Quentin Tarantino couldn’t care less about appeasing China’s censors, even if it means not releasing “Once Upon A Time In Hollywood” in the country, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The Hollywood Reporter wrote on the cancellation of the October 25 Chinese release of the acclaimed movie last Friday, which is now believed to be due to Tarantino’s depiction of the late martial arts star Bruce Lee, who was of Chinese descent. Many (including Lee’s daughter, Shannon Lee) believe that the film’s portrayal of Lee was a caricature, to the point where THR reported that Lee’s daughter made a direct appeal to China’s National Film Administration, hoping they could pressure Tarantino to make changes to the portrayal for the theatrical release in China.
In July, Lee told The Wrap that the film portrays her father as “an arrogant asshole who was full of hot air, and not someone who had to fight triple as hard as any of those people did to accomplish what was naturally given to so many others.” Meanwhile, Tarantino has stood by his depiction of Bruce Lee, defending the portrayal and saying that Lee was “kind of an arrogant guy.” he said at a press junket in Moscow, according to Variety. “The way he was talking, I didn’t just make a lot of that up. I heard him say things like that, to that effect. If people are saying, ‘Well he never said he could beat up Muhammad Ali,’ well yeah, he did. Not only did he say that, but his wife, Linda Lee, said that in her first biography I ever read. She absolutely said that.”
As he did with the portrayal, Tarantino is also sticking to his guns on his cut of “Once Upon A Time In Hollywood.” According to the report by THR, the director is taking a take-it-or-leave-it stance. No comment has been made of whether he considers Marvel movies to be cinema, however.
