Winning the MVP award 6 times, NBA star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is also a popular filmmaker. Sometime ago, Abdul-Jabbar gave his startling opinion of another filmmaker Quentin Tarantino and his portrayal of Bruce Lee in a 2019 movie. The actor also shared rare insights about Bruce Lee’s journey.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s shocking perspective on the 2019 film

Abdul-Jabbar critically spoke of how Tarantino has used his artistic freedom. His perspective was, “To do so in such a sloppy and somewhat racist way is a failure both as an artist and as a human being.” Continuing, the filmmaker said that he was in two minds because Tarantino was one of his favorites. “This controversy has left me torn” the filmmaker admitted. 

To explain further, Abdul-Jabbar spoke about the roles Asian men were given during Bruce Lee’s time. He recounted that the only roles which Asian men got were either villains or servants. Abdul-Jabbar then described the 2019 film which portrayed Cliff’s (Brad Pitt) attempts to defeat an arrogant Asian character (Bruce Lee). As this film also portrays an Asian character negatively, this reflects that the film also caters to the earlier stereotypes. 

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Further, Abdul-Jabbar gave his unique take on the fight scene between Bruce Lee’s character (Mike Moh) and Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt). He believed that if Lee’s Hollywood struggles had been shown, the fight scene would have been acceptable. The experienced filmmaker also added,  “The scene is complicated by being presented as a flashback.” These statements indicate his strong disapproval of Lee’s depiction in the film. 

Mike Moh’s opinion on the controversial movie and Bruce Lee 

During a 2019 interview with Birth.Movies.Death, Mike Moh openly disclosed his hesitation about the 2019 movie script. “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 admitted. Continuing, he went on to say that Bruce Lee was a God for him. However, it’s evident that Moh still went ahead with the script, angering millions of Bruce Lee fans. 

Abdul-Jabbar’s views raise a debate about the importance of the accurate portrayal of characters in a fictional film. What are your thoughts on the matter? Let us know in the comments below. 

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