重拍版美剧《功夫》：更贴近李小龙心意的功夫片？
‘Kung Fu’ Rights the Wrongs of Its Ancestor
MAX GAO
2021年4月9日
Nearly 50 years after David Carradine rose to fame as an enigmatic, half-Chinese Shaolin monk in the Wild West, “Kung Fu” is returning to network television in a new iteration on the CW.
将近50年前，以有一半华裔血统的神秘少林僧人形象出现在蛮荒西部的戴维·卡拉丹(David Carradine)一举成名，如今，CW将把一个新版《功夫》(Kung Fu)送上电视荧幕。
But this time, the gender-flipped reboot, which will be the first network drama to feature a predominantly Asian-American cast when it premieres Wednesday, is attempting to right some of the wrongs of the original series.
不过，作为首部以亚裔演员为主的电视网剧集，这个对主角性别进行了反转的新版将试图纠正原版的许多不妥之处。
In 1971, not long before starring in the high-octane films that made him internationally famous, Bruce Lee shopped around an eight-page treatment for a new television show called “The Warrior” about a Chinese martial artist who journeys across America’s Old West. Studio executives at Warner Bros. decided to pass on Lee’s pitch, which Lee said was because they thought American audiences wouldn’t watch a show with an Asian lead. A year later, Warner Bros. debuted a similar show on ABC called “Kung Fu,” with Carradine, a white actor with no prior knowledge of martial arts, in the lead role.
1971年，不久后就将通过一系列卖座影片成为国际巨星的李小龙，在四处推销一份八页纸的剧本大纲，这是一部名为《战士》(The Warrior)的电视剧企划，讲的是一位华人武术家浪迹美国西部的故事。华纳兄弟的高管拒绝了这个本子，据李小龙说，原因是他们认为美国观众不会想看一部由亚洲人主演的剧。一年后，华纳兄弟在ABC推出了与之类似的《功夫》，由没有任何武术背景的白人演员卡拉丹领衔主演。
The original show’s creator, Ed Spielman, has said that his idea was based on 10 years of personal research, which included Chinese language studies at Brooklyn College; Lee’s widow, Linda Lee Cadwell, has argued that “Kung Fu” is a retooled version of “The Warrior.” (Shannon Lee, the actor’s daughter, later partnered with the director Justin Lin to produce “Warrior,” which premiered on Cinemax in 2019.)
原版的剧创埃德·斯皮尔曼(Ed Spielman)说，他是根据自己历时十年的研究得出这个构思的，其中包括在布鲁克林学院(Brooklyn College)学习中文；李小龙的遗孀琳达·李·凯德威尔(Linda Lee Cadwell)则指出，《功夫》是将《战士》改头换面而成的。（李小龙之女李香凝后来与导演林诣彬合作制作了《战士》，2019年在Cinemax首播。）
“Kung Fu” ran for three seasons from 1972 to 1975 and remained a fixture in syndication, introducing many Western audiences to the cross-cultural power of martial arts.
《功夫》在1972年到1975年间播出了三季，并且仍在不断重播，让许多西方观众领略到武术的跨文化力量。
When Warner Bros. asked Christina M. Kim, a television writer and producer best known for her work on “Lost” and “Blindspot,” to spearhead a reboot, she agreed. Then, she created a show that is a dramatic departure from the original, starting with the protagonist.
华纳兄弟向凭借《迷失》(Lost)和《盲点》(Blindspot)成名的电视编剧和制片人克里斯蒂娜·M·金(Christina M. Kim)提出，由她负责《功夫》重拍版，她同意了。接下来她创作了一部与原版天差地别的剧集，首先主角就大不相同。
“I really, really wanted a kick-ass, strong female Asian lead,” she said in a video interview last month.
“我非常、非常想有一个威风、彪悍的女性亚裔主角，”她在上月接受视频采访时说。
The modern-day adaptation follows Nicky Shen (Olivia Liang), a young Chinese-American woman who drops out of college and travels to a monastery in China, where she undergoes intensive martial-arts training. When she returns to find San Francisco overrun with crime and corruption and her own parents, Jin (Tzi Ma) and Mei-Li (Kheng Hua Tan), at the mercy of a powerful organized crime group originating in China, Nicky uses her fighting skills to protect her hometown — all while reconnecting with her estranged family and friends and searching for the ruthless assassin who killed her Shaolin mentor (Vanessa Kai).
现代重拍版讲述的是妮基·沈（Nicky Shen，梁安平饰演）的故事，她是一位年轻的华裔美国女性，从大学辍学后前往中国的一间寺院，在那里接受了高强度的武术训练。回国后，她发现旧金山充斥着犯罪与腐败，她的父母金（Jin，马泰饰演）和梅莉（Mei-Li，陈琼华饰演）饱受一个源自中国的强大有组织犯罪集团的摆布，妮基用自己的武艺来保护她的家园——同时又和她已经疏远的家人恢复关系，寻找杀死她的少林师傅（瓦妮莎·凯[Vanessa Kai]饰演）的无情凶手。
In the works since 2019, “Kung Fu” arrives amid an alarming spike in anti-Asian racism, giving its focus on Asian-American people who are victimized and fight back an additional, if unplanned and unwelcome, weight. “Certainly, our show is not the solution, but I hope that we are a part of the solution,” Kim said during a press event, the morning after eight people, six of them women of Asian descent, were shot to death in Atlanta. “Having a show like ours on the air makes us part of the narrative.”
创作始于2019年的《功夫》，在针对亚裔的种族主义甚嚣尘上、令人震惊之时与世人见面，这就让剧集对亚裔美国人所受伤害以及反抗的侧重有了一层额外的意义，尽管这是无心插柳，也并非创作者所愿。“我们的剧无疑不是解决问题的办法，但我希望我们能成为办法的一部分，”金在一次媒体活动中说，就在之前一天，亚特兰大有八人被枪杀，其中六人是亚裔女性。“在电视上能有我们这样的一部剧，让我们成了叙事的一部分。”
When she began writing the pilot episode in late 2019, Kim wanted to highlight the unique dynamics that exist within an intergenerational Chinese-American family. She knew that she needed two key ingredients: a charming, athletic actress who could handle the emotional and physical demands of the lead role, and a revered Asian-American actor to lend credibility and gravity as the patriarch.
2019年底开始写试播集的剧本时，金想要强调存在于多代同堂的华裔美国人家庭中的独特互动。她知道她需要两个关键要素：一个迷人的运动型女演员以胜任主角的情感表达和动作需要，以及一个受人尊敬的亚裔美国人男演员扮演男性长辈，以提高可信度和严肃性。
She auditioned more than 150 young actresses before finding Liang, best known as Alyssa Chang on the “Vampire Diaries” spinoff “Legacies.” But for the father, Kim had one name in mind from the beginning: Tzi Ma.
她试镜了150多个年轻女演员，最终找到梁安平，她最知名的角色是《吸血鬼日记》(Vampire Diaries)衍生剧集《吸血鬼后裔》(Legacies)中的艾莉莎·张(Alyssa Chang)。而对于父亲这一角色，克里斯蒂娜·金从一开始就想到一个名字：马泰。
With a career spanning four decades and more than 140 credits across film, theater and television, Ma has developed the reputation of being “Hollywood’s go-to Asian dad.” Despite not having any children of his own, Ma, now 58, has played the father figure for a bevy of Hollywood talent — including Awkwafina in “The Farewell,” Sandra Oh in “Meditation Park” and most recently, Liu Yifei in Disney’s live-action adaptation of “Mulan.”
马泰的职业生涯长达40年，在电影、戏剧和电视领域演过140多个角色，他已经演出“好莱坞的首选亚洲爸爸”的声誉。尽管他自己没有孩子，现年58岁的马泰为很多好莱坞演员——包括《别告诉她》(The Farewell)中的奥卡菲娜(Awkwafina)、《冥想公园》(Meditation Park)中的吴卓珊，以及迪士尼真人版《花木兰》(Mulan)里的刘亦菲——扮演父亲角色。
Born in Hong Kong and raised on Staten Island, Ma discovered musical theater in junior high, where he sought acceptance after getting into regular fights with fellow students over his race. He began his career on the New York experimental theater scene in the late 1970s, where he studied and worked with the Oscar and Tony-nominated godfather of Asian-American theater Mako Iwamatsu and the Tony Award-winning playwright David Henry Hwang.
马泰出生于香港，在纽约史坦顿岛长大，在初中时迷上了音乐剧，并从中寻求认可，那个时候他因他的种族经常和同学打架。他的职业生涯始于1970年代后期的纽约实验剧院舞台，在那里他与获奥斯卡和托尼奖提名的亚裔美国人戏剧教父岩松信(Mako Iwamatsu)和托尼奖获奖剧作家黄哲伦(David Henry Hwang)一起学习并合作。
Following his successful collaborations with Hwang, Ma traveled to Orange County, Calif., during the 1988 writers’ strike to star in the playwright Eric Overmyer’s “In Perpetuity Throughout the Universe.” He was discovered by producers during the play’s successful four-week run, which ultimately kicked off his television and film career on the West Coast.
在与黄哲伦成功合作之后，马泰在1988年作家罢工期间前往加利福尼亚的奥兰治县，出演剧作家埃里克·奥弗麦耶(Eric Overmyer)的《在整个宇宙永存》(In Perpetuity Throughout the Universe)。在连续四周的成功演出中，他被制片人发现，最终拉开了他在西海岸的电视和电影事业的序幕。
“I realized that these two media are much more powerful than the theater because of the sheer number that we can reach in such a short period of time,” he said. “I said: ‘You know what? It’s important to get into the living rooms and into the [movie] theaters in the world, to really give us the opportunity to change perceptions of how people see us.’”
“我意识到这两种媒体比戏剧更具力量，因为我们可以在这么短的时间内得到数量如此庞大的观众。”他说。“我说：‘你知道吗？进入全世界人的客厅和影院很重要，这样才能真正给我们机会改变人们对我们的看法。’”
Throughout his prolific career, the versatile actor has been a leading advocate for Asian-American representation in Hollywood, refusing to take any roles that he considered demeaning or stereotypical.
在他多产的职业生涯中，这位多才多艺的演员一直是好莱坞亚裔美国人代表的主要倡导者，拒绝担任任何他认为贬低或存在刻板印象的角色。
“Mako gave me that attitude,” he said. “I don’t have to accept the jobs that I don’t want to do, and I don’t want to put myself in a position where I have to do it, so I keep my needs very minimal.”
“岩松信给了我这种态度，”他说。“我不必接受不想做的工作，也不想让自己处于不得不做的位置，因此我将我的需求保持在最低限度。”
“I don’t feel typecast at all, because I always believed that nobody twists your arm to do it,” he added. “You don’t have to do it; you can always say no. Nobody forced me to do anything.”
“我根本没有戏路被定型的感觉，因为我一直认为没有人强迫你这样做，”他还说。“你不必这样做；你随时可以说不。没有人强迫我做任何事情。”
After a mutual friend introduced him to Christina M. Kim at a Lunar New Year gathering hosted by the actor Daniel Dae Kim, Ma was interested to hear that a woman of color would be leading the reboot of “Kung Fu,” a series that he had watched when it was first on the air. “I’ve never worked with a woman showrunner, no less a woman of color that looks like me,” Ma recalled. “I said: ‘I’m ready, let’s go. If you want me, I’m there.’”
当一个共同的朋友在演员金大贤(Daniel Dae Kim)举办的农历新年聚会上向克里斯蒂娜·金介绍他之后，马泰得知一位有色人种女性将负责《功夫》的重拍，因此非常感兴趣。在原版《功夫》首次播出的时候他就看过。“我从来没有和一位女制片人合作过，尤其是和我一样黄皮肤黑眼睛的有色女性，”马泰回忆道。“我说：‘我已就绪，开始吧。如果你需要我，我就来。’”
“Having Tzi Ma come on to the show,” Christina M. Kim said, “he is so well-respected in the community that it just opened so many doors for the casting.”
克里斯蒂娜·金说：“有马泰加入剧组，他在这个社区中广受尊敬，所以为选角打开了许多机会。”
As they began to round out the cast, Kim and her production team — which included the executive producers Martin Gero, Greg Berlanti and Sarah Schechter — auditioned actors from all over the world to play Nicky. No one felt right until they saw Liang, who almost missed the screen test because of her shooting schedule for “Legacies.”
当他们开始完善演员阵容时，克里斯蒂娜·金和她的制作团队——包括执行制片人马丁·盖罗(Martin Gero)，格雷格·贝兰蒂(Greg Berlanti)和莎拉·谢赫特(Sarah Schechter)——对来自世界各地的演员进行试镜，寻找妮基的饰演者。他们一直找不到合适的，直到见到梁安平，她因《吸血鬼后裔》的拍摄计划而差点错过了试镜。
“It was just truly a breath of fresh air to see an email that says: ‘Kung Fu. Nicky Shen. Lead. Chinese-American woman,’” Liang said. “I was just like: ‘Whoa, what’s happening right now? Lead?’”
梁安平说：“当我看到电子邮件上面写着‘《功夫》、妮基·沈、主角、华裔美国女性’，我当时就想：‘哇，怎么回事？主角？’”
Liang’s favorite part of the casting process came on the final day, as a room full of Asian actors prepared to audition for network executives, “which doesn’t happen a lot,” she said.
梁安平说，在选角过程中，她最喜欢的部分是最后一天，当时房间里全都是亚裔演员在做准备，他们将在电视台高管面前试镜，“这很少发生。”
“We were all like, ‘If it’s not me, thank goodness it’s going to be one of us,’” she said. “That energy and camaraderie was really amazing to be a part of.”
“我们所有人想的都是，‘如果不是我，那也将是我们的其中一员，谢天谢地，’”她说。“作为这种能量和同志情谊的一部分感觉真是太棒了。”
Liang had not previously had any martial-arts training. But Kim, who oversees “Kung Fu” with Robert Berens, the other showrunner, said that the actor’s combination of charisma and athleticism was “perfect for the character.”
梁安平以前没有接受过武术训练。但是，与另一位制片人罗伯特·贝伦斯(Robert Berens)共同作为《功夫》剧集主管的克里斯蒂娜·金说，演员的超凡魅力和运动能力的结合“对角色来说是完美的”。
“I needed to find somebody who was super relatable but who was also mentally and physically capable to take down the bad guys every week,” Kim said. “Olivia is just charming, down-to-earth, funny and kind of goofy. She also has this dance background, so she picked up the kung fu really fast.”
“我需要找到一个超级容易产生共鸣的人，而且她每个星期都能机智过人、身手敏捷地打倒坏人，”克里斯蒂娜·金说。“梁安平就是这样迷人、朴实、有趣还有点傻傻的。她也有舞蹈背景，所以她学功夫学得很快。”
The Covid-19 pandemic shut down production on the pilot episode in March 2020, but Kim was able to put together a sizzle reel compelling enough to convince CW executives to greenlight a 13-episode first season. Since resuming production last October, the cast and crew have been shooting the show under strict coronavirus protocols in Vancouver, British Columbia.
2020年3月，新冠病毒大流行导致试播集的制作停止，但克里斯蒂娜·金拼凑出了激情飞扬的一集，足以说服CW高管同意在首季播出13集。自去年10月恢复制作以来，演员和工作人员一直在不列颠哥伦比亚省温哥华市严格遵守新冠病毒防疫程序拍摄剧集。
While “Fresh Off the Boat” was the rare sitcom to focus on an Asian family, and Asian-led series like “Never Have I Ever” and “Wu Assassins” are available on streaming platforms, there has never been a broadcast drama with a predominantly Asian-American cast. “Kung Fu” will become part of the slight but steady advances that Hollywood has recently seen in Asian representation onscreen, especially after the international success of films like “Parasite,” “Minari” and “Raya and the Last Dragon.”
虽然《初来乍到》(Fresh Off the Boat)是罕见的针对亚洲家庭的情景喜剧，流媒体平台上也有亚裔主演的电视节目，如《好想做一次》(Never Have I Ever)和《五行刺客》(Wu Assassins)，但从来没有播放过几乎全是亚裔美国人出演的电视连续剧。特别是在电影《寄生虫》(Parasite)、《米纳里》(Minari)和《寻龙传说》(Raya and the Last Dragon)在国际上获得成功之后，《功夫》将成为近几年好莱坞银幕上亚裔形象微小而稳定的进步的一部分。
“We talk about it all the time — we talk about the historic nature of what we’re doing, and we also try not to think about it too much because of how much pressure it brings on,” Liang said. “We just want to make our community proud.”
“我们总在谈论它——谈论我们所做的事情具有历史意义，并且我们也尽量不去想太多，因为它带来了很大的压力，”梁安平说。“我们只是想让我们的社区感到自豪。”
The cast is also well aware of the significance of this multigenerational show during a time of increasing attacks on people of Asian descent, seemingly spurred by the pandemic. While they are careful not to frame a TV drama as any kind of solution to racist violence, they do note that the relative lack of Asian actors in mainstream entertainment has led to a kind of cultural invisibility.
演员们也清楚地意识到，对亚洲人后裔的袭击在大流行的刺激下日益增多之际，这一跨越年代的剧集的重要性。尽管他们小心翼翼地不要让电视剧成为一种解决种族主义暴力的方案，但他们确实注意到，主流娱乐节目中亚裔演员的相对缺乏导致了亚裔文化在某种程度上被忽视。
“Representation, as much as it is about us being able to see ourselves onscreen, is more about being seen by other groups of people who are not Asian,” Liang said.
梁安平说：“代表亚裔出镜不光是关于荧屏上的我们被我们自己看到，更多的是被其他非亚裔群体看到。”
“The lack of representation 100 percent contributed to the horrifying things that are going on right now against Asians because we’re not a part of a lot of people’s narrative,” she continued. “They don’t see us in their communities; they don’t see us on TV. They forget that we are part of the world.”
“缺乏代表性百分之百促使了目前针对亚裔的令人震惊的可怕事件，因为我们并不是很多人的叙事中的一部分，”她继续说道。“他们在自己的社区中看不到我们；他们在电视上看不到我们。他们忘记了我们是世界的一部分。”
Ma said that for all the martial-arts fireworks, the most potent aspect of “Kung Fu” is that it presents “a realistic portrayal of who we are.”
马泰说，尽管有如此多精彩的武术表演，《功夫》最有力的表现就是“真实地描绘了我们是谁”。
“We face the same problems, and some other problems that you may not know about,” he said. “We also want to bring in our cultural element of who we are so that this understanding of who we are gets deeper and deeper.”
“我们面临着同样的问题，以及一些你可能不知道的其他问题，”他说。“我们还希望引入身份认同的文化元素，以便更深入地了解我们是谁。”
While the show might be told through an Asian lens, Liang said she believed that the story, at its core, is universal.
虽然这个节目是通过亚裔的视角讲述的，但梁安平说她相信这个故事的核心是普世的。
“To be able to do this project that was so close to Bruce Lee’s heart is truly an honor — it shows how far we’ve come as an industry that there’s an appetite for this kind of diverse and authentic storytelling,” she said. “It’s exciting that we get to reclaim it and to say, ‘Hopefully, we’re doing it justice, the way it should have always been done.’”
“能够完成如此贴近李小龙心意的电视剧真是一种荣幸——它表明了我们在这个行业走了多远，人们对这种多元而真实的故事讲述充满了兴趣，”她说。“我们能够将其重拍，这是令人兴奋的事情，并可以说‘希望我们这次能把它做好，以它本应该有的方式。’”
