But after fans and Lee’s family members, including his daughter Shannon Lee, slammed the portrayal as “caricature-like,” Tarantino is backing up his writing.
“The way he was talking, I didn’t just make a lot of that up,” Tarantino said at apress conference for the moviein Russia. “I heard him say things like that, to that effect. If people are saying, ‘Well he never said he could beat up Muhammad Ali,’ well yeah, he did. Not only did he say that, but his wife, Linda Lee, said that in her first biography I ever read … She absolutely said it.”
While speaking withThe Wrapafter the movie’s release, Shannon expressed disappointment in how her father was treated onscreen “in the way that white Hollywood did when he was alive.”
“He comes across as an arrogant a–hole who was full of hot air,” Shannon, 50, an actress and martial artist herself, explained to the outlet. “Andnot someone who had to fighttriple as hard as any of those people did to accomplish what was naturally given to so many others.”
Bona Film Group; Michael Ochs Archives/Getty
Lee’s daughter added in her interviewthat while she “can understand all the reasoning behind what is portrayed in the movie,” it covers “a period of time thatclearly had a lot of racism andexclusion.”
“It was really uncomfortable to sit in the theater and listen to people laugh at my father,” she said. “Here, he’s the one with all the puffery and he’s the one challengingBrad Pitt. Which is not how he was.”
“Could Cliff beat up Bruce Lee? Brad would not be able to beat up Bruce Lee, but Cliff maybe could,” he said to Russian press. “If you ask me the question, ‘Who would win in a fight: Bruce Lee or Dracula?’ It’s the same question. It’s a fictional character. If I say Cliff can beat Bruce Lee up, he’s a fictional character so he could beat Bruce Lee up.”
Sony Pictures Entertainment
As for Moh’s performance, the late star’s daughter praised the 35-year-old actor’s accurate voice and mannerisms but noted, “I think he was directed to be a caricature” — and pointed out that Moh’s hairstyle and sunglasses were based on the look Bruce donned during hisEnter the Dragonera in the early ’70s, before his death in 1973 at age 32. (Enter the Dragonwas released posthumously.)
As Shannon previously recounted to PEOPLE, she was only 4 years old when she lost her father.
She said she has vivid memories of him and still feels a close connection.
“When he focused his attention on you, it was like having the sun shine on you,” Shannon said. “That feeling has stayed with me my whole life.”
Once Upon a Time… in Hollywoodis now playing.
source: people.com
