actor since I was 5 years old, but I was willing to wait,''
Lee said. ``I didn't panic that it might not ever happen. I was on stage in
comedy, like `The Importance of Being Earnest.'
``Eventually, I'd like to be directed by Martin Scorsese or Oliver Stone,
but I don't think I'm slumming by doing martial arts films. They are an art
form unto them-selves.'' He made his
first feature film, ``Legacy of Rage,'' in Hong Kong, followed by ``Showdown
in Little Tokyo,'' co-starring Dolph Lundgren. In one
compelling scene from ``Rapid Fire,'' the character Lo talks of the memory
of his father, who was killed before his eyes during the Chinese uprising at
Tiananmen Square in Beijing. Brandon Lee
doesn't smile much, maybe because he's serious about his mission.
``I was
taught values at a very young age,'' he said. ``As I was growing up, I
became aware that they were more serious than those of my American friends.
I carry that with me. I'm not trying to get away from my father - not at
all.'' Transcribed
by Samantha/BLM |