Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Tarantino is a fantastic director. He is responsible for all of the Kill Bill movies; he directed Django Unchained, Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, and the much anticipated, Once Upon a Time In Hollywood. If you love his movies, you should know these 20 must-know facts for people that consider themselves Tarantino fans.
Uma and Daryl
Uma Thurman and Daryl Hannah started in the Kill Bill films together. They were foes
Samuel L. Jackson
Tarantino wrote the part of a hitman, Jules Winnfield specifically for Jackson. He really got into the role, and he came up with the character’s hairstyle on his own. Also, he wrote most of the fictitious Bible verses that he quotes in the film.
The Honda Civic
Tarantino must really love this Honda Civic because it appeared in three of his films. In Pulp Fiction, Bruce Willis hits Ving Rhames with it. In Jackie Brown, Pam Grier drives it. It even makes a cameo in Kill Bill: Volume 2. This car is a star.
4 Minutes and 59 Seconds
In Kill Bill: Volume 1, after the Bride defeats Crazy 88, O-Ren Ishii tells her that she hoped that she saved her energy. He lets her know that if she didn’t, she wouldn’t last five minutes. The fight between the two lasts 4 minutes and 59 seconds. Talk about continuity.
Reservoir Dogs
This was one of Tarantino’s most popular movies, but he won’t say what the title means. At one time, he claimed that he heard it when he was at the video store and a customer mispronounced Louis Malle’s Au revoir
Characters and Their Characters
Many times, the actors and their characters have more in common than you think. The horse that Jamie Fox rides in Django Unchained is actually his. He received it as a gift many years earlier, and he and the horse knew each other well.
Good Friends
Quentin Tarantino is best friends with a fellow filmmaker, Robert Rodriguez. They even helped each other out on their projects. Robert directed parts of Pulp Fiction, and Tarantino guest-directed a scene in Sin City. Best friends working together. How sweet.
Referencing His Favorite Movies
Tarantino tends to bring parts of his favorite movies into his own. For example, the diner dance scene in Pulp Fiction is almost identical to a scene in one of his favorites, Federico Fellini’s 8 ½.
Keeping the Cameras Rolling
Tarantino knows when to keep the cameras rolling, and often uses unscripted incidents in his films that he is sure works. For example, in Django Unchained, Leonardo DiCaprio played antagonist Calvin Candie. While slamming his fist on the table, DiCaprio cut his fist on the table. Tarantino liked it so much; he kept it in the final cut.
Searching For a Volvo
In the 1990s, Tarantino was shopping for a Volvo because he heard that they were safe. While looking around the lot, he realized that a stunt team could upgrade any vehicle to make it death-proof. This moment is what inspired the 2007 film with the same name.
Poor Product Placement
Tarantino hates poor product placement in his films. To make things better, he invents his own product brands for his films such as Red Apple Cigarettes. There are times when he uses products that have been discontinued, such as Fruit Brute cereal.
Favorite Actors
Tarantino has a list of actors who he loves to work with, including Samuel L. Jackson, Uma Thurman, and Michael Madsen. However, it is not uncommon for A-list actors to plead for roles the way that Robert DeNiro did in Jackie Brown.
Foot Fetish?
Many of Tarantino’s films have plenty of violence and profanity. Many of his movies are also fixated on women’s feet. In most of his films, you can see a closeup shot of the stars’ shoes or feet. Could he have a foot fetish?
The Chained Weapon
Gogo Yubari has a schoolgirl persona and a deadly meteor hammer. This weapon is pretty scary. Tarantino knows this first-hand because he was hit in the head with the weapon. Ouch.
Adam Sandler
In the film Inglorious Bastards, Eli Roth did a great job playing Donny “The Bear Jew” Donowitz. Initially, Tarantino wanted Adam Sandler to play the part. Unfortunately, he was already working on Funny People, and he didn’t have the time to take the role.
Priceless 19th Century Guitar
In The Hateful Eight, Jennifer Jason Leigh had to play a song on a guitar, and Kurt Russel had to grab it from her and smash it. Unfortunately, Kurt didn’t wait for the crew to switch the guitar with a prop guitar. He ended up smashing a priceless 19th-century guitar. Oops.
From Dusk Til Dawn
Tarantino didn’t just star in From Dusk Til Dawn; he also wrote the script for just $1,500. He did this to get in with KNB, which is a special effects company. In return, the company pulled off some really gruesome violence scenes in Reservoir Dogs at no cost.
Working With a Small Budget
When Tarantino was shooting Reservoir Dogs, he had a budget of just $1.2 million, which is the movie business, isn’t a lot. To offset some of the costs, he asked the actors to use their own clothes for costumes. This worked out great with Chris Penn and his tracksuit.
German Officers
Tarantino used history in Inglorious Bastards. In the film, German officers get angry after Shosanna Dreyfus mentions Lilian Harvey in a conversation. In real life, Lilian helped her persecuted friends escape the country in the 30s before she fled herself.
A Huge Moment
One of the most significant moments in Kill Bill: Volume 2 was when the Bride’s real name was finally revealed. However, viewers who looked close saw her name, Beatrix Kiddo on her plane ticket in the first movie.
A Reused Wallet
Samuel L. Jackson’s character, Jules, owns a profanity-laced wallet. Tarantino didn’t have to go far to find the wallet, because it was his.
Pulp Fiction Script
Tarantino wrote Pulp Fiction in 1992 when he was 30-years-old. He wrote it in a dirty, one-room apartment in Amsterdam. Since we didn’t have the technology back then that we have today, he wrote the whole script in a dozen composition notebooks.
Bunny Sitting
Tarantino was supposed to bunny sit for his friend, Linda Chen. Sadly, the rabbit died on his watch. To honor Linda’s deceased pet, he named Amanda Plummer’s character, Honey Bunny, which was the same name as Linda’s bunny.
Begging
Uma Thurman initially turned down the role of Mia Wallace. Tarantino wanted her so badly that he begged her over the phone to take the part. He even read the script out loud over the phone. Fortunately for them both, his persistence paid off.
