It was all the way back in 2009 that we first came across the work of writer-director Bao Tran. The occassion at the time was his short film Bookie - a gorgeously shot period drama with heavy action elements with an electric lead performance from Ken Quitugua who really, really should be a movie star now, please - and we knew we'd come across a major talent. Jump forward a few years and Tran was working as editor on Charlie and Johnny Nguyen's ultimately (and tragically) banned Vietnamese action picture Cho Lon and now he's in the process of launching his own debut feature, The Paper Tigers.
A dead-beat dad, an insurance scammer, and an MMA coach find themselves in the middle of a gang war when they must avenge their Kung Fu master’s death but first... they need to call in sick at their 9-to-5’s.
Yep, it's a kung fu coming of age comedy with the hook being that the people who need to come of age and grow up are already in middle age. I've actually had a chance to read this script - which is really good - and Tran has already shot the opening sequence of the film, featuring the lead characters in their youth, and now he's turning to Kickstarter to help fill their remaining financial hole and get production off the ground.
The short version of all of this? We like Bao. We like this script. We've already given them our money to help. And it'd be lovely if you did, too. Check out the pitch video below - featuring footage from that already shot flashback sequence - and visit the full Kickstarter page here to also check out the short film proof of concept they did to showcase their approach to action design.