Quentin Tarantino isn’t a Bruce Lee fan, says ‘Warrior’ star Jason Tobin – ‘he ching-chonged him’
- Fast and Furious 9 star Tobin breaks silence on ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’ debate as ESPN 30 for 30 ‘Be Water’ returns spotlight to Lee
- ‘If you’re really a Bruce Lee fan, you would’ve treated him differently I think, you would’ve been a bit more fair’
As Bruce Lee returns to the spotlight, Warrior and Fast and Furious 9 star Jason Tobin has weighed in on the Once Upon a Time in Hollywood debate, claiming director Quentin Tarantino simply “isn’t a fan” of the martial arts master.
“The bottom line is, Tarantino isn’t a Bruce Lee fan,” Tobin said. “He’s not. He’s a fan of Leo Di Caprio and Brad Pitt. You can tell, he created them with such love and care and nostalgia.
“He loves that era. Bruce Lee was a character in that era and he threw him in. But a Bruce Lee fan would not make Bruce Lee like that. He did what directors did back the 60s to Bruce Lee, but in 2019. They ‘ching chonged’ him.”
Tobin did not put the blame on actor Mike Moh, who portrayed Lee in the hit 2019 film, which earned Tarantino nominations for Best Director, Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay among other nods at this year’s Academy Awards.
“Mike’s great, I love Mike and have nothing against him. As an actor, I would’ve taken the job, even though I’m sitting here ranting about it,” he said, laughing. “You can see that Tarantino is a fan of the two main characters. And Bruce Lee almost served those characters. If you’re really a Bruce Lee fan, you would’ve treated him differently I think, you would’ve been a bit more fair.”
Tobin pointed to Tarantino’s Kill Bill as another example that the director may not be as a big a fan of Lee as he professes.
“If I’m gonna do an homage to the martial arts film, is there any way that I would not put in an archetype of a character of bad-ass Asian martial artist, a la Bruce Lee, a la Sonny Chiba? There is no archetype of that in Kill Bill. In fact, they take Bruce Lee’s suit and put it on Uma Thurman,” he said.
The title character of Kill Bill is played by David Carradine, who was cast as the lead character in the 1970s US television show Kung Fu. That show had been retooled and renamed from a concept written by Lee, who had been turned down by network executives in Hollywood. Lee’s daughter, Shannon Lee, would eventually bring her father’s vision to life in the HBO/Cinemax series Warrior, starring Tobin.
“I love David Carradine, but the only Asian male characters [in Kill Bill] are bad guys and goofy dudes,” Tobin said. “Where is the archetype? So that just tells me, and now watching Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, I go, ‘OK, so Tarantino’s just not a fan of Bruce Lee’. That’s fine.
“I’m ranting about it now, but I love Tarantino movies. I really enjoyed Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. That part [with Bruce Lee] annoyed me, but the world’s a better place for having Tarantino films.
“Ironically, he lives the Bruce Lee philosophy. He’s uniquely himself. Tarantino films are unique and as a film buff and someone that works in films, I love to watch films that have a unique voice and more power to Tarantino. And when I get to make my film, and if it’s about Bruce, I’m gonna make sure that archetype’s in there.”
“I would’ve loved to have Tarantino love Bruce Lee. A Tarantino Bruce Lee movie sounds pretty damn great, but I guess Warrior is that,” Tobin said.
“I’m sure he was cocky as well, but I’ve been cocky and I’ve been humble. We’re human beings. Bruce Lee was a bad-ass, so when people talk about Tiger Woods being arrogant … duh. I don’t even see it as a criticism, it doesn’t make any sense. If you’re arrogant without anything to back it up with then sure.”
