The Wu-Tang Clan has no shortage of thesps in its ranks, but RZA has definitely had a closer relationship with Hollywood than most.

As an actor, he’s run the gamut from highbrow (Jim Jarmusch’s Coffee And Cigarettes) to lowbrow (A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas, anyone?). He made the credits for Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill series, and he also cobbled together the score for 1999’s Ghost Dog: The Way Of The Samurai.

The autodidact is now working on his first film as a director, a martial arts flick called The Man With The Iron Fists. The $20m film has been co-written by Hostel man Eli Roth, and also has a production credit from Tarantino. RZA is the dashing lead, playing a blacksmith who has to defend his remote Chinese village from hostile forces. This isn’t a piddling low-key indulgence: Russell Crowe, Lucy Liu, Pam Grier and a stack of well-regarded martial arts stars will all appear.

RZA recently popped a snap from the film up onto his Twitter; as you can see below, The Man With The Iron Fists looks like it’ll be a gentle, tender character piece in the vein of Mike Leigh. A trailer is reportedly due tomorrow. [via AllHipHop]