RZA, the man behind the Wu-Tang Clan, has been angling towards the silver screen for many years, bolstered by his relationship with fellow kung-fu aficionado Quentin Tarantino. Almost two years ago, CHUD brought you the scoop from producer Eli Roth that the RZA had scripted his own Kung-Fu opus The Man With the Iron Fist, and would be directing the film.
Now from Deadline we learn that the dormant project has been rzarected and reborn at Universal, with RZA starring in the film, as well as directing and writing. Across the clear blue yonder, RZA will take the production (and its just shy of 20 million dollar budget) to Hong Kong in the fall.
Roth is still producing and had this to say-
“We were looking for projects and I suggested RZA’s script. I wrote the latest draft with him. While I was away shooting Inglourious Basterds, RZA went to China to shoot test footage on his own, with all the choreography. It was very visual and I think he will bring to life a script that mixes kung fu with a spaghetti Western mindset and a hip hop influence.”
The film follows a weapons-maker in feudal China who takes on an important role in his village when it is attacked. RZA (the sharpest motherfucker in the whole clan, he’s just on point, he’s a shark, with the beats, with the rhymes, whatever, any deeds) played something of an apprentice role under Tarantino during Kill Bill and is sure to approach the material with a strong style and dense knowledge of the genre. If he can bring to film what he brought to hip-hop 17 years ago, then we’re in for a treat.
UPDATE: A few wise chewers have pointed that RZA is already a veteran director of theatrically unreleased material, including the two-part Bobby Digital film and the Grindhouse-ready Wu-Tang vs. The Golden Phoenix – a trailer you can see below. (Thanks to Reggie-wanker, and The Desolate 1).
15 comments
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Is this a joke?
"mixes kung fu with a spaghetti Western mindset and a hip hop influence"
Really?!?!
What's the Feudal Japanese for "Pop a cap in a motherfucker's ass"?
You had me at, "..a script that mixes kung fu with a spaghetti Western mindset and a hip hop influence."
Good for you RZA. Sign me up!
Sukiyaki Western Django could be described as "mixing kung fu with a spaghetti Western mindset and a hip hop influence", yet that movie was CRAP
@marco…It sounded like Sukiyaki Western Django to me also. I also agree that it was a crap movie. Hopefully this fairs better.
#3. Yes. Really. Anything else?
"I wrote the latest draft with him." Ruh-roh.
Love RZA as a musician but acting, in a film co-written with Eli Roth??? The odds are against this one.
Oh great, if the prospects for this weren't bad enough with RZA first-time directing, he's also starring. Decent martial action is nothing for novices to fuck around with, especially in the directors chair, especially as a lead. RZA doing both is a bad double whammy agaisnt this flicks prospects.
"Decent martial action is nothing for novices to fuck around with…"
Yeah, well – WU TANG CLAN AIN'T NUTHIN' TA' FUCK WITH, neither.
Agreed, it does sound like Sukiyaki Western Django, but it also sounds a whole lot like the anime Samurai Champloo, which was ShinichirÅ Watanabe's first post Cowboy Bebop gig, and awesome to boot.
Regardless, RZA is a sharp motherfucker, and definitely has an encyclopedic knowledge of the Kung-Fu genre.
My interest is piqued.
#12, I'm glad you mentioned Samurai Champloo, because that's exactly what I had in mind when I read that "hip hop influence" part.
And for the guy who tried to cute with the "pop a cap in a motherfuckers ass"….you sound like an out of touch, 47 year old yuppie that thinks it's still 1993. Wu Tang was never really about such stupidity, anyways. Go listen to A Better Tomorrow or All That I Got Is You. Wu Tang is for the children.
hopefully this is going to be similar in style and theme to the brilliant Afro Samurai anime series (RZA did the scor for the show) a life action version of which would really kick ass.
RZA isn't necessarily a novice. He directed an unreleased Bobby Digital movie (which looked badass from the trailer). RZA is a sharp dude, I don't think it would be accurate to write him off as just another rapper trying to get into movies.
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