I wrote two movies this year. One is social. It’s called One Spoon of Chocolate. The tagline is “One spoon of chocolate can change a whole glass of milk.” It’s a racism struggle. It’s a struggle between two guys and they realize their struggle is minute compared to the real struggle. That one I don’t think I’ll make as soon as the one I’ve just finished, which is called Sting of the Scorpion. It’s basically another revisit of The Man With the Iron Fists saga. It’s very different than the first one. The cool thing about writing film and working with Eli Roth and Quentin Tarantino is that Quentin is our teacher and Eli is my classmate, but they’ve elevated me. I told Quentin my new story and he loved it.
RZA in an October interview with Rolling Stone magazine, in response to an inquiry into what’s next for him, in terms of filmmaking.
I shared that news on this blog when it broke. What I didn’t share (because I didn’t know it at the time), is that RZA will NOT be directing this sequel to The Man With The Iron Fist, aka Sting Of The Scorpion, which is key, since he directed the first film, which wasn’t very well received, both critically and commercially. So today’s news, which RZA revealed at the Television Critics Association event earlier this week (where he was for Fox’s upcoming drama Gang Related, which he co-stars in), may be music to some ears.
He didn’t say who would direct the film unfortunately. He did add that the script is done, and that some of the characters from the first film will be back for the sequel.
He also shared that he’s co-starring in a Thai martial arts movie, along with Tony Jaa, titled Tom Yum Goong 2.
We already reported on One Spoon Of Chocolate, although he hasn’t shared much about its story, except for what he reveals in the quote above, adding previously that it’s “a romantic tragedy,” is “real provocative,” and “will incorporate consciousness, love and awareness.”
The first Man With The Iron Fist film wasn’t exactly a box office smash – it cost about $15 million (not including P&A costs) and it made just over $15 million domestically, and another $4.5 million overseas. So, total box office earnings was under $20 million. It’s a film that I actually thought would do well overseas, but it doesn’t look like the film’s distributor, Universal, really pushed it globally.
So it’s interesting to me that he’d want to revisit that world again. I’d guess that it would be hard to find the money this time around, to get it made, since the first one wasn’t so hot in the marketplace.
Given all the projects he’s been attached to direct since Man With The Iron Fist, assuming he gets the financing he needs for each of them, RZA’s future as a director should be an interesting one.
In addition to the aforementioned One Spoon Of Chocolate and Sting Of The Scorpion, RZA is also attached to helm John Milius’ Genghis Khan biopic, as well as an action thriller titled No Man’s Land, and an adaptation of comic book author Grant Morrison’s latest work, Happy!. He’s also written a treatment for a horror film called Tasmania, which he’s called “a crazy one,” and he has an idea for a comedy called Down To The Last Buck.
Clearly, he’s kept himself busy, writing – but also acting. In addition to the upcoming Fox drama Gang Related, which he co-stars in, he’s also joining Bokeem Woodbine and Luke Goss in the action/thriller AWOL 72, from Triumphant Entertainment.
