I have no idea what to make of Wu-Tang Clan member The RZA‘s first directorial outing The Man with the Iron Fists in which he has managed to wrangle not only Jamie Chung, Lucy Liu and Pam Grier to star, but Russell Crowe as well. The addition of Crowe turns this into something else entirely, not just some silly project from a rapper turned actor-writer-director. Universal Pictures is set to distribute the feature and along with this debut of the picture above and the poster below, the trailer will be arriving online tomorrow.
Now I know RZA has a strong appreciation for old school martial arts classics, so he’s not exactly stepping into territory he’s unfamiliar with. He also brought on Eli Roth (Hostel) to help with the screenplay, which isn’t exactly like bringing in Charlie Kaufman, but it is something. And to go along with that Quentin Tarantino has gone ahead and lent his name as presenter.
The film is set in feudal China where a blacksmith who makes weapons for a small village is put in the position where he must defend himself and his fellow villagers. The film has already received an R rating for bloody violence, strong sexuality, language and brief drug use.
Check out the poster and a lengthier synopsis below.
Quentin Tarantino presents The Man With the Iron Fists, an action-adventure inspired by kung-fu classics as interpreted by his longtime collaborators RZA and Eli Roth. Making his debut as a big-screen director and leading man, RZA–alongside a stellar international cast led by Russell Crowe and Lucy Liu–tells the epic story of warriors, assassins and a lone outsider hero in nineteenth-century China who must unite to destroy the clan traitor who would destroy them all.
Since his arrival in China’s Jungle Village, the town’s blacksmith (RZA) has been forced by radical tribal factions to create elaborate tools of destruction. When the clans’ brewing war boils over, the stranger channels an ancient energy to transform himself into a human weapon. As he fights alongside iconic heroes and against soulless villains, one man must harness this power to become savior of his adopted people.
Blending astonishing martial-arts sequences from some of the masters of this world with the signature vision he brings as the leader of the Wu-Tang Clan and as one of hip-hop’s most dominant figures of the past two decades, RZA embarks upon his most ambitious, stylized and thrilling project to date.
