7 Things We Learned From Quentin Tarantinos New Interview

Posted by Aldo Pusey on Monday, March 4, 2024

Quentin Tarantino is never one to hold back his opinion. The acclaimed filmmaker dished on everything from the possibility of another “Kill Bill” installment to his distaste for Cate Blanchett movies and “True Detective” in his interview with New York magazine. And if you ask Tarantino, Ben Affleck is no David O. Russell when it comes to casting films.

The writer-director also teased his upcoming Western thriller, “The Hateful Eight.”

Here are the most interesting tidbits from the colorful interview.

The “Kill Bill” franchise may still have some life in it:

“No, it’s not off the table, but we’ll see.”

Tarantino loved “How I Met Your Mother,” but hated “True Detective” from the get-go.

“The last two shows that I watched all the way were ‘Justified’ and ‘How I Met Your Mother.'”

“I tried to watch the first episode of season one [of ‘True Detective’], 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.”

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“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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Steven Spielberg and George Lucas have no reason to be pessimistic about film’s future:

“My pessimism isn’t about franchise filmmaking. That’s been going on since I was born. You can talk about ‘Transformers’ now, but you could talk about the ‘Planet of the Apes’ movies and James Bond when I was a little kid — and I couldn’t wait to see those. Actually, when we’re done here, I’m going to go see Guy Ritchie’s ‘The Man From U.N.C.L.E.’ I don’t know why Spielberg and Lucas would be complaining about movies like that. They don’t have to direct them.”

Cate Blanchett’s movies are 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.”

“The Fighter” is better than “The Town”:

“I really liked ‘The Town,’ which also came out in 2010. It was a good crime film. However, next to ‘The Fighter,’ it just couldn’t hold up, because everybody in ‘The Town’ is beyond gorgeous. Ben Affleck is the one who gets away with it, because his Boston accent is so good. But the crook is absolutely gorgeous. The bank teller is absolutely gorgeous. The FBI guy is absolutely gorgeous. The town whore, Blake Lively, is absolutely gorgeous. Jeremy Renner is the least gorgeous guy, and he’s pretty f—ing good-looking. Then, if you look at ‘The Fighter,’ and you look at those sisters, they’re just so magnificent. When you see David O. Russell cast those sisters, and you see Ben Affleck cast Blake Lively, you can’t compare the two movies. One just shows how phony the other is.

He’s content with how “Hateful Eight” is coming along:

“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.”

Barack Obama is his favorite president:

“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-s— 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.”

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