To top it off, the director of the film is saying, "There was really only one person that I could think of who could even carry this off."
He's talking about you, Will Yun Lee, a guy who apparently makes quite an impression over seaweed and wasabi. Because that director is Joseph Kahn, a guy you met in a sushi bar long ago.
"He comes in and he sits next to me, and we just started talking," recalls Lee, 28, of his first encounter with Kahn. "Cut to three years later and we're working on a movie together."
It's a nice story that reinforces the notion that Hollywood is all about connections. But when Lee and Kahn first met, neither one had any pull in the movie business. Kahn was an established music video director, but was still relatively unknown. Lee was trying to avoid being cast as a Chinese delivery boy on a bicycle.
The two lost touch after that first meeting, and each began making headway in their careers. |
| Previous |
|  |
Lee received a principal role on TNT's supernatural drama "Witchblade," was voted one of People magazine's 50 Most Beautiful in 2002 and appeared in the James Bond caper, "Die Another Day." Kahn won a Grammy Award for directing an Eminem video, built up a resume that lists Britney Spears, Janet Jackson, U2 and Moby as clients, and has even become a recognizable face, due to MTV's "Making the Video" documentaries.
Both were on the verge, ready for that project that would catapult their names into feature films. But when the opportunity came via a movie called "Torque," they were gun shy.
"Warner Brothers called me and wanted me to do the movie, and I actually turned it down twice," says Kahn, 31. Uninterested in the simple plot, Kahn wanted to hold out for something else, especially since it would be his directorial debut on the big screen. But after thinking it over, he relented and signed on. |
| Next |
|
