Jason Scott Lee, the star of Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story and the upcoming South Seas saga Rapa Nui, talks about the spiritual healing powers of Hawaii, demonstrates martial arts technique to young toughs on the street in London, and massages our reporter's twisted neck.
_______________________________
"What a pity." A friend says when he sees a publicity still of Jason Scott Lee on my desk. Spaced as I am, I don't ask what he means. A week later, when I'm packing to go to London, another friend sees the same photo. "That poor guy." she says, holding the picture up for a better look. "He was really cute, though, huh?' " Wait a minute... they seem to have confused Jason Scott Lee, who portrayed (and was not related to) Bruce Lee in Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story with Brandon Lee, who was Bruce Lee's son and who died on a movie set when a gun that should've been empty turned out to be loaded.
Well. I'm off to London to interview the one that's very definitely still breathing.
"Let's do the interview here," Jason Scott Lee says, bringing me into the living room of his hotel suite, which is warm and, considering that it's damp and drizzling outside, looks very inviting.
But I am not seduced by creature comforts. "You think my editor sent me to London to do this in a hotel room?" I ask. "No way. She's going to want color, sounds, sights. We have to go outside. C'mon, we'll take a walk." I hand him the tape recorder and point to his jacket. "Keep it in your pocket. It'll pick up everything you say." We leave Lee's hotel and head straight into the madness of Piccadilly Circus. This might be more color than I bargained for. And although we're both wearing boots and leather jackets, we're shivering.
"Oh, God," Lee moans, pulling up the collar on his shirt and hooking I his arm through mine, "I miss Hawaii."
A word here about Jason Scott Lee. Twenty-seven years old. Raised in Hawaii. Serious surfer and gymnast. Looks like a cross between Keanu Reeves and John Lone, but his features are more chiseled. So handsome that women stop in their tracks to get a better look. His face has a soulful quality that makes you want to protect him. His body, which we got to see quite a bit of in Dragon, is like a dancer's, only with better muscles. He just got back from months worth of filming on Easter Island for Rapa Nui, a romance/adventure produced by Kevin Costner and directed by Kevin (Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves) Reynolds. Besides Dragon he has starred in Map of the Human Heart (which I tell him I loved), a sentimental story about an Eskimo (Lee) and the half-Indian girl (Anne Parillaud) he falls in love with. His only other work was in minor roles in films like Born in East LA and Back to the Future Part II.
Okay, back to the present. Lee is in London for the opening of Dragon, for which he learned jeet kune do, the martial arts discipline that Bruce Lee invented. He's soon to be certified as a jeet kune do instructor. "My father was a big Bruce Lee fan," he says while guiding me across the street. "He's Chinese-Hawaiian, and my mother is Chinese. He used to take us to all these really fantastical films with martial arts in them. And Bruce Lee was amazing. When they asked me to play Bruce, I thought it was ridiculous because he's way too big, he's a legend. I didn't want to take it at first. I had to do a screen test first, and I thought that if I could pull through that, then maybe it would be good. It was a choreographed fight scene. Once I got into the swing of it, I thought it would be really great."
"So Brandon was never up for the part of Bruce, right?"
"No, no, he didn't really look like him, and he didn't want anything to do with it. He wanted to be his own person, do his own thing."
"What do you think, is there a Lee curse?" I say, referring to the rumors-that-won't-die about Brace's, and now Brandon's, death.
Lee laughs. "I don't know. I think it depends on what you think of as a curse. I guess there'll be all kinds of speculation. It's like religion--whatever you believe in is going to be what your faith is. Brandon was dealing with a lot of dark forces, a lot of his shadow side, in The Crow, and I feel that when you play with your shadow side, you're playing with fire. If you're not in the light, then anything can happen. I don't know what his spiritual connection was, but the dark side is a very dangerous place to be."
What can I possibly say to that? We head up a side street, and when we turn the corner, the signs assault us. "Girls, Girls, Girls." "Naked, Nude Girls."
"Ah," Lee says, smiling, "the red-light district. Ever been here?"
"Can't say I have. And you?"
"Oh, yeah, sure. C'mon, I'll give you the tour."
"This will be great for the interview," I say.
"Well, you don't have to mention it..."
"You must be kidding," I say, working my way around the hookers.
"You know," Lee tells me, "you look around here, in London, and a lot of people are really oppressed. And maybe, when they see Dragon, it will get them into another space, thinking about other possibilities. Maybe a healthier life style--like breathing! You step outside here and it stinks. You just smell everything. It's awful. The only places I've been in Europe are here and Amsterdam. You should go there, to Amsterdam. You might not remember it, but you'll have a great time."
"I'll put that on my wish list. So, tell us about Rapa Nui."
"Rapa Nui is about the conflict in the 1600s on Easter Island. It's about the clash of the royal clan and the working class. I'm the grandson to the chief of the royal clan. It's a love story. Easter Island... it's one of the most incredible places I've been to. And it's one of the remotest inhabited places in the world. Which I think alone might explain the giant statues that dot the island. They're of Polynesian origin, and they're for remembering the ancestors. So each one has different characteristics, according to the ancestor they're honoring. They're not their gods, though."
"What was Kevin Costner like? I ask that of everyone I interview," I tell him.
"Interesting. He was there for a week. He did come down and make an appearance and do some business and then he headed off to do Wyatt Earp."
"Do you get to wear your hair this long in the movie?" I ask, running my hands through his thick, long, gorgeous hair.
"It was tied up in a topknot. It was like a fountainhead!"
"Sort of like Pebbles?"
"Exactly. And I've got a pretty severe loincloth going on in this film."
"Oh goody."
"And the girls are all topless..."
"Oh, it's gonna be huge."
"Yeah, I think so, too," he says, smiling a Buddha grin. "The film looks beautiful. There's a lot of nice tranquility in it, and the colors... the lighting there is so natural and golden. If the emotional punch and the throughline is there, I think it'll be huge. Because it's so different. There hasn't been a Polynesian film without an Anglo leading man since, when? Tabu in the '30s, the silent movies? And I think that's really special. I'm really proud of it."
"Have you been recognized on the street a lot since Dragon?"
"In the States, sometimes. But basically, I can do whatever I want."
"Do you read a lot?"
"Not really," he says. "I'm reading something very interesting now. The Art of Dreaming, by Carlos Castaneda. I'm just a quarter of the way through, and I've been trying all the exercises, but it's really, really difficult."
I nod and say, "I do a lot of dream work, and it takes a lot of patience and practice to remember your dreams. And then, when you do, and you get up in the morning and write them down, it takes, like, a half hour because you remember so much, and then you wish you didn't remember them."
"Jesus, Martha, thanks for the encouragement."
"What kinds of music do you like?"
"I've been listening to a lot of Carlos Nakai lately. Have you heard of him?"
"No."
"He's an American-Indian flute player. I have a friend from the Seneca Nation, and he turned me on to this music."
"What about the movies? Do you go to them a lot?"
"Not really. I enjoy them a lot, but I don't get to too many. I enjoy Vincent Ward's films..."
"Who's Vincent Ward?"
Lee laughs and slaps my shoulder. Hard.
"Hey," I yell, "watch it. I have a bad neck."
He gets a worried look. "Let me see," he says, and runs a hand along my shoulders.
"God, they're tight."
"All right, who's Vincent Ward?"
"I thought you said earlier that you loved Map of the Human Heart. He directed that and The Navigator."
"Oh, him. I forgot his name."
"You should have someone look at that neck."
"Believe me, Jason, everyone in the world has had a crack at this thing. And nothing has worked." We turn another corner and we're at my hotel, The Groucho Club.
"I love it here," Jason says. "I stayed here once and it's a lot of fun. Let's go in." We get settled at the bar, and then Jason heads for the men's room.
"Hey, Jason..." I say, and he turns around. "Turn the tape recorder off."
He laughs. "You don't want this on the tape?"
"Suit yourself," I tell him.
We realize quickly that the din at The Groucho Club is louder than we can deal with, so we head out into London's Chinatown. Suddenly we're face-to-face with two guys who have tattoos on their faces.
Jason steers me around them. "The youth of today," he says.
"What do you think?" I ask.
"Pretty scrambled."
"You don't think of yourself as one of them?"
"Oh, sure, I am. Young at heart, always will be. But everybody's following some kind of trend. And believe me, I've explored a lot of that chaos."
"Anything you'd like to share with me?" I ask.
He laughs. "And a thousand other people? I think I'll pass."
"You've traveled quite a bit since you started working, huh?"
"I've been to a lot of places in the few years I've been in the business, yes."
"Is that what you thought would happen?"
"Well, not exactly. But once I did Map, I thought, hey, this is the only way to do it. Make epics and go travel the world. These films have taken such a long, long time to do. And I like that, I like the slow process."
"So, what's next for you?"
"Nothing for a while. I think I'm going to take a vacation. I'm thinking about doing something else."
"Let me guess ... you want to direct?"
He laughs. "Not exactly. I'm thinking about getting involved with a Hawaiian herbalist--"
"You're giving up acting?"
"I don't know. It's running me down. I'm interested in the healing arts, massage therapy. I'm not giving up acting, but maybe doing one film a year..."
"It doesn't work that way," I say, leaving no room for argument.
"Who says? It's the exception that makes the rule. People say that it doesn't work that way, but people said I couldn't do what I've done so far. The basic thing is that I want to do the best work possible, and I can only do that if I'm relaxed and have a lot of energy. And that can only come from taking time off. It's because people think acting is everything. But there are other arts that can produce the same amounts of awareness and more sensitivity, and you can carry that knowledge into your other roles and develop even greater characters because you're doing something else, learning something else. Doing Dragon opened up all this information about health and fitness. It brought me into more awareness about herbs and made me want to be of more help to people. Sometimes when I'm acting, I feel like I'm not contributing. A lot of times when you're acting, you're no longer talking and listening, you're going at it for your own self. When you do other things that involve a more calm atmosphere, you're really learning. You think I'm crazy?"
"No, sane. I think that's the smartest thing I ever heard an actor say."
"I'm living back in Hawaii, now."
"You spent all that time trying to get out of there only to go back?"
"Oh yeah, and what a blessing it is. Hawaii is a very healing place. It has a really heavy vibe. It's very sensual in a lot of ways and the spirituality of Polynesia is finally being resurrected. There are some people there who could teach me quite a bit about what we call lomi-lomi, or healing hands, loving hands... which is massage and the like."
"Do you do good massage?"
"Me?" he asks. "I think so. I just need a little more practice."
"Hey, my neck is willing..."
"Okay. I have a friend who's also an actor and he's into body working and the healing arts--a Japanese fellow--and I've been working with him quite a bit. We have a lot of plans for what we want to do in Hawaii. We've been working on the sand, and in the water, doing a lot of hydro-workouts. There's also a possibility to do acting workshops there. And I think the combination would really tune people in. I mean, granted, I love to act, but it is such a big hassle. You have to fight for this, and fight for that, and I'm getting tired of fighting. And I just started! It's like they're making me weak, they're taking away my life. And I'm not even sure I'll do this, but if I don't put it out, it'll never happen."
Just then, two young black guys walk past us and do a double take. One of them comes running over.
"Excuse me," he says in a heavy cockney accent. "My friend is blind, and he doesn't recognize you. But you were in that movie, right?"
"What movie?" Lee asks.
"The Bruce Lee movie," the guy says. His friend, who outweighs any of us by a hundred pounds, ambles over.
"Yeah, that was me." Lee admits. "Where'd you see it?"
"In Holland," they say simultaneously. "You captured him very well," the big one says. "You know that move, did you do that at proper speed, or is that speeded up?" Hands are flying through the air.
"Watch it," I say, walking between them. Am I out of my fucking mind?
"This is my bodyguard," he tells them. They look suspicious.
"So you can do kung fu now?" they want to know.
Jason nods.
"And you couldn't do none before then?"
"No, I couldn't."
"Oh, so you think you're Bruce Lee now?" They're laughing.
"Have you studied martial arts?" Lee asks the big one.
"When I was little, we all took it in school. Now we're interested in boxing..."
"Well, I could show you a little move," Lee tells him.
"No, it's okay," the little guy says, trying to direct his friend around the corner.
But the big guy is not about to miss this opportunity.
"This is for her," Lee says, nodding in my direction. "Okay, you have to find your reference point, because anything you throw out, you're going to be trying to block it. It's from a point of stillness that you work, into an explosive move. . . [Hits the air in front of the guy's face]. Can you feel the energy?"
Believe me, only a dead man wouldn't have felt that energy.
"Yes, all right then, thanks very much..." they say, and scurry away.
We laugh all the way back to the hotel. Lee invites me up to his room so he can give me a neck massage. The boy has the hands of a true healer. When he's finished he goes to clean up and then he comes out with what looks like a huge bud of marijuana.
"It's sage," he tells me. "Very cleansing. If you put it into tobacco, it cleanses the tobacco."
He lights the sage and then begins to hit my body with a feather. Just a regular feather. A little bit here, a little bit there. I don't know whether to giggle or swoon.
"Just a little picker-upper," he says.
The next day, I go with Lee to photographer Brian Aris's studio. He looks subdued and sleepy on the way there, even when we pass Abbey Road studios. But when the camera starts clicking, he comes to life. He puts on a variety of outfits--leather jacket, vest, Hawaiian material wrapped around his lower half--but after I say, "Take the shirt off for the fifteenth time, he finally does. Nobody suggests that he put it back on after that.
At one point, I look up and see that all the life is gone from Jason's face. "Want to get some air?" I ask. Outside, he walks around in circles and talks about feeling as if he weren't really in his body. He smokes a sage cigarette and then goes back in for another round of photos. He's asleep as soon as the car pulls away from the curb.
That night, he doesn't show up for the screening of Dragon. When I get back to my hotel, there's a message saying that he's at his hotel, running a high fever. The next morning, I pack up all my herbs and head over there.
"Take these," I tell him, handing him liver boosters and immune replenishers. He wants to talk about herbs and healers, but he's so weak that he just stops mid-sentence. I make him drink lots of bottled water. His eyes are red, his skin is burning. I rub his hands and tell him to go back to bed. Later I talk to Jason on the phone and he tells me he's leaving London. "I'd rather be on a plane headed for where people can take care of me," he says. Needless to say, he isn't headed to Hollywood.
__________________
Martha Frankel interviewed Christopher Walken for the December '93 Movieline.