Quentin Tarantino has never been in the business of giving a f*ck what anybody thinks of his work, with the filmmaker’s back catalogue regularly coming under fire of a variety of different reasons. However, while Once Upon a Time in Hollywood generating backlash wasn’t a groundbreaking development, the real-world ramifications certainly were.
Friends and family of Bruce Lee took such issue with Mike Moh’s depiction of the martial arts icon that his daughter Shannon filed a complaint with the China Film Administration, which ultimately ended with Once Upon a Time in Hollywood being banned in the country when Tarantino refused to remove the scene in question.
Sharon Tate’s kin also had their concerns over the murdered starlet being used as a plot device that turned a real-life tragedy into an all-guns-blazing action sequence, and while they eventually softened their stance on the movie after reading the script, that didn’t stop the involvement of the Manson Family from drumming up even more opposition, which Tarantino dismissed as “bullsh*t.”
In the end, it didn’t do a thing to stop Once Upon a Time in Hollywood from earning $377 million at the box office, winning rave reviews from critics, and winning Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actor and Best Production design from 10 nominations in total including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Screenplay.
Tarantino even thinks it’s the best film he’s ever made, but we’ll be curious to see if streaming subscribers feel the same way after it managed to crack the most-watched charts on both Netflix and iTunes this weekend, per FlixPatrol.