[ MAUKA-MAKAI ]
Looking for what Jason Scott Lee played two roles in "Dracula Resurrection," filmed last fall in Romania. On screen he was a Catholic priest vampire slayer who "took lots of heads," he says. Behind the camera, the Pearl City High School graduate became a healer after several members of the cast developed stomach problems from unfamiliar food.
makes him whole
Fresh off a vampire film,
Jason Scott Lee reflects on
the hollowness of HollywoodBy tim ryan
tryan@starbulletin.com"I made ginger tea for everyone," Lee said during an interview at his Volcano, Big Island, home. "I had to push a bit for them to drink it, but it did the trick.
"I like taking care of people," he said. "It's just one human being understanding another's needs."
Last year was "a hell of a year," Lee says. "I think I grew spiritually, physically and professionally because I had to."
Lee, 35, starred for six months in a stage production of "The King and I" in London, spent three months in Romania for "Dracula," worked on an organic farm in Japan for six weeks, visited Tibet and China, moved from his ocean-view Kaaawa home to 25 acres of rain forest in Volcano, and mourned the death of his father.
Lee, a mixture of Chinese and Hawaiian, is an accomplished jeet kune do martial artist, which may explain why he was picked to play Bruce Lee in the 1993 film "Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story." Since then he's appeared in "Map of the Human Heart" (1993) , "Rapa Nui" (1994), "Jungle Book" (1994), "Picture Bride" (1995), "Murder in Mind" (1997), "Soldier" (1998) and "Tale of the Mummy" (1998).
His voice will be heard this summer in the Disney animated feature "Lilo & Stitch," a story based on Kauai. Lee currently is in Los Angeles filming the straight-to-video Universal Studios production of "Time Cop II." He will choreograph much of the fight scenes, striving "to make the action as honest as possible with a minimum of special effects."
Lee was born in Los Angeles, but the family moved to Oahu when he was 2. He has an older brother and sister and two younger brothers who are twins."Jason was always a good kid," said his mother, Sylvia Lee, "so easy to get along with. He was always willing to help out with things, was never demanding. He was my easiest son to raise, nonmaterialistic."
The Lees taught their son at an early age to treat people the way he wants to be treated, whether it's a studio head or a janitor.
"Jason was pretty naive in high school; he got along with everyone, always saw the good in people," Sylvia says. "But he's persistent and a fighter and a survivor."
Lee graduated from Pearl City High School in 1984 and attended Leeward Community for one year in 1985. In 1986 he moved to Southern California, where he enrolled at Fullerton Junior College and lived with family friends.
At Fullerton an acting instructor suggested Lee take acting classes, and he signed up for a class as an elective.
"I was taking a full load of studies and wasn't very happy about it," he said, "but it was something I felt I had to do.
"I felt myself opening up," Lee said, "but I had no idea even how to walk out on stage until my second semester."
Enter acting teacher Sal Romeo. "He emphasized the spiritual side of acting and the exploration of the subconscious, the quieting of mind chatter."
Lee moved to Hollywood to take the acting workshops while attending Los Angeles City College. Lee never completed his first year at the school, instead opting to join Romeo's new theater group, the Friends and Artists Theater Ensemble, where he had small parts in the ensemble's productions of "Marat/Sade" and "Balm in Gilead."
During his three years at the theater, Lee worked odd jobs: cleaning lobster tanks, steam-cleaning kitchens, gardening and maid work. He landed a bit part in Cheech Marin's "Born in East L.A." as well as small roles in "Back to the Future: Part II" and the CBS TV movie "Vestige of Honor."
Then Vincent Ward's lyrical "Map of the Human Heart" came along.
Lee's trek through the Hollywood system has not changed him into an unapproachable icon. He's just as shy, self-effacing and single as he was after the whirlwind of publicity he received from starring in "Map of the Human Heart," his breakout film.Lee occasionally teaches acting workshops and regularly appears at functions designed to promote Hawaii and the state's film industry. Fame and a bit of fortune have brought the actor to a surprising mind-set.
"I understand clearly that filmmaking is a very superficial demand, and the Hollywood thing is not what makes people whole," he said. "Acting is what I do, it's not who I am. I have no concern about my status. My fame has nothing to do with anything important in life."
Lee dislikes Hollywood's reliance on special effects to attract audiences and how it diminishes and overshadows actors' crafts.
"The most expensive film I made cost $80 million; with all the special effects, I found the experience really unrewarding, though I received the most money I've ever made," he said. "I told myself after it was over that I can't keep doing this unless I have other motivations."
The "other motivations" are to use his notoriety to help teach people how to simplify their lives. Simplifying is the reason he moved to the Big Island.
"It's my back-to-nature trip," Lee says, smiling.
On his property, Lee has removed non-native vegetation and in its place planted koa and sandalwood, in one spot Chinese herbs. He plans to raise ginseng and fruit.
"I wanted space where I can plant and grow things and live off the grid" as much as possible, he said. "A lot of my concerns are about energy consumption. I looked at solutions and came to one conclusion: I was part of the problem, so I changed my lifestyle. It's really pretty simple."
Lee lives pretty much off the grid. His small home has no electricity. Water is collected in a cistern, and toilet facilities are an outhouse. He has no television, so Lee didn't know for several hours about the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks until his mom, Sylvia, called from Honolulu.
Perhaps Lee's greatest professional challenge last year was starring onstage in "The King and I."
"I was scared to death, but I wanted to grow in that arena," he said. "I wanted to feel what it's like to perform live before 2,700 people. I learned to sing, I think, and develop a different kind of stamina."
For all his seriousness about acting and the environment, Lee turns giddy when asked about his love life.
"Oh, man, free and easy, I am sooo single," he says, laughing. "But I love to engage in conversations and help wherever I can. You know, I discovered that women love that nurturing kind of thing.
"I finally learned the secret."
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