Brandon Lee was born in Grand
Rapids Michigan in October of 1990.
Three years later Brandon Lee died from an accident on the set of The Crow - the comic book adaptation
film about a rock musician brought back from the dead to revenge his own
murder. Brandon Lee’s death occasionally
has a profound effect on the life of Brandon Lee. Both were born of a Caucasian mother and
Chinese-American father inducing suspicions that shared creation formulas could
lead to similar death scenarios or just paranoia.
In the
third grade, another Brandon Lee entered our contributor’s immediate reality
when he was mistaken for a boy of the same name regarding behavioral problems. Pulled from class and escorted to the
principal’s office, the mild-mannered Brandon was humiliated by the error of
his elementary school. The failure of
compulsory education became personal for Brandon and may or may not have
contributed to his interest in anarchist literature and punk rock. No grudges are held against the other guy
unless he received some unknown commendation that was supposed to go to yours
truly. Upon further reflection, this
incident did not negate the paranoia, but added to the possibility of
accidental targeting by cops, hit-men, or Brazilian
(the film, not the country) bureaucrats.
In high
school a sales clerk at Guitar Center asked if Mr. Lee had seen The Crow.
Brandon told the guy he had not.
The sales clerk laughed and referenced the Michael Bolton scenario from
the film Office Space, where a
character named Michael Bolton is victimized for sharing the name of the “no
talent ass clown” singer. At this point
in Brandon Lee’s life he was used to substitute teachers asking him if he knew
kung-fu or if he was Bruce Lee’s son, but unlike Michael Bolton, comparisons to
the deceased invoked no shame, merely a convenient talking point about film
trivia.
Skipping
five or six years ahead, Brandon Lee found himself ordering a script of William
Peter Blatty’s The Exoricist from a
screenplay store on Hollywood Boulevard.
Upon signing the credit card ticket, the bearded fellow in the faded
t-shirt called over to his co-worker saying he got Brandon Lee’s
autograph. The co-worker commented that
the resale price for that would be pretty high, and it was with this
coincidental joke that Brandon knew he would surpass his Hollywood
predecessor’s fame in American popular culture.
Practically speaking, he must achieve greatness to deter anyone with
sinister intentions from mistaking him for some anonymous Brandon Lee
again. Los Angeles had a strange effect
on the mind.
Brandon Lee
doesn’t dwell on the untimely death of the actor of the same title. The filming accident involved a projectile in
a prop gun that shot Bruce Lee’s son. He
was 28. The production company would
finish the movie with another actor who came up short in terms of performance
because only Brandon Lee can do Brandon Lee.
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