China cancels release of Tarantino film over portrayal of Bruce Lee
By Richard Morgan and Lia Eustachewich
October 18, 2019 | 1:47pm | Updated
Enlarge Image
Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt, left) and Bruce Lee (Mike Moh) fight it out in "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood."(Photo: ANDREW COOPER/SONY)
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China has yanked the upcoming release of Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” because Bruce Lee’s daughter is furious over its portrayal of the Hong Kong-American martial-arts legend as a cocky showman.
The star-studded blockbuster, featuring Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie, was slated for release in China next Friday, but Tarantino has refused to recut the film to appease Chinese regulators, a source told The Hollywood Reporter on Friday.
The movie includes a fight scene between Pitt’s character, a stuntman and former war hero named Cliff Booth, and the over-the-top Lee, played by Mike Moh, the film’s only Asian character.
Lee boasts to Booth that he could have “crippled” Muhammad Ali, referred to in the movie as Cassius Clay, and the two go at it in a “friendly” bout that ends without either winning — though Lee does get tossed into the side of a car.
The scene left Shannon Lee, the real-life daughter of the actor (right), fuming — prompting her to appeal directly to China’s National Film Administration for changes to the movie, sources told THR.
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Shannon blasted Tarantino days after the film’s July 26 US release, complaining that he depicted her dad, who died at age 32 of a brain edema in 1973, as a “caricature” and an “arrogant a–hole who was full of hot air.”
But the Oscar winner pushed back, saying Lee really was “kind of an arrogant guy.”
“The way he was talking, I didn’t just make a lot of that up,” Tarantino said in August.
No official explanation from Beijing has been given as to the abrupt cancellation. The film’s China-based investor, Bona Film Group, was said to be working with Sony Pictures to figure out how to re-release the movie.
Deadline reported that on-screen violence could also be a factor, as it was with Tarantino’s 2012 hit, “Django Unchained,” which was pulled on opening night in China after a senior Communist Party complained.
The film fiasco comes amid tensions between China and the US related to the ongoing pro-Democracy protests in Hong Kong.
Business relations between the NBA and its Chinese counterparts have gone up in flames after Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey’s Oct. 4 tweet expressing support for Hong Kong protesters.
By Richard Morgan and Lia Eustachewich
October 18, 2019 | 1:47pm | Updated
Enlarge Image
Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt, left) and Bruce Lee (Mike Moh) fight it out in "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood."(Photo: ANDREW COOPER/SONY)
MORE ON:
QUENTIN TARANTINO
Brad Pitt talks 'Once Upon A Time In Hollywood' mini-series
'Wokerati' slams of 'Once Upon a Time in Hollywood' are worse than McCarthyism
Sharon Tate gal pal slams Tarantino's 'Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood'
Bruce Dern revisits TV Western heyday in 'Once Upon a Time in Hollywood'
China has yanked the upcoming release of Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” because Bruce Lee’s daughter is furious over its portrayal of the Hong Kong-American martial-arts legend as a cocky showman.
The star-studded blockbuster, featuring Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie, was slated for release in China next Friday, but Tarantino has refused to recut the film to appease Chinese regulators, a source told The Hollywood Reporter on Friday.
The movie includes a fight scene between Pitt’s character, a stuntman and former war hero named Cliff Booth, and the over-the-top Lee, played by Mike Moh, the film’s only Asian character.
Lee boasts to Booth that he could have “crippled” Muhammad Ali, referred to in the movie as Cassius Clay, and the two go at it in a “friendly” bout that ends without either winning — though Lee does get tossed into the side of a car.
The scene left Shannon Lee, the real-life daughter of the actor (right), fuming — prompting her to appeal directly to China’s National Film Administration for changes to the movie, sources told THR.
SEE ALSO
Review: Tarantino's 'Once Upon a Time in ... Hollywood' bungles ending
Shannon blasted Tarantino days after the film’s July 26 US release, complaining that he depicted her dad, who died at age 32 of a brain edema in 1973, as a “caricature” and an “arrogant a–hole who was full of hot air.”
But the Oscar winner pushed back, saying Lee really was “kind of an arrogant guy.”
“The way he was talking, I didn’t just make a lot of that up,” Tarantino said in August.
No official explanation from Beijing has been given as to the abrupt cancellation. The film’s China-based investor, Bona Film Group, was said to be working with Sony Pictures to figure out how to re-release the movie.
Deadline reported that on-screen violence could also be a factor, as it was with Tarantino’s 2012 hit, “Django Unchained,” which was pulled on opening night in China after a senior Communist Party complained.
The film fiasco comes amid tensions between China and the US related to the ongoing pro-Democracy protests in Hong Kong.
Business relations between the NBA and its Chinese counterparts have gone up in flames after Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey’s Oct. 4 tweet expressing support for Hong Kong protesters.
