Things About Brandon Lee's Death That Still Don't Make Sense
The way in which Brandon Lee died while filming "The Crow" has never been a mystery. So why has his family always believed that it wasn't an accident?
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00:00The way in which Brandon Lee died while filming The Crow has never been a mystery, so why
00:04has his family always believed that it wasn't an accident?
00:08The Crow was seemingly a cursed production from the beginning.
00:11In fact, trouble began on the very first day of shooting, when a crew member was nearly
00:15electrocuted after power lines hit the crane in which he was working.
00:18He suffered severe burns that inhibited his ability to talk and required two years' worth
00:22of surgeries.
00:23The same day, another crew member was involved in a traffic collision, and a fire broke out
00:27in an equipment truck.
00:28A week later, a sculptor purposefully crashed into a workshop in a fit of rage, a construction
00:33worker pierced their hand with a screwdriver, and some of the sets were destroyed in a storm.
00:37It wasn't until the final stretch of filming that Lee's fatal shooting occurred.
00:41The day before Lee was shot, the crew filmed the take that involved a gun being pointed
00:44at the camera barrel first.
00:46However, there were concerns that light filtering through the shaft would let viewers know the
00:49firearm was unloaded.
00:51To make the take more authentic, the prop handler loaded the gun with a dummy bullet,
00:54which was intended to block the light.
00:56Tragically, the next day, the same prop was used in a take featuring Lee and loaded with
01:00a blank, which, when fired, discharged the dummy that struck Lee in the abdomen.
01:04They do the shot, and then he drops down, and everybody waits for him to get up, and
01:12he didn't get up.
01:13After being rushed to the hospital for emergency surgery, Lee died six hours later.
01:18Director Dwight H. Little, who worked with Lee on Rapid Fire, later noted in his memoir,
01:22Still Rolling Inside the Hollywood Dream Factory, that the prop department was meant
01:26to check that the weapon was not loaded prior to the scene and to show the director that
01:30the barrel was clear.
01:31Sadly, they didn't follow the safety requirements.
01:34According to Little, another major issue with the fatal scene was the angle of the gun at
01:37the moment the supposed blank was discharged.
01:40In his memoir, he notes that it is common practice for handguns to be fired purposefully
01:44away from their on-screen target.
01:46During the fatal take in question, Brandon Lee carried a grocery bag before being shot
01:49multiple times, with the actor detonating a small explosive in the bag the moment the
01:53first blank was fired.
01:55It seemed somewhat unnecessary, then, that the barrel of the gun was pointed directly
01:58at Lee.
01:59It might have been avoided, too.
02:00Reports have noted that by the time the crew of The Crow were filming the scene that proved
02:04fatal for Lee, the set was without a dedicated firearms specialist.
02:07He left after all the takes featuring semi-automatic weapons were already in the can.
02:11Looking back through a modern filmmaking lens, the fact that handguns were not treated with
02:15the same respect seems an obvious oversight.
02:18The onset death of any leading actor would cause shockwaves through the movie industry,
02:22but the fatal shooting of Brandon Lee took on a life of its own within days of being
02:25headline news.
02:26You didn't say goodbye.
02:29You're just gonna have to forgive me for that.
02:35Much of this was to do with the uncanny similarities to the death of his father, Bruce, who also
02:39died suddenly at the peak of his fame.
02:41Bruce Lee was one of the world's most athletic and physically impressive actors.
02:45However, in private, he suffered with chronic pain, and he died at age 32 after a reported
02:50allergic reaction to a painkiller, which led to fatal swelling of the brain.
02:53Later theories, however, suggested the cause of death was actually acute water intoxication.
02:58Following his death, rumors swirled that the actor had been murdered, potentially by the
03:01Chinese organized crime group the Triads, after he refused to let them take control
03:05of his career, though the Lee family insisted this was not the case.
03:09That history could repeat itself in Bruce's son seemed too much of a coincidence for many
03:13fans to take.
03:14In the wake of Brandon's death, many conspiracy theories suggested that he had been murdered,
03:18with motives typically mirroring those of the supposed assassins who had killed Bruce.
03:22Members of the Lee family and his colleagues took to the media to share their belief that
03:25both men had been murdered, while fans speculated that a curse had been put on the Lee family
03:29to impose early death on its male progeny.
03:32More than three decades later, no criminal charges have ever been filed in relation to
03:36the shooting of Brandon Lee or the death of his father.