After the 'Once Upon a Time in Hollywood' director defended his controversial portrayal of the late martial artist, Shannon Lee states that it would be nice if he could shut up or apologize.
- August 15, 2019
AceShowbiz - Bruce Lee's daughter Shannon Lee has begged filmmaker Quentin Tarantino to stop defaming her late father, following the martial artist's controversial depiction in "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood".
The 50-year-old previously complained about how her father is portrayed in the flick, telling The Wrap last month (July 2019) she felt he came "across as an arrogant a**hole who was full of hot air" and a "caricature". The director responded by saying the action star was "kind of an arrogant guy", and Shannon has now told Variety she just wants Quentin to stop talking about her father altogether.
"He could shut up about it," she raged on Wednesday, August 14. "That would be really nice. Or he could apologise or he could say, 'I don't really know what Bruce Lee was like. I just wrote it for my movie. But that shouldn't be taken as how he really was'."
In the scene in the film, Bruce (played by Mike Moh) is boasting about his elite combat skills while on the set of "The Green Hornet", and at one point claims he would cripple Muhammad Ali (aka Cassius Clay) if they were to square off. He also challenges Brad Pitt's stuntman character Cliff Booth to a physical fight, only to be thrown into a stationary car.
"I understand they want to make the Brad Pitt character this super bad-a*s who could beat up Bruce Lee," Shannon previously told The Wrap of the filmmaker's intentions. "But they didn't need to treat him in the way that white Hollywood did when he was alive."
Mike also shared he was uncomfortable over his portrayal of the Hollywood icon, telling Birth.Movies.Death: "I was so conflicted because he's my hero - Bruce in my mind was literally a god."
