Quentin Tarantino

Written by Super User on .

The road to success leads to the place of wisdom, and there is for a few decades now lives Quentin Tarantino. His movies are a declaration of violence, blood, comedy, dialogue, style and history, usually a encyclopedic range of references to other movies. A hero who instead of going to film school learned what he knows working as a clerk in a video store. With his passion intact Quentin Tarantino keep working as hard as ever

 

 

 

Q:  First is the idea?

A:  When I normally write, one of the things that I do is, is creating a character that’s going on some sort of metaphoric road.  And then along the way as you tell you’re scenario, there’s all these different other, other roads that they could take.  Many screenwriters, in particular, will put roadblocks because they can’t deal with them going down that road.  Well, I’ve never had those kind of roadblocks.  Now I’m getting ready to do this movie, and actually, I have a roadblock in one of those roads.  I have actual history, is the roadblock.  And, I actually assumed I was going to respect that roadblock.  And so I was writing, you know, writing it for a while and then all of a sudden, it hit me… it was like, well, wait a minute, my character’s don’t know they’re part of history.  My characters don’t know that, you know, the outcome of any of this.  So, basically, since my characters didn’t exist, they can change history.  They’re not bound by anything that happened in history.

Q: Any Spanish director who inspired you?

A: Yes when I did Death Proof I got lot of inspiration from Jess Franco sleaziness that really wasn’t in the other movies I did, but oh my God that’s really important!  That is a vein I hadn’t hit on in any of the other ones and I need to go in that direction. He is one of my idols

Q: I heard your Spanish is good?

A: I tried to learn. I know some Spanish, but I can't really speak it too well my Russian is better.

Q:  What kind of advice would you offer to new directors

A:  Well, you know, one of the things, you know, I’ve always, you know, this would have to apply to you know, to whoever the director was.  But for instance, I’ve always worked in genre, all right.  I like genre movies.  I think, personally, every movie is a genre movie.  A John Cassavetes movie has become it’s own genre, you know.  Eric Rohmer same thing.  And if you do a movie like them, oh, well, he’s kind of doing an Eric Rohmer kind of thing.  Well, that’s, becomes a genre.  I like genre films, and one of the things that really, that I think most film industries need, is you can do art films, you can do personal films, but they need to be balanced with a nice dose of genre films.  That kind of balances everything out.

Q:  How many movies do you watch a day?  Because you sound like you, I don’t know when you write, when you direct, because you probably just sit in front of that screen and watch movies.

A:  Oh yeah, you know, well, it depends. I could watch, yeah I think you could easily say I watch, you know, it’s just in a normal, normal, normal situation, a movie a day or something like that.  Parts of a movie a day, or a movie and parts of something else. I’ll get into a kick of a director or a kick of a sub genre and then when that happens, it’s on.  Then I’m like seeing one or two or three movies a day, oh, of this certain genre, or all of this certain director, or whatever theme that I get on.  And then I just, you know, jump into that for a week or a week and a half.

Q:  Do you have other passions than cinema?

A:  Yeah.  Oh, yes I do.  Living life, basically.  Like, you know, living, you know, living life is my passion, you know.  But when it comes to, you know, when it comes to all reaching passion, it is cinema.  You know, it is like, you know, it’s, you know, you can have many loves in your life, but your true love…When I say living life, I am talking about, I am talking about companionship with my friends, female companionship, all right, hanging out, good times, travel, I mean, like this… it’s one of the reasons… and, you know, it’s easy to create a little… it’s easy to create a little scenario for me that you imagine that that’s all I’m doing, but you know, I don’t see as many movies as an average critic does.  An average critic has to see many more movies a week, and then actually write what they have to say about it.   But one of the things to back up what I’m saying is, you know, the reason that it takes a little bit for me to make a movie is, you know, I’m not in the same profession as other directors that, like, are looking for material and you know, kind of doing a movie a year or something like that.  I have to write it myself.

Q:  But, were you never interested in, like, being a director for hire?  At one point there was this rumor that you wanted to make a James Bond film?

A:  Oh yeah, well, but that would have been my James Bond film, you know?  No, it wouldn’t have been a Cubby Broccoli, that’s why it didn’t happen, all right, you know?  It wouldn’t have been Cubby Broccoli gave me a script and here we go.  No, I had my own complete take on how I would have done Casino Royale and how I would have done it.  So that… now that would have been adaptation to be, to be sure, all right, but it would have been my adaptation and they didn’t want to fucking deal with that shit. {laughing}

Q:  Who are your friends that you listen to?  And what notes did they give you that you used?

A:  I, yeah, it’s a, it’s a, well, it’s, it’s funny because the day I finished the script, it’s usually been a long, involved process, is, it’s really, it’s really happy day in the Tarantino house, all right.

Q:  That’s what you said.  Ready for wine.

A:  Right, yeah, exactly.  And, so it’s like, yeah, it’s almost like it’s a little movie unto itself because, you know, we go over the script a bunch of times and it’s like, then we go out and get like 30 of them printed up and they just look fantastic, and then it just becomes a process literally during that whole day of friends coming by the house to pick up the script.  You know, knocking on the door, we’re drinking, it’s… open house or something.  They come in to pick up the script, then, you know, just talk to them about what they thought about it.  Anything – if they like something or didn’t like something, I’m not doing any rewrites right now, or something, I’m just taking in their comments.  But  people that I, I give the script to all the time is… you know, I give it to Robert Rodriguez, I give it to Paul Thomas Anderson, I give it to Rick Linklater, I give it to my friend, Edgar Wright.  I give it to Eli Roth…

Q:  In writing your scripts, is budget a question?  Or you don’t care how much it’s gonna cost?  I mean, or do you pick out producers and they tell you you have to cut here and you have to cut there, you have to make compromises, you’re not ready for that?

QUENTIN:  Well, no, no, I mean, I do, yeah, budget is a consideration insofar as, I think every movie has a… and sometimes you go over it, but every movie has a kind of internal budget.  This is what this movie should cost, sometimes they don’t.  But this is what this movie should cost.  It’s kind of, it’s kind of, you know, it’s more along the lines of the fact that it’s like… okay, this story with this budget, we should be okay.  We should do fine.  And then with that kind of as a template, then I can do whatever I want because, okay, this should be, a calculated guess that this should be fine at this budget.  so the thing is, if I’m doing a movie that’s like an $80 million movie or a $90 million movie or something like that, well I have to feel that it’s going to have some commercial potential to make that back.  I mean, you never know, but I’ve gotta feel pretty confident about it, obviously, so does everybody else.  But I really do think that the budget should kind of match the subject matter and match the, you know, the possible interest of the public.

Q:  And Oscars and more.

 

A:  Oh that would be really nice. {laughing} One mountain at a time!  Right now.  This mountain.  I’ll look at the horizon when I pass this one.  But, you know…  my kind of… what I would like to have as a benchmark goal for my career, and I don’t know if it’s gonna happen at all, all right, but what I would like, is I would like when my career is finished, I have three Palme d’Ors

Q: How is Quentin when he’s down?

A:  I think, you know, uh… I think you’d have to ask somebody else, you know, about that, you know.  They’re the ones that could tell you honestly.  You know, look, the bottom line is look, there are moments… like I’m never, like, walking around depressed.  I don’t, my life is too good and I’m just too much of a privileged situation to be able to be an artist in this industry, to allow myself depression in front of other people.  All right.  I can be frustrated, I can get mad, I can be… I was talking about the very intenseful… I can do that, and sometimes I handle it better than other times.

 

© Alexandra Glen / Featureflash 

The road to success leads to the place of wisdom, and there is for a few decades now lives Quentin Tarantino. His movies are a declaration of violence, blood, comedy, dialogue, style and history, usually a encyclopedic range of references to other movies. A hero who instead of going to film school learned what he knows working as a clerk in a video store. With his passion intact Quentin Tarantino keep working as hard as ever

 

 

Q:  First is the idea?

QUENTIN:  When I normally write, one of the things that I do is, is creating a character that’s going on some sort of metaphoric road.  And then along the way as you tell you’re scenario, there’s all these different other, other roads that they could take.  Many screenwriters, in particular, will put roadblocks because they can’t deal with them going down that road.  Well, I’ve never had those kind of roadblocks.  Now I’m getting ready to do this movie, and actually, I have a roadblock in one of those roads.  I have actual history, is the roadblock.  And, I actually assumed I was going to respect that roadblock.  And so I was writing, you know, writing it for a while and then all of a sudden, it hit me… it was like, well, wait a minute, my character’s don’t know they’re part of history.  My characters don’t know that, you know, the outcome of any of this.  So, basically, since my characters didn’t exist, they can change history.  They’re not bound by anything that happened in history.

Q: Any Spanish director who inspired you?

QUENTIN: Yes when I did Death Proof I got lot of inspiration from Jess Franco sleaziness that really wasn’t in the other movies I did, but oh my God that’s really important!  That is a vein I hadn’t hit on in any of the other ones and I need to go in that direction. He is one of my idols

Q: I heard your Spanish is good?

QUENTIN: I tried to learn. I know some Spanish, but I can't really speak it too well my Russian is better.

Q:  What kind of advice would you offer to new directors

QUENTIN:  Well, you know, one of the things, you know, I’ve always, you know, this would have to apply to you know, to whoever the director was.  But for instance, I’ve always worked in genre, all right.  I like genre movies.  I think, personally, every movie is a genre movie.  A John Cassavetes movie has become it’s own genre, you know.  Eric Rohmer same thing.  And if you do a movie like them, oh, well, he’s kind of doing an Eric Rohmer kind of thing.  Well, that’s, becomes a genre.  I like genre films, and one of the things that really, that I think most film industries need, is you can do art films, you can do personal films, but they need to be balanced with a nice dose of genre films.  That kind of balances everything out.

Q:  How many movies do you watch a day?  Because you sound like you, I don’t know when you write, when you direct, because you probably just sit in front of that screen and watch movies.

QUENTIN:  Oh yeah, you know, well, it depends. I could watch, yeah I think you could easily say I watch, you know, it’s just in a normal, normal, normal situation, a movie a day or something like that.  Parts of a movie a day, or a movie and parts of something else. I’ll get into a kick of a director or a kick of a sub genre and then when that happens, it’s on.  Then I’m like seeing one or two or three movies a day, oh, of this certain genre, or all of this certain director, or whatever theme that I get on.  And then I just, you know, jump into that for a week or a week and a half.

Q:  Do you have other passions than cinema?

QUENTIN:  Yeah.  Oh, yes I do.  Living life, basically.  Like, you know, living, you know, living life is my passion, you know.  But when it comes to, you know, when it comes to all reaching passion, it is cinema.  You know, it is like, you know, it’s, you know, you can have many loves in your life, but your true love…When I say living life, I am talking about, I am talking about companionship with my friends, female companionship, all right, hanging out, good times, travel, I mean, like this… it’s one of the reasons… and, you know, it’s easy to create a little… it’s easy to create a little scenario for me that you imagine that that’s all I’m doing, but you know, I don’t see as many movies as an average critic does.  An average critic has to see many more movies a week, and then actually write what they have to say about it.   But one of the things to back up what I’m saying is, you know, the reason that it takes a little bit for me to make a movie is, you know, I’m not in the same profession as other directors that, like, are looking for material and you know, kind of doing a movie a year or something like that.  I have to write it myself.

Q:  But, were you never interested in, like, being a director for hire?  At one point there was this rumor that you wanted to make a James Bond film?

QUENTIN:  Oh yeah, well, but that would have been my James Bond film, you know?  No, it wouldn’t have been a Cubby Broccoli, that’s why it didn’t happen, all right, you know?  It wouldn’t have been Cubby Broccoli gave me a script and here we go.  No, I had my own complete take on how I would have done Casino Royale and how I would have done it.  So that… now that would have been adaptation to be, to be sure, all right, but it would have been my adaptation and they didn’t want to fucking deal with that shit. {laughing}

Q:  Who are your friends that you listen to?  And what notes did they give you that you used?

QUENTIN:  I, yeah, it’s a, it’s a, well, it’s, it’s funny because the day I finished the script, it’s usually been a long, involved process, is, it’s really, it’s really happy day in the Tarantino house, all right.

Q:  That’s what you said.  Ready for wine.

QUENTIN:  Right, yeah, exactly.  And, so it’s like, yeah, it’s almost like it’s a little movie unto itself because, you know, we go over the script a bunch of times and it’s like, then we go out and get like 30 of them printed up and they just look fantastic, and then it just becomes a process literally during that whole day of friends coming by the house to pick up the script.  You know, knocking on the door, we’re drinking, it’s… open house or something.  They come in to pick up the script, then, you know, just talk to them about what they thought about it.  Anything – if they like something or didn’t like something, I’m not doing any rewrites right now, or something, I’m just taking in their comments.  But  people that I, I give the script to all the time is… you know, I give it to Robert Rodriguez, I give it to Paul Thomas Anderson, I give it to Rick Linklater, I give it to my friend, Edgar Wright.  I give it to Eli Roth…

Q:  In writing your scripts, is budget a question?  Or you don’t care how much it’s gonna cost?  I mean, or do you pick out producers and they tell you you have to cut here and you have to cut there, you have to make compromises, you’re not ready for that?

QUENTIN:  Well, no, no, I mean, I do, yeah, budget is a consideration insofar as, I think every movie has a… and sometimes you go over it, but every movie has a kind of internal budget.  This is what this movie should cost, sometimes they don’t.  But this is what this movie should cost.  It’s kind of, it’s kind of, you know, it’s more along the lines of the fact that it’s like… okay, this story with this budget, we should be okay.  We should do fine.  And then with that kind of as a template, then I can do whatever I want because, okay, this should be, a calculated guess that this should be fine at this budget.  so the thing is, if I’m doing a movie that’s like an $80 million movie or a $90 million movie or something like that, well I have to feel that it’s going to have some commercial potential to make that back.  I mean, you never know, but I’ve gotta feel pretty confident about it, obviously, so does everybody else.  But I really do think that the budget should kind of match the subject matter and match the, you know, the possible interest of the public.

Q:  And Oscars and more.

QUENTIN:  Oh that would be really nice. {laughing} One mountain at a time!  Right now.  This mountain.  I’ll look at the horizon when I pass this one.  But, you know…  my kind of… what I would like to have as a benchmark goal for my career, and I don’t know if it’s gonna happen at all, all right, but what I would like, is I would like when my career is finished, I have three Palme d’Ors

Q: How is Quentin when he’s down?

QUENTIN:  I think, you know, uh… I think you’d have to ask somebody else, you know, about that, you know.  They’re the ones that could tell you honestly.  You know, look, the bottom line is look, there are moments… like I’m never, like, walking around depressed.  I don’t, my life is too good and I’m just too much of a privileged situation to be able to be an artist in this industry, to allow myself depression in front of other people.  All right.  I can be frustrated, I can get mad, I can be… I was talking about the very intenseful… I can do that, and sometimes I handle it better than other times.

© Alexandra Glen / Featureflash 

 

 

 
 

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