Shannon Lee, the daughter of the iconic actor and martial artistBruce Lee, has revealed that she continues to be unaware as to why filmmakerQuentin Tarantinochose to portray her father as “the a**hole” in his 2019 drama-comedyOnce Upon a Time in Hollywood. Back whenOnce Upon a Time in Hollywoodfirst released, Shannon spoke out against the film’s portrayal of Bruce Lee, leading to a number of headline-making back and forth interviews between Bruce’s daughter and thePulp Fictiondirector.
While recently chatting withThe Telegraphabout the reason behindThe Hateful Eightdirectors questionable portrayal of Bruce, Shannon stated:
“It’s interesting. I actually don’t know. I’ve never met [Tarantino]. I don’t know what his issues are with my father. Clearly, he thinks my father is cool, because he has borrowed from him quite a bit. But at the same time, I think he has been told a lot of stories by people who have encountered my father and had a negative reaction.”
She continued, believing that Tarantino took inspiration from many of the stories about her father. Stories that she believes to be false.
“They found him to be overly confident or arrogant. I have to say, in my experience, the stories are mostly from white men. I think Quentin may have been told a lot of those stories and believes them. I think a lot of people looked at my father as uppity, you know?”
Best Bruce Lee Movies, Ranked
Despite his short-lived acting career, Bruce Lee is one of the most celebrated and respected Asian actors in Hollywood history.
Tarantino Portrayed the Legendary Martial Artist as an Arrogant Movie Star
InOnce Upon a Time in Hollywood, Brad Pitt’s character, stuntman Cliff Booth, challenges Bruce Lee (played by Mike Moh) to a fight on the set ofThe Green Hornet. In Tarantino’s film, Bruce is portrayed as extremely arrogant and at one point during the fight, Cliff tosses Bruce into a car.
Originally, Shannon bashed thedirector for portraying her father as an “arrogant a**hole who was full of hot air,” and in response,Tarantino defended his versionof the famed martial artist and claimed that the portrayal was fictional adding that “Bruce Lee was kind of an arrogant guy” based on the research he did.
At the time, Shannon later spoke more about the portrayal saying, “It’s unfortunate because [Tarantino’s film] has started this narrative in some places where some people are saying, ‘Oh, Bruce Lee was an ahole.'” She added, “Look, everybody can be an ahole sometimes. I can be arrogant and angry in my life — is that something I would say I am generally? No, my father was not generally like that. He was extremely passionate and driven.”
Inresponse to Tarantino’s continuous defenseof his portrayal of Bruce, Shannon said, “He could shut up about it. That would be really nice. Or he could apologize or he could say, ‘I don’t really know what Bruce Lee was like. I just wrote it for my movie. But that shouldn’t be taken as how he really was.'”
Currently, Shannon is promoting her new coffee table book,In My Own Process, a collection of her father’s letters, poetry, and family photos. Shannon, along with Oscar-winning filmmaker Ang Lee and others, wrote about their experiences with Bruce for the new book which comes out in April 2024.
