Times when Leonardo DiCaprio's 'Once Upon A Time in Hollywood' was caught in controversies

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is a comedy-drama film released in 2019. It stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie. The movie is directed by Quentin Tarantino as his ninth film and follows an actor and his stunt double, as they navigate the changing film industry in 1969. The film was caught up in many controversies, read to know about them. 

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Once Upon A Time In Hollywood controversies 

The depiction of Bruce Lee

Mike Moh stars as Bruce Lee for a small role in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. He gets into a fight with a stuntman, Cliff Booth (Oscar-winning performance by Brad Pitt) and portrays the martial arts legend as an arrogant person. The scene has been criticised as an example of racist stereotyping, disrespectful and is said to be an inaccurate depiction of Lee’s personality.  Sharon Lee, daughter of Bruce Lee, questioned the makers and said that the script's treatment of her father as an arrogant, egotistical punching bag was really disheartening and she felt was unnecessary. Quentin Tarantino commented in defence that Lee was “kind of an arrogant guy,” and the script was accurate. 

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The Manson murders 

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood shows the Manson family murders. While Quentin Taranto got several parts about the Manson cult right, he changed their history in the ending. In the film, Cliff Booth brutally beats the Manson family members who came to kill Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio). Dalton then goes to his neighbours, Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie) and Roman Polanski’s house, who invites him in. However, in reality, the Manson murders killed Sharon Tate and four others in her home. It raised a question that people who might not know the reality could depict the films happy climax as being the real one. 

Violence in film

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There were many questions raised regarding equality and violence against women in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Margot Robbie as Sharon Tate has a very short screen presence as compared to the lead actors. A journalist asked Quentin Tarantino about Robbie having fewer dialogues to which the filmmaker replied: “Well, I just reject your hypothesis.” Tarantino is known for his blood-wrenching action sequences. It was speculated that the film might show the gruesome murder of Sharon Tate. Hence, it was criticised even before its release. However, the movie had an alternate ending from the reality. The climax scene has Cliff Booth beat up Manson murders, and two of them were women, which grabbed its own criticism.

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