Bruce Lee thought that The Silent Flute , a script he wrote with screenwriter Stirling Silliphant and actor James Coburn in 1969, would become the film that made him an international star. But the project did not get off the ground and was abandoned. Now Lee fans will finally get the chance to experience Lee’s metaphysical martial arts work courtesy of Hong Kong-born producer Jason Kothari, who has bought the rights to the script and is turning it into a six-hour series. As described in Matthew Polly’s biography Bruce Lee , the original script revolves around a hero called Cord the Seeker, who “embarks on a journey to discover the true nature of martial arts. Along the way, Cord must defeat several enemies … who represent fear, anger, and death.” Kothari came across the script by accident and spent five years trying to buy it and a further five years developing it. He has hired screenwriter John Fusco ( The Highwaymen ) to write the series adaptation, noting that Fusco is also an accomplished martial artist who has studied Lee’s jeet kune do . Fusco also wrote the Jackie Chan / Jet Li movie The Forbidden Kingdom , and was a co-writer of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon ’s English-language sequel, Sword of Destiny . How CBS show Martial Law made martial arts star Sammo Hung a US hit Below Kothari, who is based in India, talks to the Post about his plans for The Silent Flute . There were three versions of the script – one by Sterling Silliphant’s nephew, one by a writer-for-hire, and the final draft written by Lee, Silliphant, and James Coburn. Which one do you own? I own the rights to all of the scripts, and that includes the versions before the Lee-Silliphant-Coburn draft. The latter version is a full 200-page script that has been rewritten around 10 times – it’s very polished, it’s not at all rough. That is the version that we are going to extend into a limited series. Why a series rather than a film? We reflected deeply about this decision. We feel that the story is so complex that if Bruce Lee was doing it today, he would also create it as a series. It’s a limited series that will run for six hours rather than a film’s two hours. This way, we can go really deep into the characters and the story development. Can you discern Bruce’s involvement in the script? Definitely. We know what parts come from him, what parts come from Sterling Silliphant, and what parts come from James Coburn. But it mainly stands as a collaboration between the three of them – it’s the work of three close friends. They were the best of friends, and they worked on it together and discussed it. Silliphant and Coburn were also Lee’s martial arts students , and that makes the script very special – you have an Oscar-winning writer (Silliphant won an Oscar for In the Heat of The Night ) helping Bruce realise his ideas for the story. Bruce was not a writer, but he had fantastic ideas. Silliphant was an amazing writer, and that combination, along with Coburn, has created something unique. What happens in the story? It’s very profound. It’s about a fighter who overcomes obstacles and loss to eventually reach enlightenment and become the best fighter in the world. It’s a quiet, profound, complex journey which mirrors, in some ways, the journey of the Buddha. It’s a slow-burning story and there is some deep character development. This is a very philosophical, spiritual journey. There was a worry that you’d simply turn it into an action film … The great melding of philosophy and martial arts is what makes it unique and special, and we are going to stay true to that and protect that. The original has been described as “X-rated” – will you have to tone it down? To be true to the script and the original story, it is going to be edgy in multiple ways – but not in gratuitous ways, only in ways that further the story. To stay true to the story, we need to show real violence, real action, and real loss. It is a hard- hitting story, and it needs to have that edge. It sounds cliched to say it, but we truly feel a sense of responsibility to present this story authentically. Will the finished series reflect Asian culture and the philosophies behind martial arts? That is also a part of our responsibility. We want to make it true to the culture, and John and I have been very protective about it with this in mind. The original script has multiple languages – Thai, Hindi, Cantonese – it was truly envisioned as an international story. We want to stay true to that and keep all the cultural elements, especially the Zen Buddhism and Chinese cultural elements. ‘People are still hungry for Bruce Lee,’ film box set producer says What do you think was going on in Lee’s head when he conceived the story? Silliphant put it in an interesting way; he said, “ The Silent Flute is a very religious film for us”, “us” being him, Lee and Coburn. He said it was the way they thought about existence. It was Lee’s magnum opus about the true essence of martial arts and the meaning of life. That’s what they were trying to convey with this story. Why did you choose scriptwriter John Fusco? I had many readings with Hollywood writers who were interested in the project. But finding a fantastic writer who also understood the philosophy behind The Silent Flute was very challenging, and John fitted the bill. John is a unique writer who is also a lifelong student of martial arts, which he has been studying for more than 50 years. He holds multiple black belts and studied jeet kune do under some of Lee’s former students. He is not just familiar with authentic martial arts, he is familiar with the philosophy behind martial arts and the spirituality embedded in the craft. The philosophy and spirituality are integral to this story. How much of the adaptation have you completed? We’ve moved forward a lot on the series and we have almost finished writing the script. The protagonist goes through three main trials, and that is true to the original script. The first one represents ego, the second one represents attachment, and the third one represents mortality. He must overcome this to reach enlightenment, which in turn makes him the greatest fighter in the world. What was your first encounter with Bruce Lee? Like a lot of people, Lee’s charisma and action is what initially drew me to him. After I read about him and learned about his life, I realised that Lee was probably an actor third, a martial artist second, and a philosopher first. I felt his depth and his vision were extraordinary, and I admired his passion for taking martial arts to the world, and his courage to stand up for Chinese culture. All of this made him a special human being for me. In this regular feature series on the best of Hong Kong martial arts cinema, we examine the legacy of classic films, re-evaluate the careers of its greatest stars, and revisit some of the lesser-known aspects of the beloved genre. Read our comprehensive explainer here . Want more articles like this? Follow SCMP Film on Facebook