The Forbidden Kingdom's Missing Role Jet Li Almost Played
The 2008 martial arts fantasy adventure The Forbidden Kingdom would've had kung fu movie legend Jet Li in another role with one of its initial concepts. The Forbidden Kingdom is well-known as the first big-screen team-up of Jackie Chan and Jet Li, each of them in dual roles. Chan played Boston Chinatown storeowner Old Hop in the film's modern era and Taoist immortal Lu Yan in ancient China, with Li playing The Monkey King and the Silent Monk in the latter setting. However, there was initially another idea for Li.
On the DVD commentary for The Forbidden Kingdom, screenwriter John Fusco and director Rob Minkoff speak on the role of the young protagonist Jason Tripitikas (Michael Angarano). The pair mention in original discussions of the movie, Jason would be an eager student of martial arts learning kung fu in Boston's Chinatown, with Minkoff saying, "And I think Jet Li was going to play the sifu," which Fusco verified with an affirmative "Mmhmm." In the end, Fusco's screenplay would take Jason in a very different route with the teenage hero having no martial arts training.
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Had the original idea been implemented on The Forbidden Kingdom, Li potentially would've had a third role in mentoring Jason in modern times, and this would've made Jason himself a somewhat different character. Fusco describes the idea of Jason's kung fu student as being youthfully zealous and still having a lot to learn, with Jason "wanting to fly before he can stand in a horse stance." The difference of the two versions of Jason's story in The Forbidden Kingdom essentially went from the young fan of classic martial arts movies deepening his knowledge of martial arts
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