Noor Malhotra
‘Warrior’ is an action drama series that was inspired by an original concept by Bruce Lee. The show follows Ah Sahm, a martial arts prodigy, as he makes his way through San Francisco to find his sister in the 1870s. But the ongoing Tong Wars thwart his plans. The series also examines the xenophobia, misogyny, and racism that were prevalent in the society at that time. In this article, we explore the places where the show is filmed.
Warrior Filming Locations
Both seasons of this period piece were actually shot in Cape Town, South Africa. In fact, more than 600 crew members and 390 businesses were working on the set of ‘Warrior.’ The CEO of Wesgro, Tim Harris, also stated, “There has also been a significant investment in sets‚ and the 19th-century Chinatown‚ San Francisco backlot at the Cape Town Film Studios could be a huge asset for the local industry at large.”
Cape Town, South Africa
The show actually came to life when Bruce Lee’s daughter, Shannon Lee, shared her father’s treatment with filmmaker Justin Lin. Shooting began at the Cape Town Film Studios. The cast and crew of the show also loved that the city had such a diverse landscape, and their Instagram profiles are rife with photos from their journey. A case in point is the actor Rich Ting, who plays the character of Bolo. From his Instagram posts, we concluded that Camps Bay Beach and Table Mountain National Park were also visited by many in the crew.
The stunt coordinator, Brett Chan, said this about the experience— “They went through a rigorous process of picking people for the show who were gonna be a good fit. We were shooting in South Africa. You’re away from home, so you wanna be with people that are easy to work with, open to ideas, are very creative. Especially when you’re working around the legend of Bruce Lee.”
Only nine crew members were foreigners. Genevieve Hofmeyr, from the local production company Moonlighting Films, said, “The rest are all South Africans‚ including some directors of photography‚ supervising art directors ‚ script supervisors ‚ costume designers ‚ hair and make-up designers ‚ set decorators ‚ special effects supervisors and visual effects producers.” It must be noted that the possibility of shooting such an epic project in South Africa became a reality in recent years because of the progress of the local filming industry.
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