“Was Literally a God”: Amidst Controversial Portrayal of Bruce Lee, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood Star Opened Up on His Emotions After Reading the Original Script in 2019

Published 11/24/2022, 11:45 AM EST

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Renowned martial artist and actor Bruce Lee has left a remarkable impression on himself. The martial artist-turned-actor deserved immense appreciation for bridging the gap between east and west through his martial-arts based movies. It was Bruce Lee who introduced the world to Hong Kong-based movies. Eventually, he became the inarguably greatest actor ever with martial art skills.

Fans who love Lee could not control their anger at the portrayal of the actor in the 2019 film “Once Upon A Time In Hollywood”. Notably, ace director Quentin Tarantino directed the highly acclaimed film. The film portrayed Bruce Lee as an arrogant actor who gets defeated by a stuntman.

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Actor Mike Moh commented on his portrayal of Bruce Lee.

When talking about Tarantino’s film, Once Upon A Time In Hollywood is a comedy movie that features two men attempting to make their mark in Hollywood. In their journey to fame, they also have to face several twists and turns. The film gathered huge controversy for its five-minute sequence that featured actor Brad Pit as stuntman Cliff Booth and Mike Moh as Lee. The scene depicts Bruce Lee fighting stuntman Cliff on the sets of The Green Hornet TV show; and eventually losing it to him. 

 

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Moreover, Bruce was portrayed as a narcissistic actor who had no respect for stuntmen. Of course, the unconventional portrayal of the great actor did not go well with Bruce Lee fans. There was a huge controversy with Bruce Lee’s daughter and his fans criticizing the makers and actor Mike Moh.

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Amidst the controversy, actor Mike Moh expressed his feelings about playing a narcissist Bruce Lee. He told Birth.Movies.Death in an interview in 2019; “I’m not going to tell you what the original script had exactly, but when I read it, I was so conflicted because he’s my hero,” 

Moh continued; “Bruce, in my mind, was literally a god. He wasn’t a person to me, he was a superhero. And I think that’s how most people view Bruce.”

According to Mike, fans’ anger is obvious because they see Bruce Lee as the greatest person ever. It was probably necessary to show Lee getting tricked by Cliff. However, if Lee had got five more seconds, he might have won against the stuntman.

The angry spat between Quentin Tarantino and Shannon Lee.

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In the Joe Rogan Podcast, director Tarantino asked Lee’s daughter Shannon Lee to shut up. He then stated that Lee was very rude to stuntmen, as written in Matthew Polly’s book, Bruce Lee: A Life.

Watch This Story:  Bodybuilding Legend Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Built Compared to Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan

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Shannon responded to him in a Variety interview nullifying the portrayal of her father in the movie. She also asked Tarantino to rectify his mistake by apologizing in public.

What is your take on this whole situation? Do you think Tarantino should not have filmed the controversial scene?

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Written by:

Muskan Sharma

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Muskan Sharma is a US Sports author for EssentiallySports. She has a degree in journalism and mass communication from the University of Calcutta. Muskan has worked as a writer for 3+ years but has a knack for filmmaking, too.
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Edited by:

Abhishek Kumar