The Quentin Tarantino Vulture interview was so chock full of gems, we had to come back for more. Quentin’s blunt admission of distaste for True Detective was only the beginning.
The entire Vulture piece is filled with a glorious amount of self-praise that only Quentin could execute without reprimand (especially when he peppers the interview with phrase like, “This might come across as egotistical”). Even when QT praises others, he’s really praising himself. One example of this is where he calls out David O. Russell as “the best actor’s director, along with myself, working in movies today.” (Note: This is right before he called out Ben Affleck for his “phony” casting in The Town.)
Quentin sees himself as an actor’s director, and, at the same time, he says, “There is such a thing as my kind of actor.” This is where he segues into how The Hateful Eight is a true ensemble cast where a big-name star would have hurt the project. Thus, he would never have considered Brad Pitt or Leonardo DiCaprio (or even Christoph Waltz) for this film. Vulture presses forward, asking Quentin if he feels responsible for writing atypical female roles. Quentin bristles a bit. He calls out an ABC Nightline journo for asking the same “dingbat” question. (For reference’s sake, the reporter was Cynthia McFadden in this interview.) Here’s Quentin’s longer explanation:
“I don’t have any responsibility at all. I’ve been making movies for 20 years, and as great as some of those decisions I made in the first ten years were, I probably wouldn’t make them again. What I mean is, I really liked the scripts I wrote, and I really liked my characters, but I wasn’t overenamored, and I wasn’t that precious about them. Back then, I got much more excited by cool casting. I liked the idea of taking an actor I’ve always liked but wasn’t being used much anymore and putting him in the movie and showing people what he could do. But I don’t feel that way anymore. Now it’s all about my characters. I actually think my characters are going to be one of my biggest legacies after I’m gone. So I have no obligation whatsoever other than to just cast it right. I did a Nightline interview with some dingbat. It was me, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Jamie Foxx, and they were asking about stuff like that. I go, ‘Look, I like these guys, but I love my characters. Their job is to say my dialogue.'”
Yes, Quentin focuses on his characters and their dialogue. The story and who plays the roles come secondary. He’s interested in hiring the right actor for the role, whether it happens to be someone who’s a nod to the genre (like Pam Grier in Jackie Brown or Franco Nero in Django Unchained) or an A-lister like Pitt. And yes, Quentin will freely call out a journo as a “dingbat” for implying that he has any ulterior motives, positive or negative. The reporter should probably feel sad that Quentin didn’t use a more colorful descriptor, which — let’s face it — is the ultimate omission. F-bombs are like a term of endearment when they drop from the jaw of Tarantino.
(via Vulture)
