Brandon Lee is the only son of Martial Art legend Bruce Lee. As far as Brandon Lee goes, it's not his lineage to Bruce Lee that would've made him a huge star. Sure, the name may have initially opened the door to help him get started, but none of that door opening would actually lead anywhere meaningful unless Brandon Lee had something that audiences wanted to see. The so-called "it" factor.
Welcome to Part 5 of 5 of Martial Arts Movies Stars of the 90s that weren't Jean-Claude Van Damme or Steven Seagal. Brandon Lee had actually signed multi-picture deal with 20th Century Fox, the studio that produced Rapid Fire, and there were even talks of turning that film into a franchise, with 2 sequels.
Prior to 1992s Rapid Fire, Brandon Lee got his start with the made for television Kung Fu: The Movie, in 1986. This movie was a follow-up to the tv show from the early to mid 1970’s starring David Carradine, who played a half-Chinese, half Caucasion Shaolin monk named Kwai Chang Caine. The choice of a non-Asian actor to play the role of Kwai Chang Caine at the time was controversial, and believe it or not Bruce Lee actually came up with this idea, but was not offered the role b/c he was Asian. I only bring this up, b/c Brandon Lee said that being cast in the film as the son of Kwai Chang Caine was a sort of retribution.
Brandon Lee would next star in Legacy of Rage, the Cantonese language film would be the only Hong Kong movie he would make. You may all recognize a familiar face in that film, none other than Bolo Yeung, who starred alongside Brandon Lee’s Father Bruce Lee in Enter the Dragon and of course Jean-Claude Van Damme in Bloodsport as well as Double Impact.
So Brandon Lee would come back stateside and follow up with Laser Mission, a movie about as cheesy as it’s title… Laser Mission. It really wasn’t until 1991 where he would really begin to show his potential, starring alongside Dolph Lundgren in Showdown in Little Tokyo. This film has become a cult classic and for good reason. It’s a buddy cop movie; what I find really amusing and interesting about it is the dichotomy between the 2 characters.
He would then follow this up with his first Hollywood leading man role in 1992s Rapid Fire. The marketing was pretty genius. Although Brandon Lee wanted to escape his father’s image and become a dramatic actor, he hoped that acting in action films would eventually lead him to other types of roles. This is actually kind of the same hopes that both Jean-Claude Van Damme and Steven Seagal had as well.
But going back to Rapid Fire: many of the fights scenes were choregraphed by Brandon Lee and you see elements of Jeet Kune Do throughout. Though the film was overall critically panned by film critics, almost all of them described Brandon Lee to be charismatic, Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times took it one step further and described the film as “Better than Enter The Dragon” and that it was a star-making role for Lee.
So around this time, Brandon Lee was actually offered a role to play his father, Bruce Lee, in the biopic, Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story. A role he turned down, as he thought it’d be awkward to play his father, and too strange to approach the romance between his parents.
Instead, his next movie ended up being The Crow. A film that really appealed to Brandon because it offered more drama than action. An interesting side note, the movie’s executives originally wanted to make The Crow a musical starring Michael Jackson, it was only after Brandon Lee and director Alex Proyas came on board that the movie took a more serious tone. Sadly, The Crow would be Brandon Lee’s final film, as he would be accidentally killed during the films production.
With very few scenes left to film, and having the blessing of Lee’s family, The Crow was completed by re-writing the script, using early CGI technology and stunt doubles to fill in Brandon’s role.
In 1994, The Crow opened at number 1 in the United States and ended up grossing over $50. A star was born… and a star was taken away. Brandon Lee died at the young age of 28. 19 years after his father, Bruce Lee passed away. His father’s early death may have left him with a messed-up perception of his own mortality.
It seems Brandon Lee knew he was going to die young. While promoting the film “Once Upon A Time In Hollywood”, it’s star, Brad Pitt told the interviewer with Esquire about a night he hung out partying with Brandon Lee. Brad Pitt says, about Brandon Lee “He drove a hearse and lived in Echo Park. We went out one night and everyone else had peeled off, and we ended up back at his place and it was like 6 in the morning. A real, you know, drunk and stony night, and he proceeded that night to tell me how he thought he was going to die young like his dad. And I just chalked it up to, you know, stony 6:00 a.m. talk. Then he got The Crow the next year.