Bruce Lee’s daughter Shannon responds to Quentin Tarantino’s comments – The Hollywood Reporter

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In the midst of Quentin Tarantino’s media tour to promote the remake of his 2019 novel Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, director Joe Rogan has turned off the Spotify podcast. During a June 29 interview, Tarantino was asked about criticism of the film’s portrayal of Bruce Lee – specifically, a fight scene where Brad Pitt’s character, Cliff, easily brought down Lee’s character, portrayed by Mike Moe. “I can understand that his daughter has a problem – he’s her damned dad, and I understand that,” Tarantino told Rogan, before quickly dismissing other people’s criticism.

Shannon Lee, daughter of Bruce Lee, was among those who spoke about the scene at the time of the film’s release. In response to a request for comment from The Hollywood Reporter on Tarantino’s comments to Rogan, he wrote the column below regarding the director’s characterization of the scene and other comments on the actual Bruce Lee.

Why does Quentin Tarantino talk like he knows and hates Bruce Lee? Seems weird since he’s never met Bruce Lee, right? Not to mention, Mr. Tarantino happily dressed the bride in a yellow dad suit and Crazy 88s with Cato-style masks and costumes for Kill Bill, which many took as a love letter to Bruce Lee. But love letters usually address the recipient by name, and from what I can notice at the time, Mr. Tarantino, interestingly, tried to avoid saying Bruce Lee’s name as much as possible at the time.

If only he had taken Bruce Lee’s name off his lips now.

You can now imagine that I’m used to people seeing only one face of my dad and blowing that up into a caricature. This was happening shortly after his death. But usually, somewhere in this caricature there is some kind of mass of love for the man and his work. Not so with Mr. Tarantino.

As you already know, the portrayal of Bruce Lee in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood by Mr. Tarantino was, in my opinion, inaccurate and unnecessary to say the least. (Please, let’s not blame actor Mike Moe. He did his best with what he gave him.) And while I am grateful that Mr. Tarantino has admitted Joe Rogan so generously that I may have my feelings about his portrayal of my father, I am also grateful for the opportunity to express this : I’m really sick of white men in Hollywood trying to tell me who Bruce Lee was.

I’m sick of hearing from white men in Hollywood that it was arrogant and a fool when they had no idea and couldn’t comprehend what it would have taken to work in the Hollywood of the ’60s and ’70s as a Chinese man with (God forbid) an accent, or trying to express an opinion about a group as a foreigner Visualized and colorful person. I’m sick of white men in Hollywood mistaking his self-confidence, passion, and skill for arrogance, and thus find it necessary to sideline him and his contributions I’m sick of white men in Hollywood who find it so hard to believe that Bruce Lee might have been really good at what he did and might have known how He does it better than them.

I’m sick of hearing from white men in Hollywood that he wasn’t really a martial artist and did it for the movies. My father lived martial arts and her breathing. He taught martial arts, wrote about martial arts, created his own martial arts, created martial arts training, and refused to compete in martial arts tournaments because he believed fighting should be “real.” He had no equal as a martial artist. And I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that he has no equal as a martial artist in the movie either.

I’m sick of white men in Hollywood barely noticing the impact he’s had on the genre of action movies and fighting choreography, or the worldwide spread of martial arts he has sparked and interest in, or the number of people and communities he continues to inspire and touch through his performances, philosophies, teachings and practices while belittling his accomplishments. that lifted spirits and became a source of pride for Asian Americans, communities of color, and people around the world, and how he accomplished all this by the age of 32.

And while we were at it, I got tired of being told that he wasn’t American (he was born in San Francisco), that he wasn’t a true friend of James Coburn, that he wasn’t good at handling acrobats, that he wandered defying people to fight on film sets, and that my mother said in her book that my father believed That he can hit Muhammad Ali (not true), that all he wants is to be famous, and much more.

Of course, this does not apply to all white men in Hollywood. I’ve worked with some really great collaborators and partners. But I’ve come across enough of them over the years (and not just in Hollywood) who want to act as Bruce Lee and use Bruce Lee when and how it suits them without acknowledging his humanity, legacy, or family in the process that has emerged somewhat of a pattern. I’m also not saying that no one is allowed to have a negative opinion of Bruce Lee. I’m saying that your opinion may be colored by personal or cultural bias, and that there is a pattern. Just note the pattern in all the people Mr. Tarantino cites in the case he brought against my father. I’m just saying …

I understand that he died when I was four, but I am still one of the few people on the planet other than my mother who has met and spoken with most of the people who knew him (promoters and critics alike), who read his extensive writing on all sorts of topics, and had his own personal times and his library, who trained in Jeet Kune Do, who has childhood memories of him, and who knows what he must have loved. I think I have more authority over Bruce Lee at this point than most people, not to mention looking after his legacy over the past 21 years.

Look, I understand what Mr. Tarantino was trying to do. I really. Cliff Booth is such a badass and killer that he can beat Bruce Lee’s crap. character development. I get it. I think he could have done it better. But instead, the scene he created was just an uninteresting tearing of Bruce Lee when it wasn’t needed. White Hollywood treated Bruce Lee, and white Hollywood treated him – an dispensable stereotype. But it was Tarantino’s creative device of choice, so he claimed at first, though now he seems to argue that this is actually an accurate depiction of Bruce Lee which would have actually happened if Cliff Booth (a fictitious person) and the real Bruce Lee (If he had been an arrogant, humble martial artist) he had faded away. What?

The fact that Mr. Tarantino concedes that my father could have easily been duped by a fictional character and would only be a real threat in a competitive environment like Madison Square Garden speaks volumes about everything he doesn’t know about Bruce Lee and JKD. But one by one is enough.

In conclusion, at a time when Asian Americans are being physically assaulted, told to “go home” because they are perceived as not being American, and are demonized as something that has nothing to do with them, I am excited to point out Mr. Tarantino’s continued attacks, misrepresentations, and misrepresentations of a leading member And an innovator in our Asian American community is, for the time being, not welcome.

Mr. Tarantino, you don’t have to like Bruce Lee. I really don’t care if you like him or not. You made your movie and now you’re obviously promoting a book. But for the sake of respecting other cultures and experiences that you may not understand, I would encourage you to take a step in commenting more on Bruce Lee and reconsider the impact of your words in a world that needs no more conflict and fewer cultural heroes.

Under the sky, under the sky, we are one family, Mr. Tarantino, and I think it’s time for us both to walk.

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