Donnie Yen on Quentin Tarantino’s depiction of Bruce Lee: “It was cartoonish”
Actor Donnie Yen has revealed his thoughts behind the depiction of Bruce Lee in Quentin Tarantino‘s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. In the 2019 film, Mike Moh played Lee, and he is mocked by Brad Pitt’s stuntman character Cliff Booth when Lee claims he could beat Muhammed Ali in a fight.
Lee’s daughter Shannon responded to the scene after the film was released, claiming it was “disrespectful”. She told The Hollywood Reporter: “I’m tired of white men in Hollywood mistaking his confidence, passion, and skill for hubris and therefore finding it necessary to marginalise him and his contributions”.
Shannon Lee added: “I’m tired of white men in Hollywood finding it too challenging to believe that Bruce Lee might have really been good at what he did and maybe even knew how to do it better than them.”
Yen has now told Variety of the Lee depiction: “Everybody is entitled to their opinions. Quentin Tarantino is a very renowned filmmaker, and he’s entitled to his status – and I’m entitled to state my own view. Obviously, he was making fun of Bruce. It was cartoonish.”
Tarantino had previously defended his portrayal of Lee, claiming that the famous martial arts actor did indeed hold disdain for stuntmen. He said on The Joe Rogan Podcast: “The stuntmen hated Bruce on The Green Hornet. It’s in Matthew Polly’s book. Bruce had nothing but disrespect for stuntmen.”
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