In 1977, a 17-year-old named Doris Young answered an advertisement in Singapore’s *The Straits Times* seeking someone "beautiful, sexy, and equally fast with hands and brains." The role was for an Interpol agent in a spy thriller, a part Young secured over hundreds of other hopefuls. Under the stage name Marrie Lee—a nod to martial arts legend Bruce Lee—she became the face of *They Call Her… Cleopatra Wong* (1978), a film that would eventually stand as a singular moment in Southeast Asian cinema.
Directed by Filipino filmmaker Bobby A. Suarez, the film was a high-octane synthesis of mid-century aesthetics and global genre trends. It drew heavily from the James Bond franchise and American blaxploitation hits like *Cleopatra Jones*, while grounding itself in the kinetic choreography of Hong Kong action cinema. As an Interpol operative dismantling a counterfeit currency ring, Young performed her own stunts, carving out a space for the Asian female lead in an era when such roles were vanishingly rare in international distribution.
The film’s influence has lingered in the margins of cult cinema for decades, famously cited by Quentin Tarantino as a touchstone for the visual and thematic language of *Kill Bill*. Now, a new restoration is rescuing Cleopatra Wong from the threat of obscurity. By cleaning the grain and sharpening the frames of this 1978 relic, archivists are doing more than preserving a genre film; they are documenting a pivotal, cross-cultural experiment that redefined the regional action star.
With reporting from [Little White Lies].
Source · Little White Lies
