In case it isn’t already completely obvious, or you’ve been living outside the pop culture bubble, RZA loves kung fu. And while his music has sampled heavily from kung fu films, the rapper/producer/painter is set to add director to his impressive set of job titles.
In the making for the past decade, we finally have our first look at RZA’s directorial debut “Wu-Tang Vs. The Golden Phoenix.” And really, we expected nothing less. It replicates everything that’s awesome about the kung fu films of yore including the grainy footage, bad dubbing and awesome fighting. The plot is appropriately vague but the voiceover tells us it’s set in “a world where everyone fights…and they’re all fighting for one thing – the Wu Tang weapon.” Yeah, we dig it but unfortunately, there is no theatrical or DVD release information about this one yet. The only thing we don’t like? The awful, noodly, ear piercing guitar work by John Frusciante. We pretty much ended up watching the shorter trailer on mute. Thankfully, RZA is credited with doing “beats” for his film so hopefully that will outweigh Frusciante’s contributions. The film was apparently made to prove to Hollywood he had the chops to handle directing a film, and well, it appears to have worked.
As we previously reported, RZA is set to direct and score “The Man With The Iron Fists” for Universal, based on a script he wrote with Eli Roth, who will also be producing the film (and who is also credited as an executive producer on ‘Golden Phoenix’). ‘Iron Fists’ is set to begin production in September in Hong Kong. And we hope (and expect) it will keep the same fun yet reverential vibe of ‘Golden Phoenix.’