Anyone who spent their teen years driving around in their mother’s hand-me-down car with the windows rolled down and the Wu Tang Clan blaring on the stereo knows that the RZA, the GZA, Ol’ Dirty Bastard, Inspectah Deck, the Method Man, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, U-God, and the Masta Killa have a deep, abiding love of kung-fu movies. And, in the years since their musical heyday, RZA has taken this love further by composing the score for modern martial arts movies like Ghost Dog and Kill Bill, by trying his hand at being an actor, and even by becoming a director with his upcoming martial arts epic The Man with the Iron Fists. RZA doesn’t plan on stopping there either, apparently his experience directing a movie was so positive that he’s already lined up two more projects.
Heat Vision is reporting that the musician turned movie maker has signed on to direct the long-gestating, John Milius-penned Genghis Khan biopic. Khan, of course, was the vicious ruler of the Mongol tribes that conquered huge swaths of Asia and Eastern Europe in the 13th century, as well as one of the many historical figures who took small roles in the filmed-in-realtime documentary Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure. Filming on this historical epic will take RZA back to China where he just shot most of The Man with the Iron Fists.
The second project comes from a script by Trey Ellis and David Klass, and it’s a crime movie called No Man’s Land. The story centers on a man who steals a diamond from a powerful criminal, finds out the diamond was much more valuable than he initially thought, and then seeks the help of a dancer in staying alive and fencing the ice. The events of the film take place over the course of a single night, and the script has been described as having echoes of The Warriors, a genre classic that I’m sure a movie nerd like RZA grew up watching on repeat.