Last week it was revealed that Universal Pictures and Legendary are pushing forward with a film version of the classic 1970s TV series, Kung Fu. Now THR reports that a perhaps unexpected name is in talks to direct, Moulin Rouge and Great Gatsby’s Baz Luhrmann.
Rich Wilkes (xXx, Marvel’s Iron Fist) has been working on the script, but assuming Luhrmann does sign up, he’ll also want to rewrite the screenplay.
The original Kung Fu TV series starred David Carradine as Kwai Chang Caine, a Shaolin monk who roams the American heartland, long for his missing half-brother. This movie version will be set in China, where Caine is searching for his father. The current version of the script has him ending up in jail, where he must fight to survive.
Luhrmann has never made an action movie before (he was flirted with the western on more than one occasion though), although his stylized, rather hyperbolic moviemaking methods could certainly make this an interesting visual feast.
Hopefully he’ll actually get the movie made as a film version of Kung Fu has been in development for years, most recently with Bill Paxton attached to direct back in 2011.
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