Chad Stahelski remembers Brandon Lee in Life of Action

The late, great Brandon Lee tragically left us on this date, 31st March 1993. He was an incredibly gifted young man lost far too soon. In a relatively short acting career, he starred in fan favourites and enduring cult classics like Kung Fu: The Movie, Legacy of Rage, Showdown in Little Tokyo and Rapid Fire. However, it was during the making of his final film, The Crow, that Lee’s life was cut short when a gun fired at him on set suffered a malfunction, with tragic consequences. While The Crow undoubtedly became a cultural phenomenon (even spawning sequels and TV series), the first film would forever be shrouded in tragedy and superstition. Virtually everyone who ever worked with Brandon has commented that he would have gone on to become an even bigger star, had his earlier career trajectory continued and his life not been cut short.

In the original Life of Action book, I interviewed 87eleven Action Design co-founder, stunt legend and future John Wick franchise director, Chad Stahelski, who remembered working on The Crow and doubling for Brandon early in his own career.

He recalls, "one day at the Inosanto academy Dan [Inosanto] told us there’d be a new student starting the next day and it was Bruce Lee’s son! He was a very nice guy and you could tell straight away he was a natural athlete and had some of his Dad in him. He quickly became one of the boys and we’d all spar and train together.

Later, when The Crow started filming, some of us got the chance to get involved doing stunt work. After the accident and Brandon’s tragic death, Jeff Imada [stunt coordinator] needed to reshoot some of the action and basically needed help finishing parts of the film. I had a very similar build to Brandon and knew how he moved, having trained with him for a good while. So it was a positive boost in terms of my career but overshadowed by a very dark cloud and sad event."

What’s fascinating is how so many threads of cinematic history are interwoven, and this is a great example of that. Brandon’s death was, and still is, undoubtedly a tragedy, made all the more sad by it seeming so avoidable, and affecting a family already hit so hard by grief. However, Brandon’s work and magnetism on screen still inspires legions of fans and filmmakers to this day and, much like his father, his legacy lives on.

The first Life of Action book is currently out-of-print but a new edition is earmarked for the future. You can still check out the second Life of Action book in the meantime.