Quentin Tarantino: I’m a big fan of RP movies
It’s been 15 years since Quentin Tarantino’s first film, Reservoir Dogs, exploded onto screens at the Sundance Film Festival. And it’s been 13 years since Pulp Fiction took the Palme d’Or at
Tarantino found himself arriving at Centennial NAIA-2 Airport around
Since then, Tarantino has dabbled in theater (appearing in Wait Until Dark on Broadway in 1998 to less-than-rave reviews), adapted an Elmore Leonard novel into a film (the underrated Jackie Brown), worked with director Robert Rodriguez on films like From Dusk Till Dawn,
Tarantino walked through the sliding glass doors with light luggage and was immediately beset by dozens of questions from TV and The Philippine STAR, but he was friendly and effusive, granting quick-fire answers as he slowly inched his way toward a waiting car.
“I’ll be staying through next weekend,” he told one journalist. “I don’t know my schedule, but I’ll be seeing the different movies and films at the festival, and just hanging out and taking in
Is this your first time here in the
Very first time, very first time. I’ve been wanting to come here since I was a kid. And now I’m finally here.
You get so many invites to so many film festivals around the world every year. Why did you choose this one?
Oh, I’ve always wanted to go to the
What Philippine films have you enjoyed?
Oh, there’s a lot of them I like. Cirio
Congratulations on the Lifetime Achievement Award.
I know. That’s really cool to be getting that here, yes. I’m also doing a panel, I think, on Filipino action and horror cinema.
We hadn’t noticed any explicit connection between your movies and Filipino B-movies, but we figured that it was only a matter of time...
Even in Kill Bill, the Hattori Hanzo character that Sonny Chiba plays, there’s a little bit of that based on the character in The Last Samurai — not the Tom Cruise movie, but the Cirio H. Santiago movie with James Englehart, there’s these two Japanese soldiers on the island? I kind of based a little bit of their relationship on those two characters from
We hear there will be a Quentin Tarantino film festival as part of this year’s Cinemanila.
I know, they’re showing all of my movies. This is actually the first time I’ve allowed a festival to do a retrospective of my work; this is the first time.
We’re very happy about that.
(Laughs)
Have you had a chance to check out any younger Filipino directors or more recent films made here?
No, I haven’t. So this will be a good chance, at the
Do you see yourself as an influence on Asian filmmakers today, just as Asian cinema has had such an impact on your films?
Well, that’s for them to tell me. (Laughs)
How did you and Tikoy meet?
I had actually sought out Cirio H. Santiago myself, to introduce myself, because I’m a big fan, and after that introduction, and from another friend of mine, Tiffany Limos, I got the invitation for the Cinemanila Film Festival, and I took (Tikoy) up on it right away.
Are you scouting locations here?
Nope! Just going to
What’s the latest on Inglorious Bastards (Tarantino’s long-evolving war script, now reportedly up to 600 pages)?
Pen is on paper right now. We’ll see what happens. (Laughs)
Have you always been attracted to Asian cinema?
It’s always been a big influence on me. I can’t help it.
Is the “Asian horror” genre played out yet?
I’m still watching it!
What have you watched recently?
There was a Korean horror movie called The Red Shoes. That was pretty good. Not bad.
Other directors have directed your scripts; would you ever direct a script written by somebody else?
Probably not.
Why not?
Because I like to start with a blank page. I usually lose interest if it didn’t originally come from me.
Where do you do most of your writing?
I do it all over the place. I write in
Would you consider guest directing another TV show, like E.R. or C.S.I.?
If it’s another TV show that I really like again, and I’ve become a huge fan and I want to jump into their world, then possibly.
We like that you create strong women characters (say in Kill Bill, or Jackie Brown). But how does that fit into your male testosterone world?
Well, I’m the creator, so they’re my characters. I love them. And not only do I create them, I am them when I create them.
Do you feel different when you’re writing those characters?
Well, I’m a method writer. I am them while I’m writing them.
Can you characterize Filipino movies, the ones you grew up enjoying?
Well, you can’t break that down to a couple words. They’re very different. Cirio H. Santiago’s Blaxploitation movies are very different from his
Why was Grindhouse (the “double-feature” B-movie homage shown in the
Well, because we didn’t want to show it as a double feature around the world, because not everyone has that thing, that tradition. And also, we had to cut the movie back drastically to do the double feature, so when Death Proof plays here, it’s going to have a half hour more than Grindhouse. The Death Proof that’s being released here, that’s the script I wrote.
Any advice for aspiring young Filipino filmmakers?
Yes. Come up with a story that you want to tell, that you have to tell, and tell it well.
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