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From page 23 Presley or Marilyn Monroe can generate millions annually. "In the early years, there really weren't things to license," Cadwell said. "There were key chains or a puppet doll that looked like Bruce," but little else. Now, though, Bruce Lee would seem to be a natural as a brand name advertisers and vendors could use to sell products. Mark Roesler, chairman and chief executive of CMG Worldwide, the business agent for the heirs of more than 300 dead celebrities, estimates that Bruce Lee could generate yearly licensing fees in the sevenfigure range. Although Roesler doesn't represent Lee's estate, he sees the martial arts star's earning-prospects as good. "He is an icon that is known throughout the world, and when you have someone like a Bruce Lee or a James Dean, someone who has a very strong name recognition, their myth and their legend seems to grow over the years and they can maintain a very consistent revenue source." Indeed, although he achieved stardom three decades ago, Lee's fame has hardly dimmed. He is still regarded as one of the most influential martial artists of the 20th century, a precursor to kung fu stars such as Jackie Chan, Jet Li and Chuck Norris. In his teens, he had formal martial arts training in Wing Chun kung fu under a master teacher in Hong Kong. Lee's style was known as Jeet Kune Do (Way of the Intercepting Fist). He was famous for a combat technique called the "one-inch punch." But it was not only his skill at martial arts that won fans, Cadwell said, it was his philosophy and way of life. Around the world, his likeness has taken on a symbolic life of its own, even in places as far-flung as Mostar, Bosnia, where a lifesize statue of Lee poses in a defensive fighting-posture stands. The bronze statue, erected last year, serves as a symbol of healing ethnic tensions in a land that in the 1990s was racked by civil war among Muslims, Serbs and Croats. That kind of enduring resonance is why Cadwell and Shannon Lee are taking steps to ensure his reputation stays intact. That means no licensing of tobacco products, alcohol or weapons bearing his image. "There's a place for weapons" in martial arts training, Cadwell said, "but not these ninja stars." "Basically, what we try to do is run the business with my father's legacy always in mind," said Shannon Lee, who is managing partner of Concord Moon, a Los Angeles-based limited part- BRUCE LEE: Linda Cadwell, Bruce Lee's widow, and their daughter Shannon Lee carefully control the use of his name, likeness and works. They won't license any tobacco products, alcohol or weapons with his image. nership that owns all rights to Bruce Lee's name, likeness, trademarks and works. There is a satellite office in Hong Kong and there will be one soon in Beijing, so that anyone wanting to capitalize on Bruce Lee's name knows whom to contact. Concord Moon's current plans for Bruce Lee-related entertainment projects include an animated television series, a CGI movie, an animated feature film, a live-action TV series, and a Broadway musical being developed by David Henry Hwang, whose "M. Butterfly" won a Tony Award in 1988 for best play. Bruce Lee, though familiar to most Chinese, never gained the widespread appeal or following in mainland China that he did in Hong Kong and the United States. One reason is that China was in the throes of the Cultural Revolution during the height of Lee's career in the early 1970s. What movies China showed in cinemas were Communist Party propaganda, and television sets were still relatively rare. That's not to say he has few fans in China. "I started to love Bruce Lee films when I first watched 'Enter the Dragon' in Yugoslavia in the late 1970s," said Liu Jikang, chief representative of Sony Pictures Entertainment China in Beijing. "Even now I can still remember the last scene, where he was fighting in a hall of mirrors." Like other Chinese, Liu was proud of Lee and what he stood for. "Before his movies, few foreigners knew about the Chinese, but his films built up a very positive image of China," the Beijing native said. That some Chinese with no relation to the star would try to capitalize on Bruce Lee's name should hardly come as a surprise in a land where piracy and copycatting are an art form. Over the years Lee's fans have endured scores of look-alikes • and other imitators on film, with names like Bruce Li and Bruce Le. In America, meanwhile, ; Bruce Lee's image continues to embed itself in the cultural imagination. David Henry Hwang said he began thinking of doing a • musical combining a famous Chinese epic called "Journey to the West" — in which one ' of the principal characters is a god called the Monkey King, a sort of trickster character — with that of Lee's ; journey to the West. Hwang believes that Lee • played a major role in chang- '• ing the perception of China and Chinese in the West. By the mid-20th century, he noted, China was often looked upon as a "sick man," a country that had once been' truly great, but now was seen; as broken beyond repair. "When I was a kid, that • was not only the view of China, but also of Chinese America," Hwang said. "In ( this country, we were cooks, • waiters and laundrymen. That, in the course of my lifetime, has changed 180 degrees. Now we are perceived as having too much ' money, being too educated and we raise the curve in math class." Bruce Lee helped usher this new era into existence, Hwang said. "For the first time in the 20th century, a Chinese man was seen • as a hero, as someone who was noble, as someone who ' fought for justice and all the • things we associate with her-" oism. That was completely different for Chinese at the time he came along." 'Idlewild' is imaginative, but slow By CHRISTY LEMIRE AP Movie Critic Let us now praise the men of OutKast for their ambition, if not their aim. The duo has tried to do something unique with "Idlewild," a musical drama set in the 1930s. It wildly blends genres and eras, featuring a high-class cast and heavy visual tricks. The film is extraordinarily imaginative, often stylish and fun what else would you expect from co-stars and co-producers Andre Benjamin and Antwan A. Patton? — and at times it can even be magical. \ Ultimately, though, the pervading anachronism is just too jarring. The rich, deep visual texture becomes too overbearing. And the movie feels like it will just never end. Bryan Barber, who directed OutKasr/s videos for "Hey Ya!" and "The Way You Move/' writes and directs his first feature film here. But don't expect anything like those phenomenally catchy, painfully overplayed hits. The songs in "Idlewild" (and the recently releasea accompanying soundtrack disc) include a mystifying mix of rap, swing, jazz and R&B. Maybe they work when you're listening to them on your headphones, but on stage, in film form, they come off as strangely inert. And that's the last word you'd ordinarily use for such a vibrant, dynamic group. The story itself, rooted firmly in longtime showbiz cliches, isn't terribly compelling either. Childhood friends Percival (Benjamin, aka Andre 3000) and Rooster (Patton, aka Big Boi) have long dreamed of stardom while growing up in small-town Idlewild, Ga. Percival, the quiet one, plays piano and writes songs when he isn't helping his mortician father (Ben Vereen) with the family business. Rooster, the. troublemaker, hams it up as a song-and-dance , man to the increasing frustration of his wife , (Malinda Williams), who'd rather have him stay at home nights with their five children. Everything changes with the arrival of t w o . people at the Church, the speakeasy where; they perform and where dancers take over the floor with awe-inspiring acrobatic choreogra-• phy, the work of Tony winner Hinton Battle., (Macy Gray plays another of the regular singers at the club, and it is sort of a hoot to see her perform, in a slinky, sparkly red evening gown with gloves and pin curls instead of her usual • T-shirts and wild-child 'fro.) One is crime boss Spats (Ving Rhames), who ; says he's getting out of the business and offers • to sell a piece of it to the Church's owner, the bombastic Ace (Faizon Love). Standing along-, side Spats is his second-in-command, Trumpy,, played with supple, subtle menace by the always-terrific Terrence Howard. ("Idlewild" ' could use a lot more of him; he helps ground , things, provides substance when the whole, endeavor feels just too unreal.) The other is the dazzlingly beautiful < Angel Davenport (Paula Patton, no relation to Antwan), a high-maintenance singer who's scheduled to perform for the next four weeks. Percival, borrowing from Shakespeare, repeatedly says throughout the film's prodigious use of voiceover: "All the world's a stage and the men and women merely players." Too often, it feels like the men and women of "Idlewild" are simply playing an elaborate game of dress-up. One star out of four. |