'Once Upon a Time in Hollywood' backlash: Antonio Banderas supports Quentin Tarantino

Actor Antonio Banderas has come out in support of filmmaker Quentin Tarantino who is facing backlash over his latest release 'Once Upon a Time in Hollywood'.

Backing the director, Banderas said, "I think an artist should be free. Then people should be free to agree or disagree. You have the freedom to continue watching his movies or not."

He further added, "If I don't like his direction, 'I will never go and see a movie from Tarantino again.'"

Tarantino's ninth and latest release which stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie has been in controversy over its portrayal of Bruce Lee, essayed by Mike Moh, reported People.

Further defending Tarantino on the film, Banderas added, "There are sometimes things in art that, I have to tell you, they bother me but I will never, never, never censor them."

Lee's daughter, Shannon, was also disappointed in seeing her father's portrayal in the film who shared that it was tough for her to sit in theatre watching the film.

"He comes across as an arrogant a-hole who was full of hot air and not someone who had to fight triple as hard as any of those people did to accomplish what was naturally given to so many others," People quoted her as saying during an interview with The Wrap in July.

She continued, "It was really uncomfortable to sit in the theatre and listen to people laugh at my father."

Following the controversy, Tarantino also defended his film and the depiction of Lee by saying, "The way he was talking, I didn't just make a lot of that up. I heard him say things like that, to that6 effect."

"If people are saying, 'Well he never said he could beat up Muhammad Ali,' well yeah, he did. Not only did he say that, but his wife, Linda Lee, said that in her first biography I ever read. She absolutely said it," he said during a press conference in Russia earlier this month.

( With inputs from ANI )