Sci-fi is a lot like the moon landing or the assassination of JFK – a before-or-after proposition. The defining moment that changed sci-fi came on May 25, 1977, when the director of the fairly successful American Graffiti unveiled his update of the classic Western set in space with robots and laser cannons instead of gunfighters with sixguns.

It’s hard to remember he’s the same man who was lying on the floor of a filthy flat in Britain getting the unsexiest oral pleasuring on film from Australian actress Kerry Fox in 2001’s Intimacy, but soon after, Rylance hightailed it back to the world of theatre.

After appearing in Hong Kong action film Legacy of Rage (Long zai jiang hu, 1986) and playing an assassin in David Carradine’s Kung Fu: The Movie (1986), Brandon Lee’s fighting ability caught the eye of the industry. Offered a contract by Fox, his movie career began in earnest.