The controversial scene Brad Pitt didn’t want to shoot: “We all had concerns”
Brad Pitt has done some very unique things on camera. He’s had to pull off an, shall we say, ‘interesting’ Irish accent while playing a boxer in Guy Ritchie’s Snatch. He voiced a krill in Happy Feet Two, made undead goo-goo eyes at Tom Cruise in Interview with the Vampire, and then there’s the case of Cool World, in which he plays a cartoonist who ends up being seduced by one of his own drawings.
On the surface, one of his tamer roles was as Cliff Booth in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Booth is a former soldier-turned-stuntman working for Leonardo DiCaprio’s Rick Dalton, a former Western star reaching a career crossroads. He’s one tough cookie, known for being basically unkillable during World War II. Tarantino took inspiration from some real-life stories from the final days of the studio system to build these fictional characters, with Booth being based on a variety of genuine hard men from the era.
Not every character in Once Upon a Time… is fictional, however. However, several fictional versions of actual people are involved in the film. Margot Robbie plays Sharon Tate, the actor infamous for being a murder victim of the Manson Family, who also finds a place in the plot. Damian Lewis plays Steve McQueen, Rafał Zawierucha plays Roman Polanski, and Korean-American star Mike Moh gives life to a version of legendary martial arts performer Bruce Lee.
In one of the most memorable scenes, Booth has a flashback to working on the set of The Green Hornet. Just like in real life, Lee is the star of that particular picture and, allegedly, didn’t take too kindly to working alongside American stunt performers. In the movie, Booth and Lee have a full-on fistfight, one that could have gone a little differently had Pitt not raised his voice.
According to Robert Alonzo, the stunt coordinator, he and the Ocean’s franchise icon had a good chat about this particular sequence. “I know that Brad had expressed his concerns, and we all had concerns about Bruce losing,” he told Huffington Post. “Especially for me, as someone who has looked up to Bruce Lee as an icon, not only in the martial-arts realm, but in the way he approached philosophy and life, to see your idol be beaten is very disheartening. It really pulled at certain emotional strings that can incite a little anger and frustration as to how he’s portrayed.”
In the final cut, Booth and Lee’s fight is relatively tame. Bruce kicks Cliff to the ground, Cliff chucks him into the side of a car; they both exchange a few more blows before the impromptu scuffle is called off. The scripted draft of the fracas supposedly went on for much longer, wasn’t called off, and would have seen the fictional brawler come out on top.
“Being an Asian American myself,” Alonzo continued, “I definitely related to how Bruce was a symbol of how Asians should be portrayed in movies.” Thus, you can understand why he was so hesitant to coordinate a scene in which he lost.
Ultimately, the entire portrayal of Lee in Once Upon a Time… came under serious scrutiny, with Tarantino forced to defend his decisions surrounding the legendary fighter, which were deemed stereotypical, untruthful, and borderline offensive.
Never Miss A Take
The Far Out Quentin Tarantino Newsletter
All the latest Quentin Tarantino content from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.