11 Things We Learned From Quentin Tarantino On Joe Rogan Experience

2. Once Upon A Time In Hollywood's Portrayal Of Bruce Lee

The Joe Rogan Experience Quentin Tarantino
Sony Pictures

2019's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is viewed by some as being the greatest movie of Quentin Tarantino's career.

While that is certainly a topic that's up for debate, what's not up for debate are the ten Academy Award nominations and two Academy Award wins - Best Supporting Actor for Brad Pitt, and Best Production Design - picked up by the picture.

An element of Once Upon a Time that irked many - including Shannon Lee, Bruce's daughter - was the film's portrayal of Bruce Lee as, well, a bit of an ass. Brash, arrogant and depicted as having a superiority complex, Mike Moh's Lee is actually made to look somewhat of an idiot during a 'best of three falls' fight with Pitt's Cliff Booth.

When asked about the mixed response to his version of Bruce Lee, Tarantino told Rogan:

"Where I'm coming from is, I can understand his daughter having a problem with it. It's her f**king father, I get that. But anybody else? Go suck a d**k."

Tarantino would then go on to detail how the real-life Bruce Lee had a reputation for hating American stuntmen and for striking them for real when shooting The Green Hornet.

The director also explained how the Cliff Booth character was a World War II veteran who had killed men with his own hands, meaning he could be a match for Lee in a straight-up fight - adding how any formal martial arts battle between the two would obviously be won with ease by Bruce.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.