Once Upon A Time In Hollywood is getting widely praised for its fairy tale-inspired plot set in a sort of alternate version of Tinseltown in the 1960s.
But Quentin Tarantino‘s biggest film yet — which injects imaginary characters into the real history — does have its critics… including the next of kin of one of the stars depicted.
Innerestingly, not Sharon Tate‘s sister Debra, who initially decried the film as being exploitative — until she sat down with the writer-director and her fears were alleviated by the script.
Related: Debra Tate Said Jennifer Lawrence Wasn’t Pretty Enough To Play Sharon
No, this is about how the movie depicts another real life movie star from the time, Bruce Lee.
Lee’s daughter, Shannon Lee, spoke to The Wrap about how the portrayal made her feel:
“It was really uncomfortable to sit in the theater and listen to people laugh at my father.”
In the film, Bruce is shown briefly training Sharon for her big kung fu fight scene in The Wrecking Crew, something which he really did.
However, the scene Shannon takes issue with is the one with Brad Pitt‘s character, stuntman Cliff Booth.
[Mild Spoilers Ahead]
As seen briefly in the teaser, Bruce brags to the crew behind the scenes of The Green Hornet TV show that if he fought Cassius Clay (who had not yet changed his name to Muhammed Ali), he would turn the boxer into a “cripple.”
Booth scoffs at this, leading to an exchange in which the two decide to have a friendly sparring match. Lee knocks Booth down with a flying kick in the first round, but in the second Booth catches him midair and throws him into a car. The third round sees a very even fight until it’s interrupted.
Shannon says:
“I can understand all the reasoning behind what is portrayed in the movie… I understand they want to make the Brad Pitt character this super bad-ass who could beat up Bruce Lee. But they didn’t need to treat him in the way that white Hollywood did when he was alive.”
She says she has no problem with the voice or mannerisms, which were captured by Tae Kwon Do instructor turned actor Mike Moh.
Shannon says Moh was “directed to be a caricature”; her problem is more with what Tarantino’s version of Lee says than how he says it:
“He comes across as an arrogant a**hole who was full of hot air. And not someone who had to fight triple as hard as any of those people did to accomplish what was naturally given to so many others.”
Shannon points out her father was actually the one who was challenged to fights constantly because of his image, and that he tried hard to avoid them. Not so in the film:
“Here, he’s the one with all the puffery and he’s the one challenging Brad Pitt. Which is not how he was.”
Shannon allowed it was possible Tarantino intended to make a meta comment about the way Asians were marginalized in “a period of time that clearly had a lot of racism and exclusion,” but she ultimately concludes “it doesn’t come across that way.”
Bruce was only beginning his movie star career when he died under mysterious circumstances in 1973, just four years after the film is set. He was only 32.
His daughter works hard to continue his legacy by running BruceLee.com and The Bruce Lee Foundation. However, she says:
“What I’m interested in is raising the consciousness of who Bruce Lee was as a human being and how he lived his life. All of that was flushed down the toilet in this portrayal, and made my father into this arrogant punching bag.”
Do YOU think the movie crapped on the legend of Bruce Lee??
[Image via Sony/YouTube/Warner Bros/WENN.]
