Brad Pitt says Brandon Lee once told him he feared dying young like his father

Brad Pitt has revealed how the late Brandon Lee, the actor son of martial arts legend Bruce Lee, feared dying young, as his father had.

Lee landed his breakthrough role in the 1993 movie The Crow, but died just days away from completing filming, after he was shot in the abdomen during a stunt sequence.

Speaking to Esquire, Pitt told of how he had partied with Lee in 1992, a year before his death.

Read more: Chad Stahelski opens up about Brandon Lee’s tragic death

“He drove a hearse and lived in Echo Park,” Pitt said.

“We went out one night and everyone else had peeled off, and we ended up back at his place and it was like six in the morning.

“A real, you know, drunk and stony night, and he proceeded that night to tell me how he thought he was going to die young like his dad. And I just chalked it up to, you know, stony 6 am talk. Then he got The Crow the next year.”

Lee was 28 when he died, four years younger than his father, who died in 1973 at the age of 32.

While filming The Crow, based on the comicbook of the same name, a prop gun was accidentally loaded with a live round.

During the stunt sequence, the gun was discharged, with the bullet hitting him in the abdomen.

He was rushed to hospital where he underwent six hours of surgery, but was pronounced dead after attempts to save his life failed.

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Both Lee's mother and his fiancée Eliza Hutton gave director Alex Proyas their blessing to finishing making the movie.

Stunt double Chad Stahelski, a friend of Lee's, was brought in to complete the actor's remaining scenes.

Stahelski has gone on to become a director himself, making the John Wick movies.

Pitt, meanwhile, is currently in Cannes promoting Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, which features the actor Mike Moh playing Bruce Lee.

It’s out in the UK in August.