September 15th, 2010, In Entertainment, Martial Arts Movies, by Admin

By Krystal Clark

The RZA is really stepping up his Hollywood game with his latest film The Man With the Iron Fist. The rapper turned actor is one of the founding members of The Wu-Tang Clan, a legendary rap group that was highly influenced by Asian culture, and 70s martial arts films, hence their name. RZA has been working on The Man with The Iron Fist for years and according to EOnline, he’s made a major casting coup by landing Oscar winner Russell Crowe.

In the film RZA will play “a weapons-making village blacksmith in feudal China,” and as for Crowe he says “I won’t spoil it for you, but Russell’s gonna be the baddest man alive. That man is in fighting shape. That man will knock you out.” The film is scheduled to begin production in Shanghai this December.

Not only will RZA star in the film but he’ll also direct from a script that he’s co-written with Eli Roth who’s been working as a producer on the project for the past 5 years. It might seem odd to see Crowe acting opposite RZA but it shouldn’t. They’ve worked on two films together already, American Gangster and the upcoming Paul Haggis flick The Next Three Days.

This movie sounds like Black Samurai, Afro Samurai and The Last Samurai mixed in with a bunch of other vintage martial arts titles. Do you think Crowe can pull this off? If Tom Cruise can, we should give him a shot.

http://screencrave.com/2010-09-14/russell-crowe-joins-the-rza-in-man-with-the-iron-fist/