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Mathew Scott

The posters for Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon A Time in Hollywood feature Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie.
All we want to know about is Bruce Lee.
The Oscar-winning American director’s latest opus hits big screens around the world today – from Hollywood to Hong Kong – and the fact it stars some of the film world’s biggest names has amped up the buzz.
As has the fact that Tarantino has included a cameo from Hong Kong’s Little Dragon (as played by Mike Moh), who was flitting around Tinseltown in the year the film is set – 1969 – as he tried to catch his big break.


Tarantino, long a Lee obsessive, chooses to give us only a fleeting glance of the Lee character, in a scene with Pitt as an ageing stuntman, that’s played for laughs.
It’s a nod from the director of such gems as Pulp Fiction (1994) towards the impact Lee was starting to have in Hollywood at the time.
‘Grandfather of MMA’ Bruce Lee and his starring role in the birth of modern mixed martial arts
That impact was only just beginning. In the years following Lee’s death in 1974, the martial arts he championed would make its way into cinema around the world, and the skill set he fashioned would become the inspiration for the sport of mixed martial arts, commonly held to be the fastest-growing on the planet.
Once Upon A Time in Hollywood is set around the time of the notorious Tate-LaBianca murders, which history has shown brought the shutters down on the summers of carefree love.
Charles Manson and his deranged followers made sure of that with their blood-soaked rampage. Doors were locked to strangers forever more.




Around that time Lee had been pitching up around Hollywood, sharing his ideas, looking for roles, and training the likes of A-listers James Coburn and Steve McQueen in the arts of the jeet kune do style of kung fu he had developed.
He had worked with Sharon Tate – as action-stunt coordinator on The Wrecking Crew (1968) in which the actress had starred alongside Lee's friend from Hong Kong, Nancy Kwan (The World of Suzie Wong) – and knew her husband, director Roman Polanski.
It even became clear much later that Lee had – for a nanosecond – been dragged into investigations that left five slain, including the 26-year-old Tate.
Fights that brought Hong Kong to a halt: three contests that helped shape modern MMA
That’s simply because a random pair of glasses were found at the scene, and they looked a lot like the ones Polanski and his friends had seen Lee wearing.
When Lee briefly appeared without those glasses, suspicions were raised – but quickly dismissed when it became clear he’d simply lost his pair. It was evil that had been at work there in the hills of Hollywood.

Lee was soon to move back to his family in Hong Kong but his impact in Hollywood quickly became apparent. Lee’s unique skills, his charisma, and his feats of physical freakery had opened eyes to what was possible in terms of action up there on the silver screen.
Martial arts slowly but surely crept into films to the extent that, today, moves from everything from kung fu to Muay Thai can be spotted in films made everywhere from Hollywood to Bollywood.
Lee’s obsession, from an early age, had been with mixing up his martial arts skills, and with making these skills accessible to everyone, everywhere. Trained under the eye of wing chun master Ip Man, he dabbled in boxing as a kid, learned aspects of judo and more.

It helped make him an icon, and Moh spoke to Wisconsin’s Channel3000.com in his home state earlier this week about what it meant to play the man, however briefly, some 46 years after his death.
“That was my goal to just create the most authentic and most real portrayal of Bruce ever in media,” Moh said, “and I can’t say if that’s going to be the case or not, but that was my goal.
“What kind of kid who watches a Bruce Lee movie doesn’t get up on his feet and act out the movements, so I’ve been preparing my whole adolescence for this.”
Hong Kong hard-knocks: the fearsome fighters who defined an era when the city was MMA epicentre
On screen and off, Lee’s influence soon spread as the sport that we know today as mixed martial arts began to emerge. Lee was its “grandfather”, according to Ultimate Fighting Championship boss Dana White.
“I call Bruce Lee the grandfather of mixed martial arts because his philosophy back in the day was that no one style is the best,” White told the Post.
“You have to have a little piece of everything to be a complete fighter and that was never really proved until 1993 when the first UFC event took place.

“Bruce Lee was talking about that in the ’60s or early ’70s. He was way ahead of his time. All of his philosophies and all the things he talked about were absolutely correct, they just weren’t proven until he passed away.”
Early this year the Post dug deep into Lee’s influence, from screen to street. Today we share with you once again our findings though multimedia presentations, mixing infographics, video and images, as we relive the life and times of the man himself.


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Bruce Lee

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood: Bruce Lee’s impact thrust back into spotlight by Quentin Tarantino

Brad Pitt’s character fights Bruce Lee (Mike Moh) in Quentin Tarantino’s ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’. Photo: Sony Pictures Entertainment

Mike Moh plays Bruce Lee in the upcoming ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’. Photo: Handout

How Bruce Lee-inspired series Warrior gave Hong Kong actor Jason Tobin a second life

Hong Kong actor Jason Tobin said playing Young Jun in Warrior is a dream role for a Bruce Lee fan. Photo: Antony Dickson

Jason Tobin.

Handout image shows Hong Kong actor Jason Tobin and his mother Penny Wai in Franschhoek, South Africa. [21JULY2019 FEATURES POST MAGAZINE] CREDIT: Jason Tobin

Jason Tobin in the Warrior.

Actors from the independent film "Better Luck Tomorrow," from left, Sung Kang, Jason Tobin and Parry Shen, are shown in this undated promotional photo. The film is being screened on college campuses to generate word of mouth, and mass e-mails are being sent to Asian groups to explain that, if enough people watch it on opening weekend, distributor MTV Films will expand it's release nationwide. (AP Photo/MTV Films)

Jason Tobin and his father.

How Bruce Lee and street fighting in Hong Kong helped create MMA (long before it emerged as UFC)

What we now know as MMA began with organised street fights in Hong Kong. Illustration: Adolfo Arranz

In Bruce Lee’s footsteps: how Hong Kong’s forgotten fight club helped change the game

The Full Contact Boxing Association founders (left to right): James Elms, Kee Shun-wai and Kong Fu-tak. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

Scot who’s taught Bruce Lee’s jeet kune do fighting style all his life on the actor’s legacy

Picture for Features, Sunday Review. Film Festivals. Way of the Dragon or "Return of the Dragon" (1972) Hong Kong martial arts film written, produced, directed by and starring Bruce Lee.

This handout image received on July 22, 2013 shows Bruce Lee, his wife Linda Lee Cadwell and children Brandon (lower L) and daughter Shannon in the 1970s, courtesy of the Bruce Lee Foundation on show at the Bruce Lee: Kung Fu . Art . Life exhibition at the Hong Kong Heritage Museum in Hong Kong (SCMP 01AUG13 48hrs)

Lee was known to teach multiple celebrity clients martial arts for roles in films. Above he is seen working with actress Sharon Tate and Nancy Kwan Photo credit: Columbia Pictures

Brad Pitt Bruce Lee (Mike Moh) Once Upon a Time in Hollywood Credit: Sony Pictures Entertainment

Tommy Carruthers, Jeet Kun Do practitioner, in promotional images. [23MAY2019 FEATURES]

EX04XC Sharon Tate, Actress and Model, aged 22 years old, pictured at her apartment in Belgravia, London, Friday 15th October 1965.

Scotsman Tommy Carruthers (right) has dedicated his life to keeping Lee’s jeet kune do – the original mixed martial art style – alive. Photo: Cheok Gwan Kai

Bruce Lee’s daughter is upset Quentin Tarantino didn’t consult her for ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’

Shannon Lee, daughter of the late Kung Fu star Bruce Lee, poses in front of a promotional poster for Lee's memorial exhibition at the Hong Kong Heritage Museum Thursday, July 18, 2013 to mark the 40th anniversary of the death of Lee. Lee died on July 20, 1973. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Brad Pitt and Mike Moh, playing Bruce Lee, in the trailer for Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Photo: Sony Pictures Entertainment

Sport

Martial Arts

Kung Fu

Latest opus from maverick filmmaker – ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’ – features cameo from martial arts superstar, played by Mike Moh
American director gives nod to impact the ‘Little Dragon’ was starting to have in Hollywood in late 1960s as he tried to catch his big break


Latest opus from maverick filmmaker features cameo from martial arts legend, in nod to impact ‘Little Dragon’ was starting to have in Hollywood in late 1960s.


Mixed Martial Arts in Hong Kong

Asian cinema

Martial arts

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood: Bruce Lee’s impact thrust back into spotlight by Quentin Tarantino

Latest opus from maverick filmmaker – ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’ – features cameo from martial arts superstar, played by Mike Moh American director gives nod to impact the ‘Little Dragon’ was starting to have in Hollywood in late 1960s as he tried to catch his big break

Latest opus from maverick filmmaker – ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’ – features cameo from martial arts superstar, played by Mike Moh

American director gives nod to impact the ‘Little Dragon’ was starting to have in Hollywood in late 1960s as he tried to catch his big break