Once Upon A Time…In Hollywood now banned in China

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

China is hot right now and I don't mean in a Kim Kardashian-esque, "That's so hot!" manner either.

The Communist country has had an interesting couple of weeks. A recent SOUTH PARK episode, "Band In China" poked fun at how the Hollywood rank and file go out of their way to appease Chinese censorship. Not surprisingly, the police-state country responded in a very police-state manner by banning the ribald animated series altogether. In the sports world Daryl Morey, general manager of the NBA's Houston Rockets, tweeted out support of Hong Kong protestors. This in turn led to China canceling Rocket pre-season games in China and temporarily suspending all NBA broadcasts.

And now China finds themselves in the midst of another controversy as the release of Quentin Tarantino's latest film ONCE UPON A TIME…IN HOLLYWOOD has been canceled. The film, which Joblo's own Chris Bumbray regarding as one of the best of the year, was set to be released on October 25th. However, the film's release has now been put on hold indefinitely. 

While no official reason was given by Beijing (which is typical) multiple anonymous sources told The Hollywood Reporter that the decision to pull the film's release had a lot to do with Bruce Lee's daughter Shannon. Lee was apparently none to pleased with Tarantino's interpretation of her celebrated father, portrayed by Mike Moh in the film. In the movie, Bruce Lee comes off as cocky, arrogant, and looking to pick fights, something that Shannon Lee and other friends and family members vehemently disagreed with, also stating he would have never have lost a fight to Cliff Booth, the stuntman portrayed by Brad Pitt in the film. (To be fair, Lee DID NOT lose to Booth in the film, it ended in a draw.) Sources say Shannon Lee asked China's National Film Administration to edit parts of Tarantino's movie to presumably cast her father in a better light.

Woof. Guys I'm by no means an expert on diplomacy, international relations, or censorship, but this whole situation is a giant cluster all around. In my opinion this is a horrible look for Shannon Lee as she's trying to directly influence the Chinese Film Board and essentially censor Tarantino's film, all because she didn't like how he was portrayed. However, if you go back and look at interviews with Bruce Lee he often DID come off as arrogant. Furthermore, Cliff Booth is a FICTIONAL character and whether or not he could defeat Lee is something Quentin Tarantino already addressed while doing press in Russia:

"Could Cliff beat up Bruce Lee? Brad would not be able to beat up Bruce Lee, but Cliff maybe could," the Oscar winner said. "If you ask me the question, 'Who would win in a fight: Bruce Lee or Dracula?' It's the same question. It's a fictional character. If I say Cliff can beat Bruce Lee up, he's a fictional character so he could beat Bruce Lee up."

Ironically, this is not the first time China has done this to Tarantino as his 2012 film DJANGO UNCHAINED was yanked from cinemas mere minutes into opening night. While it's still possible ONCE UPON A TIME…IN HOLLYWOOD might still be released in China, it seems highly unlikely.

In any event, if you haven't caught Tarantino's ode to old-time Hollywood yet, the film releases on Blu-ray October 29th.