| Kee Nang | |
|---|---|
 Charlotte Lewis as Kee Nang | |
| First appearance | The Golden Child (1986) |
| Last appearance | The Golden Child (1986) |
| Adapted by | Dennis Feldman |
| Portrayed by | Charlotte Lewis |
| In-universe information | |
| Occupation | Priestess |
| Family | The Old Man (father) |
| Significant other | Chandler Jarrell |
| Home | Tibet |
Kee Nang is a fictional character who appears in Michael Ritchie's [1] [2] [3] 1986 film The Golden Child . She is portrayed by English actress Charlotte Lewis. [4]
Kee Nang is a young Tibetan priestess [5] who tries to recruit [6] social worker [7] and private investigator Chandler Jarrell (Eddie Murphy [4] ) in hope of finding and rescuing a mystical [8] Tibetan boy. The boy, who is only known as "The Golden Child" (J.L. Reate), has been kidnapped [9] by an evil [10] sorcerer (Charles Dance) named Sardo Numspa. [11]
Kee tells [12] [13] a skeptical Chandler [14] that it is his destiny [15] [16] [17] (as it was written in a Tibetan scroll [18] 400-years prior) to find the Golden Child. Chandler at first, plays along but mainly to get close and flirt with Kee, [19] only to soon realize that not only is otherworldly magic real, but so is his destiny.
Chandler was already working on a case [20] involving a missing and eventually murdered girl [21] named Cheryll Mosley, when Kee saw him on television. [22] Sardo Numpa's forces drained Cheryll of blood in order to try and fool the Golden Child into consuming the blood, thus weakening [23] his powers. [24] These powers in particular, consists of telekinesis and the ability to bring dead animals back to life.
When Chandler asks Kee why they were trying to feed the child blood-soaked oatmeal, she responds by saying that she doesn't know but that “There is somebody we could ask about the blood.” This leads the two to an apothecary-type store run by Doctor Hong (James Hong). Downstairs into the brick basement, they meet a mysterious librarian behind a three-paned screen named Kala [25] (Shakti Chen). She tells Chandler that Sardo wants the Golden Child to eat blood because if he polluted himself with anything impure, he would become vulnerable.
Sardo Numpsa later enters Chandler makes a deal with Chandler via a dream sequence, that he will give over the Golden Child if he can retrieve the Ajanti Dagger. Kee Nang meanwhile, is tied-up with toilet paper [26] [27] while wearing a black leather bodice. Unbeknownst to Chandler and Kee, is that Sardo needs the dagger to kill the Golden Child.
So Chandler and Kee jet off to Nepal in order to find the dagger. After Chandler succeeds in solving a mythical task of carefully carrying a cup of water while traversing through a dangerous cave, [28] a high priest says to Kee that magnificent Americans have so much power but also, so little understanding of what to do with them. While in Katmandu, Chandler asks Kee's father, the Old Man for some love [29] advice. The Old Man soon gives his blessing to Kee [30] to marry Chandler.
Back in Los Angeles, Chandler and Kee are taken to a safe house. After initially resisting his advances, [31] Kee Nang finally decides to invite Chandler into her bed [32] only for him to decline in favor of sleeping on the couch. [33]
But soon, Sardo and his men arrive and take out the guards. Kee ultimately gives her life to save Chandler from Sardo's crossbow bolt, [34] but not before telling him that she loves him. Doctor Hong and Kala tell Chandler that he has until sundown [35] [36] [37] to rescue the Golden Child in order to bring Kee back to life.
After locating the Golden Child's location, which is an empty mansion, they are chased by the Sardo, who has transformed into a winged demon. [38] On the way back to the basement of Doctor Hong's shop, where Kee's body is resting, Chandler is able to kill Sardo with the Ajanti Dagger and the Golden Child is able to restore Kee back to life by lifting her foot of into a beam of sunlight, where it touches her toes. [39]
The film concludes with Chandler, Kee, and the Golden Child taking a walk while discussing the child’s return to Tibet and (as Chandler jokingly suggests) the boy’s prospective fame as a stage magician.
Kee Nang initially appears as a mysterious, [40] [41] stoic, [42] non-observant, Westernized woman. Kee is the daughter of “The Old Man” from Tibet (Victor Wong) and she enjoys respect from the secluded Tibetan monks. [43]
Kee is also an expert in kung fu and saves Chandler from a gang of bikers after initially being told to wait in his car. [44] [45] Chandler in return, erotically dreams of saving her instead and becoming her hero. She is soon left to question her beliefs [46] as she begins to fall [47] for Chandler.
Kee Nang as a character, arguably represents the Lotus Blossom image, with her sexual availability and idea of exoticism. She in particular, is on the surface, very quiet and meek, yet also holds characteristics of being subservient, and willing to sacrifice herself for Chandler.
Ken Chase was the makeup designer and creator and Steve La Porte was the key makeup artist [48] for Charlotte Lewis in The Golden Child. Lewis is in actuality, primary of white ethnic background being born in the United Kingdom, and her father being half Chilean and half Iraqi. Producer David Kirkpatrick would later write [49] that he nervous about the romantic scene between Charlotte Lewis and Eddie Murphy in The Golden Child. Kirkpatrick added that Lewis was a lovely British actress with a dark complexion. She as previously noted, was Irish, Chilean, and Iranian. And when there was a kiss between her and Murphy, no one, according to Kirkpatrick ripped up the seats. So he felt that they he had found the right girl to kiss the black star.
Charlotte Lewis was at the time, an 18-year-old model-turned-actress. [50] [51] [52] A Los Angeles Daily News article dated on March 25, 1986, announced [53] Charlotte Lewis as the final choice for the role of Kee Nang and claimed it would be the “first time Eddie Murphy has been romantically involved on screen.” The casting director for Pirates recommended her The Golden Child. Lewis was selected from over 500 applicants. [54] Lewis was paid [55] $150,000 (a little under £100,000) for The Golden Child.
Eddie Murphy when describing the film said [56] that “It’s about this guy who was living his normal life and this person comes and says, ‘You are the chosen one. You’ve been chosen to save the world.’ He's like, ‘Really?’ My character throughout the whole picture is reluctant to go on this journey. He starts to slowly believe what this woman is telling him. There are strong contrasts in the film. Charlotte's character, Kee Nang, is a mystical, magical person. My character is this guy with strong common sense solving an illogical thing with logic. It's a nice contrast.”
Meanwhile, Lewis said [57] that she actually thought that she was going to Tibet since that was where The Golden Child was set. In actuality, the Tibet as seen in The Golden Child was to be a set at Paramount, with a little location shooting at a ski resort called Mammoth Mountain five hours from Los Angeles. According to Lewis, so much money was spent re-creating Tibet in California that it would have been cheaper to actually fly to the country.
Karen Elaina Price was Charlotte Lewis' stunt double for The Golden Child, mainly providing Kee Nang's flips. Otherwise, Lewis would claim [58] that did all of her character's fight scenes herself. Yūko Mizutani did the Japanese dubbing for Charlotte Lewis. In the scene where Sardo is the aiming the crossbow at Chandler as he's running, Kee can be spotted [59] hiding behind a post, seemingly looking to the side and waiting for her turn to get into the shot.
Aiden Mason of TV Overmind suggested [60] that Kee Nang bore similarities to Chun-Li from Capcom's Street Fighter video game series. In August 2020, Lovell Porter from the website Blaque Rabbit, suggested [29] that Jessica Henwick should play Kee Nang in a hypothetical remake [61] of The Golden Child.
Dave Kehr of the Chicago Tribune said [62] that Eddie Murphy's companion as played by Charlotte Lewis, is a beautiful Eurasian woman who leaps, chops and backflips with all the unflappable springiness of Bruce Lee, but director Michael Ritchie employs her chiefly as cheesecake. [63] [64] [65] Kehr particularly made note that when Lewis bounds through the air, it's merely an excuse to look up her dress.
Michael Wilmington of the Los Angeles Times wrote [66] that as the inscrutable kung fu princess Kee Nang, the fetching Charlotte Lewis hardly qualifies as a straight woman to Eddie Murphy. [67]
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times said [68] that Lewis as the preternaturally beautiful heroine Kee Nang, won her an audience of dozens in Roman Polanski's Pirates and that The Golden Child will likely do a lot better. Ebert added that Lewis looks very beautiful, and because that is her role in this movie, she fulfills it flawlessly. Lewis also according to Ebert, succeeds in keeping a straight face [69] while Eddie Murphy uses her as the subject of speculation, rejection, romance and betrayal, and while she uses her effortless mastery of kung fu to protect him.
Candice Russell of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel believed [70] that the love that Eddie Murphy's Chandler Jarrell feels for Kee Nang is perplexing. Russell went further by saying that she may be an exotic full-lipped beauty but she has the demeanor of an ice princess who doesn't thaw out or even kiss him till the final scene. Russell believed that the scantiest credibility of their romance is hurt because she treats Jarrell like a dimwitted servant.
Leonard Maltin in his review of The Golden Child, simply wrote [71] that Charlotte Lewis was more wooden [72] than most ex-models. Meanwhile, Paul Attanasio of the Washington Post wrote [73] that Lewis is simply a prop in an affair that is less a romance than an a' la carte order of Murph 'n' Turf.
Janet Maslin of the New York Times said [74] that Charlotte Lewis, who would be better off left to simply stand by and look statuesque, is forced to simulate some exceptionally fake-looking gymnastics. And she according to Maslin, is no less credible doing back-flips than Eddie Murphy is talking to a character who's supposed to be half-dragon.
Nadia Ramoutar in a 2006 study from the University of Florida noted [75] that Charlotte Lewis' character in The Golden Child can leap over tall walls or from high buildings, usually just wearing Eddie Murphy’s shirt and her underwear.
Liz Bourke of Tor.com complained [76] that Kee Nang's role in the film represents a really specific yet irritatingly common brand of seemingly-progressive-but-actually-sexist portrayals of female characters that in her mind, no one seems to have named yet. Bourke said that it's a slightly more evolved modern version of the trope in which exactly one female is allowed per a giant cast of males. Not only that, but Bourke questioned why Kee wasn't actually the hero of the film instead of the supposed "Chosen One" in Chandler Jarrell.
Heathers is a 1989 American teen black comedy film written by Daniel Waters and directed by Michael Lehmann, in both of their respective film debuts. The film stars Winona Ryder, Christian Slater, Shannen Doherty, Lisanne Falk, Kim Walker, and Penelope Milford. Its plot portrays four teenage girls—three of whom are named Heather—in a clique at an Ohio high school, one of whose lives is disrupted by the arrival of a misanthrope intent on murdering the popular students and staging their deaths as suicides.
Edward Regan Murphy is an American comedian, actor, and singer. He shot to fame on the sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live, for which he was a regular cast member from 1980 to 1984. He is widely recognized as one of the greatest comedians of all time. Murphy has received accolades such as the Golden Globe Award, a Grammy Award, and an Emmy Award as well as nominations for an Academy Award and a BAFTA Award. He was honored with the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 2015 and the Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2023.
Stand by Me is a 1986 American coming-of-age drama film directed by Rob Reiner. Based on Stephen King's 1982 novella The Body, with the title deriving from the song of the same name by Ben E. King, the film is set in the fictional town of Castle Rock, Oregon, in 1959, and stars Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman, and Jerry O'Connell, as four boys who go on a hike to find the dead body of a missing boy.
Kyla Alissa Pratt is an American actress. She provided the voice of Penny Proud in the first Disney Channel animated series, The Proud Family, and portrayed Breanna Latrice Barnes in UPN's One on One. After playing the daughter of Eddie Murphy's character in the films Dr. Dolittle and Dr. Dolittle 2, Pratt became the main character in the spin-off series of the franchise which included Dr. Dolittle 3, Dr. Dolittle: Tail to the Chief, and Dr. Dolittle: Million Dollar Mutts. Pratt has also been in the films Fat Albert, Hotel for Dogs, and The Proud Family Movie. From 2012 to 2014, she appeared in the series Let's Stay Together. She was formerly a part of VH1's Black Ink Crew: Compton and the cast of Call Me Kat on Fox and is reprising the role of Penny in The Proud Family revival The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder on Disney+.
Trading Places is a 1983 American comedy film directed by John Landis and written by Timothy Harris and Herschel Weingrod. Starring Dan Aykroyd, Eddie Murphy, Ralph Bellamy, Don Ameche, Denholm Elliott, and Jamie Lee Curtis, the film tells the story of an upper-class commodities broker (Aykroyd) and a poor street hustler (Murphy) whose lives cross when they are unwittingly made the subjects of an elaborate bet to test how each man will perform when their life circumstances are swapped.
Beverly Hills Cop is a 1984 American buddy cop action comedy film directed by Martin Brest, with a screenplay by Daniel Petrie Jr., and story by Danilo Bach and Daniel Petrie Jr. It stars Eddie Murphy as Axel Foley, a street-smart Detroit detective who visits Beverly Hills, California, to solve the murder of his best friend. Judge Reinhold, John Ashton, Ronny Cox, Lisa Eilbacher, Steven Berkoff, Paul Reiser, and Jonathan Banks appear in supporting roles.
Big Trouble in Little China is a 1986 American fantasy action-comedy film co-scored and directed by John Carpenter, and starring Kurt Russell, Kim Cattrall, Dennis Dun and James Hong. The film tells the story of truck driver Jack Burton (Russell), who helps his friend Wang Chi (Dun) rescue Wang's green-eyed fiancée from bandits in San Francisco's Chinatown. They go into the mysterious underworld beneath Chinatown, where they face an ancient sorcerer named David Lo Pan (Hong), who requires a woman with green eyes to marry him in order to be released from a centuries-old curse.
The Barefoot Contessa is a 1954 American drama film written and directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz about the life and loves of fictional Spanish sex symbol Maria Vargas. It stars Humphrey Bogart, Ava Gardner, and Edmond O'Brien. The plot focuses on social positioning and high-powered politics within the world of film and high society.
The Big Sleep is a 1978 neo-noir film, the second film version of Raymond Chandler's 1939 novel of the same name. The picture was directed by Michael Winner and stars Robert Mitchum in his second film portrayal of the detective Philip Marlowe. The cast includes Sarah Miles, Candy Clark, Joan Collins and Oliver Reed, and features James Stewart as General Sternwood.
Boomerang is a 1992 American romantic comedy film directed by Reginald Hudlin. The film stars Eddie Murphy as Marcus Graham, a hotshot advertising executive who also happens to be an insatiable womanizer and male chauvinist. When he meets his new boss, Jacqueline Broyer, Marcus discovers that she is essentially a female version of himself, and he realizes he is receiving the same treatment that he delivers to others. The film also features Halle Berry, David Alan Grier, Martin Lawrence, Grace Jones, Eartha Kitt and Chris Rock.
The Golden Child is a 1986 American dark fantasy action comedy film directed by Michael Ritchie. The film stars Eddie Murphy as Chandler Jarrell, a Los Angeles social worker who is informed that he is "The Chosen One", and is destined to save "The Golden Child", a kidnapped Tibetan boy with mystical powers who is said to be the savior of all humankind. Alongside Murphy, the film's cast includes Charlotte Lewis and Charles Dance.
Charlotte's Web is a 2006 fantasy comedy-drama film based on the 1952 novel of the same name by E. B. White. Directed by Gary Winick and written by Susannah Grant and Karey Kirkpatrick, it is the second film adaptation of E. B. White's book, and live-action/CGI remake of Paramount's 1973 animated feature film of the same name produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions. The film stars Dakota Fanning, Kevin Anderson, and Beau Bridges, with voices provided by Dominic Scott Kay, Julia Roberts, Steve Buscemi, John Cleese, Oprah Winfrey, Thomas Haden Church, André Benjamin, Cedric the Entertainer, Kathy Bates, Reba McEntire, and Robert Redford. Danny Elfman composed the film's score.
Vampire in Brooklyn is a 1995 American vampire comedy horror film directed by Wes Craven. It stars Eddie Murphy, who produced and wrote with his brothers Vernon Lynch and Charles Q. Murphy. The film co-stars Angela Bassett, Allen Payne, Kadeem Hardison, John Witherspoon, Zakes Mokae, and Joanna Cassidy. Murphy also plays an alcoholic preacher, Pauly, and a foul-mouthed Italian-American mobster, Guido, respectively.
Charlotte Lewis is an English actress.
Norbit is a 2007 American comedy film, directed by Brian Robbins, and co-written by, co-produced by, and starring Eddie Murphy. The film co-stars Thandie Newton, Terry Crews, Cuba Gooding Jr., Eddie Griffin, Katt Williams, Marlon Wayans, and Charlie Murphy. It was released by DreamWorks and Paramount Pictures on February 9, 2007. Eddie Murphy portrays multiple roles including the eponymous Norbit and his abusive obese wife Rasputia; regretting ever having married her, Norbit decides he has had enough of her behavior at about the same time that his childhood sweetheart Kate returns to his life with plans for the orphanage where Norbit and Kate grew up. Norbit risks everything to be with her, but must also contend with Rasputia and her brothers, who have an agenda of their own.
The Front Page is a 1974 American black comedy-drama film directed by Billy Wilder, and starring Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau. The screenplay by Wilder and I. A. L. Diamond is based on Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur's 1928 play of the same name.
Imagine That is a 2009 comedy film starring Eddie Murphy, directed by Karey Kirkpatrick, and written by Ed Solomon and Chris Matheson. It centers on the relationship between a workaholic father (Murphy) and his daughter, Olivia, whose imaginary world becomes the secret to her father's success.
Sex and the City 2 is a 2010 American romantic comedy film written, co-produced, and directed by Michael Patrick King. It is the sequel to the 2008 film Sex and the City, based on the 1998–2004 television series. Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis, and Cynthia Nixon reprised their roles as friends Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte, and Miranda, while Chris Noth co-stars as Carrie's husband Mr. Big. It features cameos from Liza Minnelli, Miley Cyrus, Tim Gunn, Ron White, Omid Djalili, Penélope Cruz, Norm Lewis, and Kelli O'Hara.
Brighton Beach Memoirs is a 1986 American comedy film directed by Gene Saks, written by Neil Simon, and starring Jonathan Silverman and Blythe Danner. The film is adapted from Simon's semi-autobiographical 1982 play of the same title, the first chapter of what is known as the Eugene trilogy, followed by the adaptations Biloxi Blues and Broadway Bound.
Mr. Church is a 2016 American drama film directed by Bruce Beresford and written by Susan McMartin. The film stars Eddie Murphy as the title character with Britt Robertson, Xavier Samuel, Lucy Fry, Christian Madsen and Natascha McElhone also starring. The movie is based on the short story "The Cook Who Came to Live with Us" written by McMartin. The film centers around a cook who becomes a caretaker and father figure to three generations of women over the years. The film debuted on April 22, 2016, at the Tribeca Film Festival and was released on September 16, 2016, by Cinelou Releasing and Freestyle Releasing. This was Murphy's first film role in four years.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link){{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link){{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)