Brandon Lee He was born on February 1, 1965 and was the son of the famous karate movie star – Bruce LeeHe lost his famous father at the age of 8, but visits to film sets as a child convinced him that he wanted to continue the family tradition and become an actor.
He made his debut at the age of 21 in the Hong Kong-made “The stigma of hatred” (1986). Shortly afterwards, he also appeared in a Hollywood production “Rapid Poker in Little Tokyo” (1991).
In 1992, Lee was offered a role in “Raven” – an adaptation of James O’Barr’s underground comic. The plot tells the story of a deceased rock musician, Eric Draven (played by Brandon Lee), who returns to life to avenge the death of his beloved. Filming began on February 1, 1993, on the actor’s 28th birthday.
Brandon Lee didn’t have much experience in front of the camera yet, so he treated the opportunity to star in the production as a unique opportunity. To best portray Draven, he lost 10 kilograms and switched to a nocturnal lifestyle. The actor also wanted to do all the stunts himself, despite the concerns and objections of the creators.
The growing exhaustion and darkness of the production gradually took their toll on his psyche. The actor eagerly awaited the end of filming and April 17, the special date when he would finally marry his beloved Eliza Hutton.
On March 30, the most difficult part of the work was already finished. All the choreographically demanding scenes were buttoned up; all that was left was to add the beginning of the film and a few flashbacks. In the scene where Eric Draven is about to be shot, the man returns to his apartment and witnesses an attack on his wife. That’s when one of the on-screen gangsters shoots in his direction, simultaneously causing a mini firecracker in the net he was holding to explode. When this happened, Brandon Lee fell to the ground, and the satisfied film crew began to rejoice at another well-shot scene. Unfortunately, the actor was no longer able to get up. It turned out that a real bullet had been put into the gun used. The whole situation was considered an unfortunate accident.
Despite a quick response, transporting the actor to hospital and a 6-hour surgery, he could not be saved. He died on March 31, 1993.The person who shot and contributed to the tragic incident was Michael Massee. After this situation, he stopped his acting career for a while and admitted that he had never watched “The Crow”. He was unable to forgive himself.
“I don’t think you can fully recover from something like that,” he said in a 2005 interview.
Director Alex Proyas did not want to return to the set. He was supported in this by many of his collaborators, who could not imagine continuing to work without Brandon. However, the actor’s fiancée and mother asked for the film to be completed. They wanted “The Crow” to become a tribute and a memento of the prematurely deceased artist. Eventually, several scenes were recorded with the help of a stunt double, and the production was premiered in 1994. Almost immediately after appearing on the screens, it gained cult status.
The creator of the comic, James O’Barr, later said that the actor’s death was a huge blow to him. He created the story after the death of his beloved fiancée, and Brandon Lee’s departure made the despair that accompanied the creation process return with redoubled force. In one of the conversations, he confessed that he regretted that this painful story of lost love saw the light of day.
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