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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Wednesday, May 14, 2003

Local fighter lends moves to 'Matrix' film prequel

By Michael Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer

The part called for a black guy who fights like a Japanese samurai. So naturally they hired Harlan Lee, an expert in Chinese martial arts.

LEE
Computer-generated animation is a wonderful thing, isn't it?

Lee, head of the Gee Yung International Martial Arts Dragon and Lion Dance Association in downtown Honolulu, is one of the stars — albeit, computer-enhanced — of the recently released "Animatrix" series, composed of nine short films from some of the top directors in anime.

The first four films have been made available for free download at www.theanimatrix.com. The full series will be released on DVD June 3.

Lee's character appears in the final installment, "The Final Flight of the Osiris," which serves as a prequel for "The Matrix." It made its debut at the "Enter the Matrix" party in February and has been attached to all prints of the Warner Bros. film "Dreamcatcher."

"Osiris" was produced by Square USA, which also produced the 2001 feature "Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within."

Not that Lee knew any of this would happen when he auditioned.

"I met Andy (Jones, the director) at the Diamond Head studios, and he said this was a project that Warner Brothers was doing as a pre-sequel to 'The Matrix,' " Lee said. "When he said 'Matrix," I was like, 'What?' I was pretty excited."

Lee spent two weeks working with fight choreographers to translate his movements from Chinese to Japanese. "My stances, my body posture and so forth had to change," he said. "The Chinese style is more flowery, whereas the Japanese style is a little more straightforward."

The "shooting" took place over the course of a week, with Lee and the other actors dressed in black body suits and bulb-like sensors. As with video game production, a computer recorded the actors' movements, which digital artists would use later as the basis for their animation. "It's very technical ..." Lee said. "You have to move within a certain segment. If you move outside that area, they have to reset the computer, and that takes about 40 minutes each time."

Lee had acted in television shows including "Tour of Duty" and "Magnum P.I.," as well as in the short film "Fists of Steel." He recently shot a commercial for American Savings. Local sports fans will recall Lee as one of the state's premier full-contact fighters until a head butt by an opponent destroyed his left eye socket.

"With fighting, there's the good part where you go in and you think you're going to win," he said.

"And then there's the other part, where you lose and it sets you back, and you have to think about the whole thing. For me, it was a good experience because it made me re-evaluate where I am and where I want to be."

These days, Lee focuses his time and energy on helping others pursue their goals through the Gee Yung school, founded in 1941 by Lum Tai Yong. After Lum's death, the school passed to Lee's father, Arthur, and later to Lee.

"The school is open for students to pursue lion dance or fighting or general health," he said. "Everyone who comes through the door brings a different flavor."