xia yu played wong jack man in birth of the dragon.
xia yu played wong jack man in birth of the dragon.
who played wong jack man in birth of the dragon?
xia yu
on february 19, 2013, it was announced that a biopic titled "birth of the dragon" about young martial artist bruce lee was in development, writing christopher wilkinson and stephen j. rivele. qed international and groundswell productions would finance and produce the film along with their bill block and michael london, respectively. while wilkinson and rivele would also produce the film. on may 30, 2014, george nolfi was announced to be the director of the film, and janice williams was also attached as producer. in june 2015, there was a casting call for the role of lee, in search for a 20 to 30 years old martial arts expert. mike moh was under consideration for the titular role. on november 16, 2015, the film's cast was announced and it included billy magnussen as a martial arts student, steve mckee; philip ng as bruce lee; xia yu as wong jack man; jingjing qu as mckee's love interest, xiulan; and jin xing as the brutal crime boss, auntie blossom. chinese company kylin films came on board to finance the film, while qed left the project, groundswell would still produce the film. london would be the producer along with janice williams, wilkinson, rivele, and kylin's james h. pang, while leo shi young, david nicksay, and nolfi would executive produce, and helen y. zhong, jaeson ma, and joel viertel would co-produce the film. corey yuen came on board to design the film's action sequences, which is set in 1965 in and around oakland and san francisco, about the actual fight between shaolin master jack man and the young lee.
birth of the dragon
an alternative, eye witness, account of the fight is detailed in the book, ‘showdown in oakland: the story behind the wong jack man - bruce lee fight’, by rick wing. this version contradicts the long established mainstream story, attributing the fight to an acceptance of bruce lee’s open challenge, rather than an attempt to stop bruce lee teaching non-chinese. in rick wing’s book, bruce lee strikes unfairly at wong jack man during the pre fight ‘bowing’ stage and - later during the 20 minute fight - is trapped in a headlock by wong jack man, who went through the motions of debilitating bruce lee but did not strike as it would have been a dangerous move. furthermore, wong jack man elected not to use his highly developed kicking skills in the fight, as they would have given him an advantage over bruce lee’s 1964 level of kicking abilities. wong jack man stumbled over a low display platform - initiating the end of the fight - at which point bruce lee leapt on him in a frenzy, and had to be pulled away by the observers. though bruce lee was shouting for wong jack man to yield, no submission was given.
wong jack man