Casting 50 Bruce Lee Look-a-Likes

If you think finding one Bruce Lee look-a-like is difficult, try finding 100 of them. 

In late July, a score of hopefuls applied for a casting call which specified a few simple requirements: be Asian, male, not a member of the Screen Actors Guild... and be a dead-ringer for Bruce Lee.

The final cut assembled at the David Henry Hwang Theater in Los Angeles for the first shoot, dressed in 1970’s-era clothing and ready for their close-ups.

Although the film directors had a goal of 100, they ended up with a good bunch of approximately 50 people who mostly beared very little resemblance to the legendary film star at all. A myriad of shapes and sizes (see bottom right) arrived in stretchy polyester suits and tortoise-shell sunglasses invoking their inner Bruce. The fact that most of them looked nothing like Bruce Lee gave little concern to the directors.

After all, that was the point of the film. 

Finishing the Game, directed by Justin Lin (Better Luck Tomorrow, Fast & Furious: Tokyo Drift), focuses on Bruce Lee's final movie Game Of Death. As Lee died prior to finishing the film, there was only 30 minutes of usable footage. The rest of the film was finished (not too convincingly) using a Bruce Lee double.

Enter Lin’s new film. Written by Josh Diamond and Lin, Finishing the Game is a comedy set in the 70’s which satirizes the film studio's search for a Bruce Lee replacement who can complete the unfinished film.

Lin has said,  "My movie is about the making of it, the casting of who is going to become that fake Bruce Lee. It's a comedy, it's a period piece. It takes place in the '70s, and a lot of the actors I worked with before."

Lin told the New York Times in an earlier interview: “This is very much a comedy about denial,” he said. “It’s about putting regular people in ridiculous situations, and seeing how they float.”

Finishing the Game will world premiere at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival.

The film features James Franco, Roger Fan, Sung Kang, McCaleb Burnett, and Dustin Nguyen. We look forward to seeing the final result.