. >> reporter: or in the work of a truly american filmmaker like quentin tarantino. >> bruce lee was? he's just bruce lee. >> reporter: or even with a group of rappers from staten island, new york. ♪ swift ♪ all up in the high-rise who built a musical empire around a persona culled from a 1983 martial arts film titled "shaolin and wu tang." >> kung fu always had a part of my life because we used to watch the karate flicks. they used to come on at 3:00 and come outside and act like we the snake or something. sss, sss. you know, do all of that. >> reporter: even those from china can appreciate why americans would share their love of kung fu films. >> everyone wants to fly. and wants to have this, you know, special ability. >> reporter: "the grandmaster" echoes the thematic old school martial arts movie. >> it's one storyline i can relate to because a lot of these stories is about revenge or brotherhood or loyalty. ♪ my swag on >> reporter: an inspiration that stuck with raekwon through a career that spanned over two decades with his latest single released last week. ♪ more money more p

they've had some successes with quentin tarantino but not so much with films like this. i think maybe sort of a mid teen opening, we'll see how plays---they're trying to market it as this year's "the help" in a way-- which is not gonna generate that kind of success. but with oprah it has gotten some publicity so we'll see how it does. > >i'm going to see it this weekend so i'll let you know. > >well there you go. you can tell me how it is. > >and at the box office last weekend, here's a look at those numbers...are we getting any closer to any type of record breaking summer here? > >we actually are surprisingly enough. we're at the tail end of what looks like is going to be the biggest summer in box office history. 2011 set the record---4.3 some billion. we're about 330 million away and we have about 2 1/2 weeks up until labor day---sort of the unofficial end of summer that i think is gonna happen. i think probably by next weekend we'll have the record set. > >what would be your pick for this weekend? actually you can pick two. > >well, i think of the new movies i think '

. >> or quentin tarantino's "jackie brown." yuma." >> when i'm researching a character or a particular role, a bail bondsman or a cop, i never model my character after someone i meet. i make up my own. >> leonard's idea flowed so freely from his pen, he began many of his 45 novels by writing them long form. yes, for over half a century, the author stayed true to his low-tech technique, purchasing up to a thousand unlined legal pads each year for his fictional work, something he found much more enjoyable than scripting for the movie history. >> the whole idea of writing fiction full time is you're on your own and you can write whatever you want. but then as soon as you become a screenwriter, you're writing on assignment, even if it's an original. >> leonard brought his story telling style to television in 2010 with the fx series "justified," that earned the network record ratings last season. he famously once wrote "if it sounds like writing, i rewrite it." but we all know as long as it sounds like elmore leonard writing, we'll

tarantino. >> me i could get. i write about -- i don't write about epic things. quentineries or drug deals gone awry. i write movies about i saw a movie about a drug deal. they're both huge parts of our life. >> next year is 20 years, man. >> we are coming up on 20 years that i've been doing this professionally. when we made the deal to sell the movie, they bought it in purpo in the united states. and me and my producer would joke about in 25 years, we own "clarks in england," what's that going to be worth? it's worth a lot. in the beginning, we talked about being independent. i'll do it by myself, the hell with everybody else. until we were done and it's like, we've got to sell this. i'm sorry about all that stuff i said about being independent. i never felt like an independent filmmaker except for the first one. we made it to say to somebody in the future, we know how to move a camera around, will you give us money next time around? so like i entered the business with piss and vinegar and love with earth. i had seen the movie "slacker" on my 21st movie. >> let's play a