Reservoir Dogs
Tarantino releases his first film, Reservoir Dogs, at the Sundance Film Festival in which it is nominated for the Grand Jury Prize. The story revolves around a team of criminals before and after a catastrophic diamond heist. It stars Tim Roth, Harvey Keitel, Steve Buscemi, and Tarantino as Mr. Brown.
When I was in Cannes, the French journalists were getting it, but the American journalists wouldn’t bring up the humor, just “the violence, the violence…”
True Romance
0 CommentsTarantino releases True Romance, written by himself and directed by Tony Scott. He refers to it as his most autobiographical screenplay to date.
Sure, James Gandolfini almost beats Patricia Arquette to death and she has to blow him away with a shotgun, but that doesn’t mean it’s not romantic.
Pulp Fiction
Tarantino unveils Pulp Fiction at the Cannes Film festival. It is well received and earns him the Palm d’Or. The crime-driven movie follows the interactions of multiple characters in a circular “self-referential” structure. John Travolta and Uma Thurman play the film’s protagonists and are joined by Samuel L. Jackson, Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, and Bruce Willis.
When I’m writing a movie, I hear the laughter. People talk about the violence. What about the comedy? Pulp Fiction has such an obviously comic spirit, even with all the weird things that are happening.
Jackie Brown Interview
De Niro and Taratino are interviewed and talk about how they met at the Comic Con. They also talk about working on Jackie Brown and what De Niro liked about the script. Tarantino comments:
I need an actor who won’t stay on the surface, I need an actor that won’t stay on the surface with anything. I really need a character actor a character that needs to be gotten through body language.
Destiny Turns on the Radio
0 CommentsTarantino co-stars in Destiny Turns on the Radio alongside James Legros, James Belushi, and Dylan McDermott. The story centers around escaped bank robber Julian Goddard, played by McDermott, as he sets out to put his life back together with the help of Johnny Destiny, played by Tarantino.
Years ago I wanted to be an actor and I couldn’t get a job. Wait! I couldn’t get an audition to get a job. So this call to play Mr. Mystic, well, was amazing. I said, “Terrific. When do I show up?”
Jackie Brown
Tarantino’s Jackie Brown, an adaptation of Elmore Leonard’s novel Rum Punch, is released on Christmas Day. The crime-driven story follows Jackie Brown, played by Pam Grier, a flight attendant involved in cash smuggling. She attempts to take off with half a million dollars of her boss’s money. Led by Samuel L. Jackson, the film also stars Robert Forster, Michael Keaton, Robert De Niro, and Bridget Fonda. On Samuel L. Jackson’s character:
Ordell was all my mentors as a young man growing up. Ordell was who I could have been… if I didn’t have artistic ambitions. That was it. If I hadn’t wanted to make movies, I would have ended up as Ordell.
Kill Bill: Volume 1
Tarantino releases Kill Bill: Volume 1. This martial-arts-driven film tells the story of The Bride, played by Uma Thurman, as she seeks revenge on the group of assassins that buried her alive after her bridal party. The film stars David Carradine, Michael Madsen, Vivica A. Fox, and Lucy Liu.
I want to top expectations. I want to blow you away. It’s that kind of movie.
Kill Bill: Volume 2
Tarantino completes “The Bride’s” saga with Kill Bill: Volume 2. The story brings an end to The Bride’s quest to avenge herself upon Bill, and provides more back story to the events surrounding her tragic bridal party. Top-billed by Uma Thurman and David Carradine, the film also stars Vivica A. Fox, Lucy Liu, Sonny Chiba, and Chiaki Kuriyama.
…Vol. 2 was just more, you know, business as usual. You’ve got two people sitting in a room talking. That’s what I’m more famous for.
Inglourious Basterds
Tarantino releases the film, Inglourious Basterds. It receives eight Oscar nominations including best director and best original screenplay. The World War II tale follows a group of eight Jewish soldiers led by Aldo Raine, played by Brad Pitt, as they embark on a mission to assassinate Adolf Hitler. The film also stars Eli Roth, Christoph Waltz, Michael Fassbender, and Mélanie Laurent.
I enjoy the war-mission subgenre but I want to forward it, make it bigger, broader, more artistic… I got to write a war film and a love letter to cinema.
Django Unchained
Tarantino releases Django Unchained, which stars Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz and Leonardo DiCaprio. The story follows Django, played by Foxx, who is on a quest to free his wife from slavery with the help of Dr. King Schultz, played by Waltz.
… There’s two types of violence in this film: There’s the brutal reality that slaves lived under for … 245 years, and then there’s the violence of Django’s retribution. And that’s movie violence, and that’s fun and that’s cool, and that’s really enjoyable and kind of what you’re waiting for.
Grammy nomination
Tarantino is a Grammy nominee for Best Compilation Soundtrack For Visual Media for Django Unchained.
Protests police brutality
Tarantino joins hundreds of demonstrators to protest police brutality nationwide.
I’m a human being with a conscience, and if you believe there’s murder going on then you need to rise up and stand up against it. I’m here to say I’m on the side of the murdered.
The event is the last of three demonstrations the group RiseUpOctober organized in New York this week. Speakers at the protest say they want justice for people killed by police.
The Hateful Eight trailer
The Weinstein Company releases a trailer for The Hateful Eight.
Backs Tarantino
The Hateful Eight producer Sher comes to Tarantino’s defense:
I think it’s incredibly unfair. Quentin is a filmmaker who really dives into things very seriously and deeply. And when he does interviews, he really wears his heart on his sleeve and he doesn’t hold anything back. He doesn’t think about how things are going to be packaged into sound bites of this kind of click-bait world that we live in…He’s prepared to not censor himself. He takes the bullets and goes out on the front line on the things that he cares about.
Receives Hollywood Walk of Fame star
Tarantino receives a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, accompanied by some of the stars of Hateful Eight, including Samuel L. Jackson. On the placement of his star:
That’s really cool, I must have become a big shot. This is a real, real groovy day.
Quentin Tarantino and his #TheHatefulEight cast pose over his new Walk of Fame star https://t.co/HZyfEZuxuK pic.twitter.com/VIT1U9igN9
— Variety (@Variety) December 21, 2015
Calls Confederate flag ‘American Swastika’
In the interview with The Telegraph, Tarantino says:
All of a sudden, people started talking about the Confederacy in America in a way they haven’t before. I mean, I’ve always felt the Rebel flag was some American swastika. And people are starting to question about stuff like statues of Bedford Forrest [the Confederate general and Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard] in parks. Well, it’s about damn time, if you ask me
Discusses Guru-Murthy interview
In an interview with The Telegraph, Tarantino discusses shutting down Guru-Murthy in an in interview about film violence, during the promotion of Django Unchained.
I refuse to get on the defensive track. Because I did that in the 90s, and I’m done. My opinion hasn’t changed. I wasn’t going to give it to him…But one of the things that backs up my point is that in the last 25 years, when it comes to industrial societies, hands down the most violent cinema that exists in any one country is Japan. Sometimes grotesquely so. And as we all know, they have the least violent society of all. It’s just right there.