94 Facts About Tarantino

1.

Quentin Jerome Tarantino is an American filmmaker and actor.

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2.

Tarantino's films are characterized by frequent references to popular culture and film genres, nonlinear storylines, dark humor, stylized violence, extended dialogue, pervasive use of profanity, cameos and ensemble casts.

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3.

Tarantino began his career as an independent filmmaker with the release of the crime film Reservoir Dogs in 1992.

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4.

Tarantino's second film, Pulp Fiction, a dark comedy crime thriller, was a major success with critics and audiences winning numerous awards, including the Palme d'Or and the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.

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5.

In 2003, Tarantino directed Kill Bill: Volume 1, inspired by the traditions of martial arts films; it was followed by Volume 2 in 2004.

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6.

Tarantino then made the exploitation slasher Death Proof, part of a double feature with Robert Rodriguez, released under the collective title Grindhouse.

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7.

Tarantino followed this with Django Unchained, a slave revenge Spaghetti Western, which won him his second Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.

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8.

Tarantino's eighth film, The Hateful Eight, was a revisionist Western thriller and opened to audiences with a roadshow release.

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9.

Tarantino's most recent film, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, is a comedy drama set in the late 1960s about the transition of Old Hollywood to New Hollywood.

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10.

Tarantino's work has been subject to controversy, such as the depictions of violence, frequent inclusion of racial slurs, and the alleged negligence of safety in his handling of stunt scenes on Kill Bill: Volume 2.

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11.

Tarantino has been considered "the single most influential director of his generation"; and listed as one of the most influential people in the world.

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12.

Tarantino is of Cherokee and Irish ancestry through his mother; his father is of Italian descent.

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13.

Tarantino was named in part after Quint Asper, Burt Reynolds's character in the TV series Gunsmoke.

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14.

Tarantino's mother met his father during a trip to Los Angeles.

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15.

Tarantino's mother married musician Curtis Zastoupil soon after arriving in Los Angeles, and the family moved to Torrance, a city in Los Angeles County's South Bay area.

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16.

Tarantino remained there less than a year before returning to California.

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17.

At 14 years old, Tarantino wrote one of his earliest works, a screenplay called Captain Peachfuzz and the Anchovy Bandit, based on the 1977 film Smokey and the Bandit.

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18.

Tarantino later revealed that his mother had ridiculed his writing skills when he was younger, as a result, vowed that he would never share his wealth with her.

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19.

Tarantino spent time as a recruiter in the aerospace industry, and for five years he worked at Video Archives, a video store in Manhattan Beach, California.

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20.

Later, Tarantino attended acting classes at the James Best Theatre Company, where he met several of his eventual collaborators for his next film.

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21.

Bender encouraged Tarantino to write the screenplay, which he wrote in three-and-a-half weeks and presented to Bender unformatted.

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22.

The second script that Tarantino sold was for the film Natural Born Killers, which was revised by Dave Veloz, Richard Rutowski and director Oliver Stone.

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23.

Tarantino was given story credit and stated in an interview that he wished the film well, but later disowned the final film.

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24.

Tarantino wrote, directed, and acted in the dark comedy crime film Pulp Fiction starring Uma Thurman in 1994, maintaining the stylized violence from his earlier film and non-linear storylines.

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25.

Tarantino received the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, which he shared with Roger Avary, who contributed to the story.

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26.

Tarantino won the Palme d'Or for the film at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival.

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27.

In 1995, Tarantino participated in the anthology film Four Rooms, a collaboration that included directors Robert Rodriguez, Allison Anders and Alexandre Rockwell.

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28.

Tarantino directed and acted in the fourth segment of "The Man from Hollywood", a tribute to the Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode "Man from the South".

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29.

Tarantino joined Rodriguez again later in the year with a supporting role in Desperado.

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30.

One of Tarantino's first paid writing assignments was for From Dusk till Dawn, which Rodriguez directed later in 1996, re-teaming with Tarantino in another acting role, alongside Harvey Keitel, George Clooney and Juliette Lewis.

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31.

In 1998, Tarantino made his major Broadway stage debut as an amoral psycho killer in a revival of the 1966 play Wait Until Dark, which received unfavorable reviews from critics, but his star power ensured a nearly sold-out production for its limited, 16-week Broadway run.

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32.

Tarantino starred in Steven Spielberg's Director's Chair, a simulation video game that uses pre-generated film clips.

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33.

Tarantino went on to write and direct Kill Bill, a highly stylized "revenge flick" in the cinematic traditions of Chinese martial arts films, Japanese period dramas, Spaghetti Westerns, and Italian horror.

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34.

Tarantino says he still considers it a single film in his overall filmography.

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35.

From 2002 to 2004, Tarantino portrayed villain McKenas Cole in the ABC television series Alias.

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36.

In 2004, Tarantino attended the 2004 Cannes Film Festival, where he served as President of the Jury.

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37.

Tarantino then contributed to Robert Rodriguez's 2005 neo-noir film Sin City, and was credited as "Special Guest Director" for his work directing the car sequence featuring Clive Owen and Benicio del Toro.

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38.

In May 2005, Tarantino co-wrote and directed "Grave Danger", the fifth season finale of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.

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39.

In 2007, Tarantino directed the exploitation slasher film Death Proof.

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40.

Tarantino had planned to start work on the film after Jackie Brown but postponed this to make Kill Bill after a meeting with Uma Thurman.

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41.

Tarantino received his second Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.

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42.

In November 2013, Tarantino said he was working on a new film and that it would be another Western, though not a sequel to Django Unchained.

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43.

Production of the Western would most likely have begun in the summer of 2014, but after the script for the film leaked in January 2014, Tarantino considered dropping the movie and publishing it as a novel instead.

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44.

Tarantino stated that he had given the script to a few trusted colleagues, including Bruce Dern, Tim Roth and Michael Madsen.

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45.

Tarantino explained that they would read the first draft of the script, and added that he was writing two new drafts with a different ending.

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46.

The actors who joined Tarantino included Samuel L Jackson, Kurt Russell, Amber Tamblyn, James Parks, Walton Goggins, and the first three actors to be given the script before the leak: Dern, Roth and Madsen.

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47.

Tarantino has used his Hollywood power to give smaller and foreign films more attention.

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48.

Tarantino presented 2006's The Protector, and is a producer of the 2007 film Hostel: Part II.

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49.

In 1995, Tarantino formed Rolling Thunder Pictures with Miramax to release or re-release several independent and foreign features.

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50.

Tarantino allowed the previous owners to continue operating the theater, but stated he would make occasional programming suggestions.

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51.

In 2021, Tarantino announced that he had purchased the Vista Theatre in Los Angeles, stating that he intends to keep it a first-run theatre, and that it will predominantly show 35mm film prints when possible.

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52.

In June 2020 Tarantino became an officially recognized critic on the review aggregation website, Rotten Tomatoes.

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53.

Tarantino is among a few notable directors, including Martin Scorsese and Edgar Wright, who appreciate Elaine May's 1987 film Ishtar, despite its reputation as being a notorious box-office flop and one of the worst films ever made.

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54.

In 2020, Tarantino named David Fincher's film The Social Network his favorite movie of the 2010s.

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55.

Tarantino published his first novel in June 2021, a novelization of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

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56.

In June 2021, Tarantino announced plans to start a podcast with Roger Avary.

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57.

In November 2014, Tarantino said he would retire from films after directing his tenth film.

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58.

In 2009, Tarantino said that he plans to retire from filmmaking when he is 60, in order to focus on writing novels and film literature.

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59.

Tarantino is an admirer of the 1981 film Blow Out, directed by Brian De Palma, which led to his casting of John Travolta in Pulp Fiction.

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60.

Similarly, Tarantino was captivated with Jim McBride's 1983 remake of Breathless and with Richard Gere's unlikable but charismatic protagonist.

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61.

Tarantino listed the Australian suspense film Roadgames as another favorite film.

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62.

The number of expletives and deaths in Tarantino's films were measured by analytics website FiveThirtyEight.

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63.

Tarantino has occasionally used a nonlinear story structure in his films, most notably with Pulp Fiction.

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64.

Tarantino has used the style in Reservoir Dogs, Kill Bill, and The Hateful Eight.

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65.

Tarantino creates his own products and brands that he uses in his films to varying degrees.

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66.

Tarantino is known for his choice of music in his films, including soundtracks that often use songs from the 1960s and 70s.

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67.

Tarantino has stated in many interviews that his writing process is like writing a novel before formatting it into a script, saying that this creates the blueprint of the film and makes the film feel like literature.

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68.

Tarantino has received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contributions to the film industry.

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69.

Tarantino has said that he does not believe that violence in film inspires real acts of violence.

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70.

In October 2015, Tarantino attended a rally held in New York protesting police brutality.

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71.

Tarantino's movies are extremely violent, but he doesn't understand violence.

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72.

Tarantino said his then girlfriend Mira Sorvino told him in the mid-1990s about her experience with Weinstein.

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73.

Tarantino confronted Weinstein at the time and received an apology.

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74.

Tarantino said he confronted Weinstein, as he had previously when Weinstein made advances on his former partner, demanded he apologize and banned him from contact with Thurman for the rest of production.

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75.

Tarantino refused to recut the movie for the Chinese release.

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76.

Tarantino has a history of clashing with people in the entertainment industry and being difficult with journalists.

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77.

In 1993, Tarantino sold his script for Natural Born Killers which was rewritten, giving him only a story credit.

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78.

In 1994, Tarantino had an on-set feud with Denzel Washington during the filming of Crimson Tide over what was called "Tarantino's racist dialogue added to the script".

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79.

In 1997, during the Oscars, Tarantino was accompanying Mira Sorvino who had stopped to speak to MTV News host at the time Chris Connelly when he called her from the media scrum.

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80.

The article that angered Tarantino included a 1995 interview from a biography by Jami Bernard with his biological father Tony Tarantino, someone he had never met, which he considered "pretty tasteless".

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81.

In 2009, Tarantino was set to appear on the talk show Late Show with David Letterman to promote Inglourious Basterds.

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82.

Tarantino was not forthcoming, but at his publicist's urging, he begrudgingly conceded.

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83.

In 2013, during an interview with Krishnan Guru-Murthy on Channel 4 News while promoting Django Unchained in the UK, Tarantino reacted angrily when he was questioned about whether there was a link between movie violence and real-life violence.

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84.

Tarantino informed Guru-Murthy that he was "shutting [his] butt down".

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85.

Tarantino snapped back, "Well, I just reject your hypothesis, " giving no further comment.

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86.

Tarantino was her date at the 68th Oscars ceremony where she had won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

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87.

Tarantino said this was an act of rebellion against his Catholic mother as she had encouraged what might usually be considered more conventional forms of rebellion, such as his interests in comic books and horror films.

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88.

Tarantino has stated that he plans to make a total of just ten films before retiring as a director, as a means of ensuring an overall high quality within his filmography.

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89.

Tarantino has built up an informal "repertory company" of actors who have appeared in many roles in his films.

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90.

Tarantino has won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay twice, for Pulp Fiction and Django Unchained.

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91.

Tarantino has four times been nominated for the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, winning once for Pulp Fiction in 1994.

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92.

In 2005, Tarantino was awarded the honorary Icon of the Decade at the 10th Empire Awards.

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93.

Tarantino has earned lifetime achievement awards from two organizations in 2007, from Cinemanila, and from the Rome Film Festival in 2012.

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94.

In 2011, Tarantino was awarded the Honorary Cesar by the Academie des Arts et Techniques du Cinema.

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