1
00:00:02,501 --> 00:00:05,672
Martial art
has a very, very deep meaning

2
00:00:06,272 --> 00:00:11,277
as far as my life is concerned
because, uh... as an actor,

3
00:00:12,044 --> 00:00:14,947
as a martial artist,
as a human being,

4
00:00:15,248 --> 00:00:19,285
all these I have learned
from martial art.

5
00:00:21,720 --> 00:00:23,555
♪ (WESTERN MUSIC PLAYS) ♪

6
00:00:24,890 --> 00:00:26,092
(SWORD RINGS)

7
00:00:31,830 --> 00:00:34,132
You know, when we first started
talking about this show,

8
00:00:34,233 --> 00:00:36,269
it was ahead of its time,
I think,

9
00:00:36,736 --> 00:00:39,437
when Bruce Lee was typing it up
and coming up with the idea,

10
00:00:39,539 --> 00:00:42,141
but it felt like we kinda
brought that to life

11
00:00:42,241 --> 00:00:44,710
exactly as written,
we're not doing it justice

12
00:00:44,810 --> 00:00:48,481
because so much time has lapsed,
and the medium has also evolved.

13
00:00:48,581 --> 00:00:50,316
We felt like it was important
to build this world.

14
00:00:50,416 --> 00:00:53,052
<i> It takes place
 in 1800s San Francisco.</i>

15
00:00:53,152 --> 00:00:55,254
At the same time,
it's very contemporary.

16
00:00:55,354 --> 00:00:57,524
We really wanted to create
three very specific worlds.

17
00:00:57,624 --> 00:00:59,091
We wanted the world
of Chinatown,

18
00:00:59,191 --> 00:01:00,359
<i> which is our primary world.</i>

19
00:01:00,459 --> 00:01:02,762
<i> We also wanted a world
 of the working-class Irish</i>

20
00:01:02,862 --> 00:01:04,930
<i> to see how they're living
 and they're sparring</i>

21
00:01:05,030 --> 00:01:06,098
<i> with the Chinese,</i>

22
00:01:06,499 --> 00:01:08,467
<i> and we wanted the aristocrats
 and the politicians</i>

23
00:01:08,567 --> 00:01:11,035
<i>because it was really important
 to me to convey</i>

24
00:01:11,136 --> 00:01:12,472
how the decisions were happening
really,

25
00:01:12,572 --> 00:01:13,972
at the top
of the government chain

26
00:01:14,373 --> 00:01:16,642
that were affecting the laborers
in Chinatown.

27
00:01:16,742 --> 00:01:19,879
The San Francisco of our show
is a seething cauldron

28
00:01:19,979 --> 00:01:22,548
of intolerance and tension.

29
00:01:23,183 --> 00:01:26,151
Chinese labor
is just flowing in rapidly.

30
00:01:26,518 --> 00:01:28,388
<i> A lot of the Irishmen
 who have been the workers</i>

31
00:01:28,488 --> 00:01:31,624
of the area are being pushed out
for Chinese laborers

32
00:01:31,724 --> 00:01:33,726
who would work for pennies
but what happened was

33
00:01:33,826 --> 00:01:36,628
Chinatown kinda grew and became
its own world.

34
00:01:36,996 --> 00:01:38,464
San Francisco's
sort of a microcosm

35
00:01:38,564 --> 00:01:40,199
for the United States
at this point.

36
00:01:40,566 --> 00:01:43,136
<i>It's sort of a powder keg moment
 and a tipping point</i>

37
00:01:43,236 --> 00:01:45,438
<i> in racial relations
 for the Chinese community</i>

38
00:01:45,538 --> 00:01:48,407
as we start to climb
towards the legislation in 1882

39
00:01:48,507 --> 00:01:49,642
of the Chinese Exclusion Act.

40
00:01:50,042 --> 00:01:52,812
Many people never even heard
of the Chinese Exclusion Act.

41
00:01:52,912 --> 00:01:55,782
<i> It's a period of history
 that's been glossed over,</i>

42
00:01:55,882 --> 00:01:58,618
<i> and it was a very harsh
 immigration policy</i>

43
00:01:58,718 --> 00:02:01,620
<i> that targeted
 one race of people.</i>

44
00:02:01,720 --> 00:02:03,556
Chinese people
could not own property.

45
00:02:03,656 --> 00:02:07,360
Chinatowns, a lot of them,
became sort of the boundaries

46
00:02:07,460 --> 00:02:10,329
within which they were allowed
to be.

47
00:02:10,763 --> 00:02:13,098
I think back to when
I was in high school,

48
00:02:13,198 --> 00:02:14,701
and you know,
you take history class,

49
00:02:14,801 --> 00:02:15,802
US history class,

50
00:02:16,336 --> 00:02:19,005
and there's literally, you know,
a four-sentence paragraph

51
00:02:19,105 --> 00:02:20,606
<i> about the Chinese-American
 experience,</i>

52
00:02:20,706 --> 00:02:22,674
<i> and they helped build
 our country.</i>

53
00:02:22,775 --> 00:02:26,312
And for me, personally, I think
it was important to tell a story

54
00:02:26,412 --> 00:02:28,814
of a character that's going
through that journey,

55
00:02:28,914 --> 00:02:32,251
that American immigrant story
we can all relate to.

56
00:02:32,919 --> 00:02:35,521
JONATHAN TROPPER:<i>
 We wanted to take this time
 in history and take the racism</i>

57
00:02:35,621 --> 00:02:37,156
<i> and take
 the immigrant experience</i>

58
00:02:37,256 --> 00:02:38,491
but move it into, you know,

59
00:02:38,591 --> 00:02:40,159
a more elaborate
and heightened world,

60
00:02:40,259 --> 00:02:41,560
<i> a world where we could
 also have fun</i>

61
00:02:41,661 --> 00:02:44,096
and generate a level
of pulp and action.

62
00:02:44,196 --> 00:02:45,631
My father did that in his films.

63
00:02:45,731 --> 00:02:48,201
<i> He had amazing,
 entertaining action.</i>

64
00:02:48,301 --> 00:02:51,337
He had humor, and then
you also got to sprinkle in

65
00:02:51,437 --> 00:02:54,340
<i> some of the philosophy,
 some of the seriousness,</i>

66
00:02:54,440 --> 00:02:56,542
<i> some of the deeper messages,</i>

67
00:02:56,642 --> 00:02:59,178
and this show
is exactly the same.

68
00:02:59,278 --> 00:03:00,612
It's very Bruce Lee.

69
00:03:00,713 --> 00:03:02,781
BRUCE LEE:

70
00:03:10,223 --> 00:03:12,091
When I set out making the show,

71
00:03:12,191 --> 00:03:13,425
<i> you know,
 because Shannon's involved,</i>

72
00:03:13,525 --> 00:03:14,761
<i> and I knew that the fans
 of Bruce Lee</i>

73
00:03:14,861 --> 00:03:16,727
were gonna scrutinize this,
I wanted to give them

74
00:03:16,829 --> 00:03:18,664
-a lot of to sort of grab onto.
-(GRUNTING)

75
00:03:18,764 --> 00:03:20,199
There are moments
where I slip in

76
00:03:20,300 --> 00:03:22,502
some of his famous phrases
into the dialogue.

77
00:03:22,602 --> 00:03:24,403
<i> There's other times
 where certain fight moves</i>

78
00:03:24,503 --> 00:03:25,904
<i> we steal right out
 of Bruce Lee movies,</i>

79
00:03:26,005 --> 00:03:28,741
<i> and it's all done really
 to pay respect to the master.</i>

80
00:03:29,675 --> 00:03:33,312
It was really, how do we
pay homage to Bruce Lee,

81
00:03:33,413 --> 00:03:35,748
<i> and at the same time,
 create our own show?</i>

82
00:03:35,848 --> 00:03:39,284
Bruce Lee has this idea
that our warrior, Ah Sahm,

83
00:03:39,384 --> 00:03:41,453
<i> would form some kind
 of relationship</i>

84
00:03:41,554 --> 00:03:43,756
<i> with a cop named Big Bill,
so I definitely wanted</i>

85
00:03:43,856 --> 00:03:46,292
to take that name and take
that idea that Bruce had

86
00:03:46,392 --> 00:03:48,293
-and build on it.
-The character of Ah Sahm

87
00:03:48,394 --> 00:03:49,662
was a character
who came from China

88
00:03:49,762 --> 00:03:52,265
and came over to America,
you know, searching for someone,

89
00:03:52,365 --> 00:03:56,235
and then Big Bill was sort of
his adversary/friend

90
00:03:56,335 --> 00:03:58,470
who sometimes was described
as a drunk,

91
00:03:58,571 --> 00:04:01,340
<i> sometimes as just sort of
 a loud Irishman,</i>

92
00:04:01,440 --> 00:04:03,709
but those two characters
really stood out on the page.

93
00:04:03,809 --> 00:04:07,379
In this world, Ah Sahm is like
the draft version of Bruce Lee.

94
00:04:07,480 --> 00:04:09,515
We really wanted to get away
from the tropes

95
00:04:09,615 --> 00:04:12,418
<i> of the 70s and 80s Hong Kong
 action movies,</i>

96
00:04:12,518 --> 00:04:14,120
<i> where the martial arts hero</i>

97
00:04:14,220 --> 00:04:16,088
<i> is this sort of pure soul
 on a quest.</i>

98
00:04:16,454 --> 00:04:18,558
We took Ah Sahm and wanted
to make him really human,

99
00:04:18,658 --> 00:04:20,492
<i> with flaws, and you know,
 he's very reckless,</i>

100
00:04:20,591 --> 00:04:22,494
he's impulsive. He doesn't
always think things through,

101
00:04:22,594 --> 00:04:24,062
and he's very much
the antithesis

102
00:04:24,163 --> 00:04:25,965
<i>of what Bruce Lee would've been.</i>

103
00:04:26,732 --> 00:04:29,402
The goal was not to make Ah Sahm
a clone of Bruce Lee,

104
00:04:29,502 --> 00:04:31,570
so what we do instead is
we find ways of inserting

105
00:04:31,670 --> 00:04:34,540
some of the Bruce Lee philosophy
into all of our characters.

106
00:04:35,107 --> 00:04:37,644
BRUCE:

107
00:04:42,381 --> 00:04:43,381
When people see this show,

108
00:04:43,482 --> 00:04:44,617
I think they're going
to be surprised.

109
00:04:44,717 --> 00:04:46,318
There's a lot
of preconceived notions.

110
00:04:46,419 --> 00:04:48,453
When people hear Bruce Lee,
they hear martial arts.

111
00:04:48,554 --> 00:04:50,089
Of course, there's great action

112
00:04:50,189 --> 00:04:51,623
but I think
they're gonna be surprised

113
00:04:51,724 --> 00:04:53,693
<i> how emotionally involved
 they're gonna be,</i>

114
00:04:53,793 --> 00:04:56,328
and we have the ability
to able to take the audience

115
00:04:56,428 --> 00:04:57,596
into different points of view.

116
00:04:57,696 --> 00:04:59,499
These are compelling characters,

117
00:04:59,599 --> 00:05:01,466
not just Ah Sahm,
not just Big Bill.

118
00:05:01,567 --> 00:05:03,703
When you watch the show,
you're gonna see that

119
00:05:04,136 --> 00:05:07,439
<i> we care about every frame,
 every second of this story.</i>

120
00:05:07,539 --> 00:05:09,408
DANIELLE WOODROW:<i>
 We honored Bruce Lee's legacy</i>

121
00:05:09,508 --> 00:05:11,409
and what his real hope
for the show was.

122
00:05:11,777 --> 00:05:15,515
I hope that the picture
I am in...

123
00:05:16,682 --> 00:05:22,588
would either explain
why the violence was done,

124
00:05:22,688 --> 00:05:25,090
whether right or wrong
or whatnot.

125
00:05:25,190 --> 00:05:26,326
(SWORD RINGS)

126
00:05:36,635 --> 00:05:40,340
♪ (WESTERN MUSIC PLAYS) ♪

127
00:05:46,646 --> 00:05:48,848
-(CROWD YELLING)
-(SWORD RINGS)