GEORGE TOWN: A joint US-China production has chosen Penang to be the location for a new movie depicting the legendary martial arts exponent and movie star Bruce Lee in his teenage years.

The movie, tentatively titled “Little Dragon”, will be shot over the next three months on the island.

Lee’s daughter, Shannon, who is co-producing the movie, said Penang had the perfect setting to replicate her father’s childhood in 1950s Hong Kong.

“Much of the buildings in Penang are perfect for our film, we have been here on the ground for a number of weeks now. Everyone has been wonderful,” she told reporters after meeting with Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng at his office in Komtar, here today.

Shannon said the movie focuses on the life of Bruce Lee as a teenager, his influences and as a champion cha cha dancer.

Even more surprising was that she hinted at the hero possibly being played by a Malaysian talent.

According to co-producer Tim Kwok, most of the film will be shot in Malaysia. After Penang, they will be headed to the Pinewood Iskandar Studios in Johor and later to Guangzhou, China.

He said nearly 5,000 people had come to audition for the role of the “17-to-18-year-old” Bruce Lee and they have been shortlisted to four candidates.

“And you’ll be pleased to know, one of them is a Malaysian,” Kwok said.

The movie, which is slated for a 2018 release, is produced by Bruce Lee Entertainment, part of the Bruce Lee Family Company.

The movie will be directed by award-winning Indian filmmaker Shekhar Kapur, whose two biopics on Queen Elizabeth were nominated for Oscar awards.

“The film will be a contemporary take on Bruce Lee who, aside from being considered the most gifted and famous martial artist of all time, is now accepted as a major philosopher in his own right,” Kapur was quoted as saying in the Hollywood Reporter.

”It is important that audiences today can relate their own lives to the journey of Bruce Lee, who manages to tap into his inner wisdom and harness his true destiny before it’s too late,” he was quoted as saying.

Bruce Lee was born in San Francisco, California, in the United States but was raised in Kowloon, Hong Kong during his teenage years. He died on July 20, 1973 at the age of 32.