The Big Boss (1971) was made under chaotic conditions on a tiny budget, with a director replaced mid-shoot and a lead actor who rewrote his own role. It broke every box office record in Hong Kong cinema history.
The shoot for Enter the Dragon began on January 17, 1973, in Hong Kong. Bruce Lee was not happy about several things before the cameras even turned over. The script, which he’d had a hand in developing, had been rewritten by Warner Bros. in ways he hadn’t approved. The budget was higher than any Hong…
In the summer of 1972, Bruce Lee had a problem that most directors would envy: he’d negotiated complete creative control over his next project from Golden Harvest, the Hong Kong studio that had made him the highest-paid actor in Asia. He had a concept, a structure, a philosophy he wanted to put on screen. He…
The Green Hornet ran for 26 episodes on ABC between September 1966 and March 1967 (a defining milestone in how Bruce Lee changed Hollywood for Asian actors). It was cancelled due to low ratings. Bruce Lee walked away from it with something more useful than a long run: the foundation of a screen persona that…
Enter the Dragon was made for 850,000 dollars and has grossed 350 million. The behind-the-scenes story of how it came together, what Bruce Lee was trying to accomplish, and what happened after he died before the premiere.