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Vulture: Tarantino on Hateful Eight, White Supremacy, Obama and More

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F

Frog-fu

Banned
Read this today, thought it was a great interview. It's pretty lengthy.

We’re five months from the release of The Hateful Eight. How close to finishing are you?
We’ve got a little bit more than an hour finished right now. I just got back from seeing an hour of the movie cut together.

Are you happy with it?
I’m not committing suicide yet. It is what it is. We’re rushing and trying to get to the end. Then you go through it and try to make it even better. But first, you just get to the end.

Every movie I’ve ever done, there has always been some date we were trying to meet, whether it was with Reservoir Dogs, trying to meet the Sundance date, or Pulp Fiction, meeting the Cannes date. But we always pull it off. And this way you don’t have that situation where you finish the movie and then the people who paid to make it get to sit around and pick it to death.

So you don’t get notes from the studio anymore?
No, you do. Oh, yeah.

Is it different now, coming off Django Unchained and Inglourious Basterds? Those were the biggest hits of your career. Did that box office change things?
I don’t think so, as far as me making the story I want to tell. But I learned a big lesson with Grindhouse, and I try not to repeat the mistake. Robert Rodriguez and I had gotten used to going our own way, on these weird roads, and having the audience come along. We’d started thinking they’d go wherever we wanted. With Grindhouse, that proved not to be the case. It was still worth doing, but it would have been better if we weren’t caught so unaware by how uninterested people were.
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So what is Hateful Eight saying about the 2010s?
I’m not trying to make Hateful Eight contemporary in any way, shape, or form. I’m just trying to tell my story. It gets to be a little too much when you try to do that, when you try to make a hippie Western or try to make a counterculture Western.

Hateful Eight uses the Civil War as a backdrop, sort of like how The Good, the Bad and the Ugly does.
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly doesn’t get into the racial conflicts of the Civil War; it’s just a thing that’s happening. My movie is about the country being torn apart by it, and the racial aftermath, six, seven, eight, ten years later.

That’s going to make this movie feel contemporary. Everybody’s talking about race right now.
I know. I’m very excited by that.

Excited?
Finally, the issue of white supremacy is being talked about and dealt with. And it’s what the movie’s about.

How did what’s happening in Baltimore and Ferguson find its way into The Hateful Eight?
It was already in the script. It was already in the footage we shot. It just happens to be timely right now. We’re not trying to make it timely. It is timely. I love the fact that people are talking and dealing with the institutional racism that has existed in this country and been ignored. I feel like it’s another ’60s moment, where the people themselves had to expose how ugly they were before things could change. I’m hopeful that that’s happening now.

You supported Obama. How do you think he’s done?
I think he’s fantastic. He’s my favorite president, hands down, of my lifetime. He’s been awesome this past year. Especially the rapid, one-after-another-after-another-after-another aspect of it. It’s almost like take no prisoners. His he-doesn’t-give-a-shit attitude has just been so cool. Everyone always talks about these lame-duck presidents. I’ve never seen anybody end with this kind of ending. All the people who supported him along the way that questioned this or that and the other? All of their questions are being answered now.
Click to expand...

Some of their worry was for the smaller movies that are being crowded out of theaters by blockbusters.
People say that every six years. We all agree that the ’70s — or the ’30s, depending on what you feel — is probably the greatest decade in cinema history, as far as Hollywood cinema is concerned. I think the ’90s is right up there. But people said what Spielberg is saying all through the ’90s, and they said it all through the ’70s.

So you’re not worried at all?
Not for those bullshit reasons you just gave. If you go out and see a lot of movies in a given year, it’s really hard to come up with a top ten, because you saw a lot of stuff that you liked. A top 20 is easier. You probably get one masterpiece a year, and I don’t think you should expect more than one masterpiece a year, except in a really great year.

And in fairness to blockbusters, nothing stinks worse than bad Oscar bait.
The movies that used to be treated as independent movies, like the Sundance movies of the ’90s — those are the movies that are up for Oscars now. Stuff like The Kids Are All Right and The Fighter. They’re the mid-budget movies now, they just have bigger stars and bigger budgets. They’re good, but I don’t know if they have the staying power that some of the movies of the ’90s and the ’70s did. I don’t know if we’re going to be talking about The Town or The Kids Are All Right or An Education 20 or 30 years from now. Notes on a Scandal is another one. Philomena. Half of these Cate Blanchett movies — they’re all just like these arty things. I’m not saying they’re bad movies, but I don’t think most of them have a shelf life. But The Fighter or American Hustle — those will be watched in 30 years.

You think so?
I could be completely wrong about that. I’m not Nostradamus.
Click to expand...

More at the source.

Like I said, it's a really lengthy interview. The full article goes more comments on the state of film, the superhero genre, True Detective, casting choices and more.
 
F

Frog-fu

Banned
Tarantino is the man.

I also really liked this bit on True Detective, lol.
Have you seen True Detective?
I tried to watch the first episode of season one, and I didn’t get into it at all. I thought it was really boring. And season two looks awful. Just the trailer — all these handsome actors trying to not be handsome and walking around looking like the weight of the world is on their shoulders. It’s so serious, and they’re so tortured, trying to look miserable with their mustaches and grungy clothes.

Now, the HBO show I loved was Aaron Sorkin’s The Newsroom. That was the only show that I literally watched three times. I would watch it at seven o’clock on Sunday, when the new one would come on. Then after it was over, I’d watch it all over again. Then I would usually end up watching it once during the week, just so I could listen to the dialogue one more time.
Click to expand...
 
O

overcast

Member
Read the interview. Pretty entertaining.

Why does he have such a hard on for someone as mediocre as David O Russell though? Buddies?
 
S

Slayven

Member
How did what’s happening in Baltimore and Ferguson find its way into The Hateful Eight?
It was already in the script. It was already in the footage we shot. It just happens to be timely right now. We’re not trying to make it timely. It is timely. I love the fact that people are talking and dealing with the institutional racism that has existed in this country and been ignored. I feel like it’s another ’60s moment, where the people themselves had to expose how ugly they were before things could change. I’m hopeful that that’s happening now.
Click to expand...

only part i don't like. Folks been talking about it since the 60s, just white people ignore it until it is in their face.
 
V

VistraNorrez

Member
I'm glad Tarantino has he taste in art that he has, even if I don't agree. It's his perspective that makes movies I like. So keep liking the things you like, QT, and as long as you keep consistent, I'll be there for your movies.
 
D

Dio

Banned
Slayven said:
only part i don't like. Folks been talking about it since the 60s, just white people ignore it until it is in their face.
Click to expand...
People say this whenever Tarantino brings this up, but I think he's more talking about white people and is just saying 'people' without bothering to specifically say white people. I'm pretty sure he knows this already.
 
S

Snake

Member
Tarantino's good people. I've got a feeling that The Hateful Eight is going to be a disappointment to most people, but I wish only good luck to him.
 
P

Pappasman

Member
Vulture also posted some outtakes from the interview including QT's thoughts on It Follows.

How could It Follows have been great? Would you have done something differently?
He [writer-director David Robert Mitchell] could have kept his mythology straight. He broke his mythology left, right, and center. We see how the bad guys are: They're never casual. They're never just hanging around. They've always got that one look, and they always just progressively move toward you. Yet in the movie theater, the guy thinks he sees the woman in the yellow dress, and the girl goes, “What woman?” Then he realizes that it's the follower. So he doesn't realize it's the follower upon just looking at her? She’s just standing in the doorway of the theater, smiling at him, and he doesn’t immediately notice her? You would think that he, of anybody, would know how to spot those things as soon as possible. We spotted them among the extras.

The movie keeps on doing things like that, not holding on to the rules that it sets up. Like, okay, you can shoot the bad guys in the head, but that just works for ten seconds? Well, that doesn't make any fucking sense. What's up with that? And then, all of a sudden, the things are aggressive and they're picking up appliances and throwing them at people? Now they're strategizing? That's never been part of it before. I don't buy that the thing is getting clever when they lower him into the pool. They're not clever.

Also, there’s the gorgeously handsome geeky boy — and everyone's supposed to be ignoring that he's gorgeous, because that’s what you do in movies — that kid obviously has no problem having sex with her and putting the thing on his trail. He's completely down with that idea. So wouldn't it have been a good idea for her to fuck that guy before she went into the pool, so then at least two people could see the thing? It’s not like she'd have been tricking him into it. It’s what I would've done.
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N

NumberTwo

Paper or plastic?
I gotta say, that interview was pretty on point. H8 was already on my radar but now I have even more of a reason to see it.
 
F

Forgive Me

Banned
i am kinda sad that he says the pilot of a show always sucks but didnt give True Detective S1 more of a chance past the first episode, but I guess thats just because i really like it
 
J

Jonm1010

Banned
Not gonna lie, I never read something where Tarantino came across this grounded, humble and worldly. I honestly always thought he was more insulated about world events and social politics. Kinda always thought he was sort of an apolitical type that you probably don't want to ask too many questions because he probably hadn't thought about it much and may come off stupid.

I disagree on Newsroom being any good and think True Detective season 1 was great but really good interview overall.

I can see why he liked it though, Sorkin seems to be in the same family as Tarantino with the bravado of his dialogue.
 
P

Pryce

Member
Now, the HBO show I loved was Aaron Sorkin’s The Newsroom. That was the only show that I literally watched three times. I would watch it at seven o’clock on Sunday, when the new one would come on. Then after it was over, I’d watch it all over again. Then I would usually end up watching it once during the week, just so I could listen to the dialogue one more time.
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noooooo
 
L

LiveFromKyoto

Member
Slayven said:
only part i don't like. Folks been talking about it since the 60s, just white people ignore it until it is in their face.
Click to expand...

That's got nothing to do with him or his statement though. He's been dealing with race his whole career, he's just glad it's at the forefront of the cultural consciousness now. It took a black president to bring all the crazy to the surface, and the inability to erase things from the internet to prevent bigots from dodging their words.
 
U

uncelestial

Member
Jonm1010 said:
Not gonna lie, I never read something where Tarantino came across this grounded, humble and worldly. I honestly always thought he was more insulated about world events and social politics. Kinda always thought he was sort of an apolitical type that you probably don't want to ask too many questions because he probably hadn't thought about it much and may come off stupid.
Click to expand...
He always sounded pretty plugged in to me. His Django interviews were awesome. And fuck being grounded and humble. I don't need amazing filmmakers to be boring assholes. I'm not asking them to watch my cat while I'm on vacation.
 
J

Jonm1010

Banned
uncelestial said:
He sounds pretty plugged in to me. And fuck being grounded and humble. I don't need amazing filmmakers to be boring assholes. I'm not asking them to watch my cat while I'm on vacation.
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Im just saying he seemed much more compassionate, worldly, openly self-reflecting and politically attuned then I had assumed about him. I didn't say I was complimenting him being more boring then I thought he was. Tarantino has and will always be eccentric and speak his mind.

Its a big compliment. Makes my respect level for him go up a lot higher and makes me really excited for Hateful Eight. A film I just thought was almost a homage to himself and his Reservoir Dog days but with Western flair.
 
L

Lumination

'enry 'ollins
Is it different now, coming off Django Unchained and Inglourious Basterds? Those were the biggest hits of your career. Did that box office change things?
I don’t think so, as far as me making the story I want to tell. But I learned a big lesson with Grindhouse, and I try not to repeat the mistake. Robert Rodriguez and I had gotten used to going our own way, on these weird roads, and having the audience come along. We’d started thinking they’d go wherever we wanted. With Grindhouse, that proved not to be the case. It was still worth doing, but it would have been better if we weren’t caught so unaware by how uninterested people were.
Click to expand...
I really liked Grindhouse...
 
S

Slayven

Member
LiveFromKyoto said:
That's got nothing to do with him or his statement though. He's been dealing with race his whole career, he's just glad it's at the forefront of the cultural consciousness now. It took a black president to bring all the crazy to the surface, and the inability to erase things from the internet to prevent bigots from dodging their words.
Click to expand...

Is that what we going to call being able to fit as many "niggers" into 2 hours of film?
 
F

Frog-fu

Banned
Forgive Me said:
i am kinda sad that he says the pilot of a show always sucks but didnt give True Detective S1 more of a chance past the first episode, but I guess thats just because i really like it
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tbf I don't think Tarantino has a whole lot of time to try things out if they don't click immediately. edit; Also, TD didn't have a pilot iirc. I believe it was greenlit for a eason, all shot in one go and then released.

I bet he'd like Mr Robot if he tried that though. One of the strongest pilot episodes ever.
 
F

Frog-fu

Banned
Warm Machine said:
I like the guy and a lot as well as his movies. However, I wish he didn't believe his own hype so much.
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Hehehe
Do you not stream movies?
No, I don’t. My TV isn’t connected to my computer.

It’s just a generational thing, but that doesn’t mean I’m not depressed by it. The idea that somebody’s watching my movie on a phone, that’s very depressing to me.

I just saw a guy on the subway watching Django Unchained on a phone.
I can’t even make myself watch a movie on a laptop. I’m old-school. I read the newspaper. I read magazines. I watch the news on television. I watch CNBC a lot.

Do you still write your scripts by hand?
Let me ask you a question: If you were going to try to write a poem, would you do it on a computer?

That’s true. I wouldn’t.
You don’t need technology for poetry.
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I don't think he buys his own hype all that much. I just think he's getting on with his age and realises he can't really be fucked with at this point in his career so he can be blunt and cranky.
 
R

RatskyWatsky

Hunky Nostradamus
Have you seen True Detective?
I tried to watch the first episode of season one, and I didn’t get into it at all. I thought it was really boring. And season two looks awful. Just the trailer — all these handsome actors trying to not be handsome and walking around looking like the weight of the world is on their shoulders. It’s so serious, and they’re so tortured, trying to look miserable with their mustaches and grungy clothes.
Click to expand...

lollllll

Now, the HBO show I loved was Aaron Sorkin’s The Newsroom. That was the only show that I literally watched three times. I would watch it at seven o’clock on Sunday, when the new one would come on. Then after it was over, I’d watch it all over again. Then I would usually end up watching it once during the week, just so I could listen to the dialogue one more time.
Click to expand...

And you were doing so well there for a second Tarantino...
 
U

uncelestial

Member
Slayven said:
Is that what we going to call being able to fit as many "niggers" into 2 hours of film?
Click to expand...
I don't think that many would, or should, characterize his approach to race that way.

Jonm1010 said:
Im just saying he seemed much more compassionate, worldly, openly self-reflecting and politically attuned then I had assumed about him. I didn't say I was complimenting him being more boring then I thought he was. Tarantino has and will always be eccentric and speak his mind.

Its a big compliment. Makes my respect level for him go up a lot higher and makes me really excited for Hateful Eight. A film I just thought was almost a homage to himself and his Reservoir Dog days but with Western flair.
Click to expand...
I hear you. I think I tire of people expecting bland, pleasant humility from absolutely everybody -- even really out-there filmmakers who are not afraid of approaching dangerous, hot-button topics. I'm sorry I assumed that was your preference.
 
B

big ander

Member
True Savior said:
I like his Too Many Ways to Be No. 1 reference. Although some of its absurdity is very far from tarantino style.
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It's cool to see him reference it, but I also think it's silly he reduces it to an imitator of his movies. he may have popularized jumbled timelines and taken them farther than was conventional for the mainstream, but he didn't freakin invent them. Too Many Ways pulls from Kieslowski as much as Tarantino
 
T

Toparaman

Banned
Frog-fu said:
Hehehe


I don't think he buys his own hype all that much. I just think he's getting on with his age and realises he can't really be fucked with at this point in his career so he can be blunt and cranky.
Click to expand...

Young or old, there isn't a single decent filmmaker that likes the idea of someone watching their film on a phone.
 
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