Ip Man 4 star Donnie Yen ‘very disappointed’ by Quentin Tarantino’s Bruce Lee depiction
- Hong Kong martial arts hero ‘couldn’t continue’ watching ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’ after Lee scene
- ‘As filmmakers, I feel we should be more respectful to someone like Lee’
Quentin Tarantino’s portrayal of Bruce Lee in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood has drawn ire from plenty of vocal critics in 2019 – and now you can add Donnie Yen to the list.
The Hong Kong martial arts hero, 56, is on a whirlwind tour promoting Ip Man 4: The Finale, which is released worldwide on December 20. He was asked at a media day in Kuala Lumpur for his take on the Tarantino-Lee issue, which has divided film fans.
Tarantino came under fire from Lee’s daughter, Shannon Lee, with actor Mike Moh portraying the Enter The Dragon star as a braggart. The filmmaker doubled down after initial criticism, saying Lee “was kind of arrogant”.
“I know Tarantino personally, but I’m very disappointed with how he portrayed Bruce Lee in the movie. I watched most of the movie, but after that scene, I couldn’t continue,” Yen said.
Moh’s Lee also gets bested by Brad Pitt’s ageing stuntman character Cliff Booth in a fight on the set of The Green Hornet.
“As filmmakers, I feel we should be more respectful towards someone like Lee, who has contributed so much to our industry,” Yen said.
Donnie Yen confirms Ip Man 4 will be his final kung fu film
As a former student of the wing chun grandmaster, Lee also features in Ip Man 4, this time played by Hong Kong actor Danny Chan – and Yen regretted not getting a fight scene with him.
“For me I’ve fought so many people, I’ve been in the film industry for 37 years, I’ve fought Jet Li, Jackie Chan, Jacky Wu [Jing],” Yen said. “Actually there’s one person, I wanted to fight Bruce Lee, Danny, but they never created it.
“I think it would be interesting. For me it’s not the difficulty of fighting the character, it’s the challenge. Encountering with the student Bruce Lee would be refreshing but unfortunately it didn’t happen. [Director] Edward Wong didn’t put it in the film!,” Yen said, laughing.
Ip Man 4 is scheduled for release on December 20.
