Ang Lee (no relation to Bruce Lee) has been quietly working on the project for some time and is casting his son, Mason, in the starring role. Mason has reportedly been training in martial arts for the past three years to prepare for the part.
The director first came to wide prominence with the 2000 wuxia-style martial arts movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, which won the Academy Award for best foreign language film. His directorial debut was the 1991 movie Pushing Hands about a Chinese tai chi master living in New York. He's twice won the Oscar for best director with 2005's Brokeback Mountain and 2012's Life of Pi.