“I’m Just Ruined”: Some of the ‘Best Stuff’ Done by Bruce Lee Once Turned Out To Be a Disaster

When Bruce Lee entered the Hollywood big screen with ‘The Green Hornet,’ he was in a hurry to impress people on his set. While shooting action sequences, Lee showed his superfast moves that blew everyone’s mind. However, despite displaying the best of his abilities on screen, the master was once left shattered by his performance. That incident brought a much-needed change in his work. 

In Lee’s biography, ‘Bruce Lee: A Life,’ actor Van Williams shared an embarrassing anecdote that happened with the master on the sets of The Green Hornet. It made Lee feel that he ruined his career but it wasn’t all that bad!

Bruce Lee locked himself in a room after getting embarrassed

Although Bruce Lee was exceptional with his superfast moves on set, it became a problem for stuntmen. They would often get banged up because they could not coordinate with the master’s hyperactive fighting tendency. However, when Bruce Lee saw the pilot episode, The Silent Gun, he realized his mistakes. The conclusion of the episode was a big fight sequence between the Green Hornet, Kato, and the bad guys in a darkly lit underground parking lot. While shooting it, actor Van Williams and the stuntmen decided to let Bruce Lee fight in his way and did not correct him then. 

The next day, they invited the Little Phoenix to watch the raw footage of the fight scenes. Lee believed that it was his “best stuff” and hence was excited to watch it. However, when Bruce’s big scene came up, it was a complete blur. He was untraceable and the only way one could tell it was a fight scene was through Lee’s kung fu noises. While the set burst into laughter watching the scene, Lee was highly embarrassed by his work. Furious about it, Lee stormed to his dressing room, slammed the door, and refused to come out. For hours, he was inside his room until his co-actor Van Williams consoled him. Lee explained to him, “I’m so upset I don’t know what to do. I’m just ruined. I can’t do anything right.” 

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However, Williams pacified the master with a simple solution. He told, “Bruce, this is what we’ve been trying to tell you. You have to slow it down. You can’t do this stuff that you do so fast that the camera can’t catch it.” Eventually, the master understood his faults and worked on himself. Later on, Williams expressed in the biography that Lee began to calm down while shooting and got along pretty well with everyone.  This was not the only lesson that Lee learned on the sets of The Green Hornet. He got another reality check while working on the film. 

Bruce Lee was a robot on The Green Hornet set

Bruce Lee once revealed in an interview with Hong Kong Press, the reality check he received during his Hollywood debut. The master recalled that on the sets of The Green Hornet, he was only doing things the way they were instructed to him. He told, “I was the only robot there, because I was not being myself.” 

Eventually, Lee began to build his character not just on set but in his roles as well. In every part he played, he tried to mix it with his own personality. That’s how he managed to stand out for his audience. Bruce Lee’s biggest film lessons happened while he worked on sets. With experience, he learned his craft better and became the ultimate superstar globally. 

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