 In 1980 , Jerry Sherlock began production on a comedy film to be called Charlie Chan and the Dragon Lady . A group calling itself <unk> ( Coalition of Asians to Nix ) was formed , protesting the fact that non @-@ Chinese actors , Peter Ustinov and Angie Dickinson , had been cast in the primary roles . Others protested that the film script contained a number of stereotypes ; Sherlock responded that the film was not a documentary . The film was released the following year as Charlie Chan and the Curse of the Dragon Queen and was an " abysmal failure . " An updated film version of the character was planned in the 1990s by Miramax . While this Charlie Chan was to be " hip , slim , cerebral , sexy and ... a martial @-@ arts master , " nonetheless the film did not come to fruition . Actress Lucy Liu is slated to star in and executive @-@ produce a new Charlie Chan film for Fox . The film has been in preproduction since 2000 ; as of 2009 it is slated to be produced . 
