Kung Fu movie looking for a star

Harry Mok
December 5, 2007

As you may know, Bruce Lee got the shaft when David Carradine, a white actor, was cast to portray Kwai Chang Caine, the ex-Shaolin monk who roamed the Old West, in the original series.

Lee was in line to play Caine and it would have been tremendous, but the role went to Carradine, probably because the producers or network couldn't fathom having an Asian in the lead of a TV show. It's one of the worst yellowface jobs ever. Lee went back to Hong Kong and started making movies. The rest is history.

With that in mind, Grasshopper, here's some actors who could play Caine:

David Anders: He's got experience playing an Asian guy, as Takezo Kensei (aka Adam Monroe) on Heroes.

Jonathan Pryce: OK, maybe he's too old, but he's done the yellowface thing in Miss Saigon.

Or how about

Jason Scott Lee: Producers realize the original series blew it, so if Bruce Lee couldn't star in Kung Fu, at least the guy who played Bruce Lee in a movie can star in the movie remake of the show he should have been the star of in the first place. Ehh? That make sense?

But seriously, in this post-Yul Kwon, post-Masi Oka world, there are some great Asian American actors out there who could get the role of Caine. Who would you like to see play him?

Contributor: 

Harry Mok

Editor in chief

Editor in Chief Harry Mok wrote about growing up on a Chinese vegetable farm for the second issue of Hyphen and has been a volunteer editor since 2004. As a board member of the San Francisco and New York chapters of the Asian American Journalists Association, Harry has recruited and organized events for student members. He holds a master’s degree in journalism from the University of California, Berkeley, where he was also a graduate student instructor in the Asian American Studies Department.

Comments

Comments

RELAX wrote on Wed, 12/05/2007 - 9:58pm
If an Asian actor doesnt get this part, what a giant slap in the face
Harry wrote on Thu, 12/06/2007 - 5:34pm
Potential stars:Russell Wong -- He's even part-Asian, part-white, just like the character, Caine.Will Yun Lee -- He's kind of bad ass in Bionic Woman and has the martial arts skills.
doru wrote on Sun, 12/23/2007 - 9:36am
i can play a part in any movie.i practice kung fu and qwan ki do.both traditional martial arts.
Hanzo Mania wrote on Thu, 01/03/2008 - 5:51am
This Bruce Lee thing is an urbal legend, he was never thought of to play the lead in Kung Fu.Talk to David Carradine he will set you straight on this, to this day this lie pisses him off.
don wrote on Fri, 09/26/2008 - 12:50am
carradine was brilliant in the role .Lee would have not brought the same calmness to the character
Ray Clark wrote on Wed, 03/19/2008 - 8:31am
Hanzo, you haven't done your homework, in fact you need to go back to kindergarten, because obviously you wasn't old enough at the time to know what was going on behind the scenes when racial discrimination's ugly head was reared during that time period, and Bruce Lee was definitely slated to play the role,everyone with any sense knows this.