Just a few weeks ago I caught a 30th-anniversary screening of my favorite film, Pulp Fiction, at my local arthouse movie theater (I could probably recite to you every single line from that film). So when I found out that Quentin Tarantino was appearing at the intimate Elvis Mitchell lounge at the top of Park City’s Main Street (at Sundance), I jumped at the chance to listen to one of my personal heroes in life. And the experience was a revelation.
Tarantino flew in just for the talk with Mitchell, renowned film critic and host of NPR's The Treatment. I sat second row in this small setting and you could hear a pin drop as he spoke.
There was a lot to download and absorb, but here are the incredible highlights that were revealed.
What has Tarantino been up to?
A lot… with his kids!
If you’ve watched any of Tarantino’s interviews, you know he’s pretty manic and retains an encyclopedia knowledge of film. At age 61, he’s pretty much the same.
Fatherhood has been everything to him
But that energetic focus has been concentrated on his two kids, a five-year-old son and a two-and-a-half-year-old daughter. Listening to him, it’s clear that becoming a father has been the most profound experience of his life. He splits his time between Israel and the United States and a lot of his creative input has been poured into action figure play with his son, particularly utilizing several characters from Marvel and DC Comics.
“My family is the most important thing in my life,” he said, mentioning that his kids call him aba (Hebrew for Dad). He also used plenty of his cinematic curse words (hilariously) when describing how much he’s embraced fatherhood.
Ideally, he is hoping to reveal his next project when his son turns six.
“I kind of want to do whatever movie I end up doing when my son is at least six, and that way he'll know what's going on when it's happening, and he'll be there, and it might be a memory he'll remember for the rest of his life. And I figured my daughter is such a genius that she'll have it by that point.”
A reflective Tarantino spoke candidly about his own mortality. “I’m a Rockabilly—I’m not expecting to live that much longer,” he said, “I don’t want to go out when I’m decrepit. I’ve done what I’ve wanted to do, and I’m not holding on,” adding that he didn’t want to be so old that his kids would have to change his diapers. “that's f**king bullshit,” he added in classic Tarantino fashion.
Blasting the current state of film
For the cinephiles in the audience, his thoughts on how film has changed were revelatory. He didn’t shy away from his frank assessment of the current state of movies, calling 2019 the last great year of movies. That was also the year that his last film, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, came out.
Tarantino lamented the short theatrical windows for movies now and the prioritization of streaming platforms.
“Making movies now—what the f**k is that?” he asked, decrying that movies are now tailored for individual viewing on an iPhone in the palm of a hand. “A token release for four weeks, and then in two weeks, it’s on every TV in America. F**k that.
“I didn't get into all this for diminishing returns,” he added.
I remember when Pulp Fiction came out and the palpable excitement to see it in theaters (I ran to get my seat on opening night).
“Our Sundance in ‘92 was one of the biggest Sundances ever,” Tarantino said. “Like a good majority of the films that played in competition got theatrical releases, and they weren't token theatrical releases,” he added.
Tarantino bluntly talked about when he realized his attitude had changed.
“I was at a country and then I had some friends in the audience, filmmakers, and I've always watched the movie with them. And this time I introduced the movie, I sat down and watched it for the first 15 minutes… And I was, ‘Okay, let's go and get dinner.’ And the whole audience watched me get up and leave, and it kind of kicked them in the balls.”
He said that’s when he realized he “kind of didn't care,” adding, that was “when you get the fuck out.”
His next project
Tarantino’s been writing more prose and talked about how much he’s been enjoying the process of discovery.
“The screenplays are just so easy for me. It doesn't mean I don't work hard, but whatever you're really, really good at, there's an ease factor to it. It's very easy for me to get the characters talking to each other, and then it's just off to the races, and away they go. And I'm like a court reporter writing it down. But writing prose is harder.”
Tarantino’s also embraced playwrighting, where he’s leaning towards for his next project. He talked about the fearless creativity of the process and the visceral connection with the audience that theater offers him. He said he feels that theater is the “last frontier.”
"When it comes to being a filmmaker, I've pretty much done everything I've wanted to do. I've always equated filmmaking with climbing mountains. I've climbed my Everest, I've climbed my Mount Fuji, my Kilimanjaro. As far as that's concerned. I planted my flag. I lived through the productions, and I've come out good on the other side. And I'm really, really proud of the achievements.
"Theater isn't another mountain to climb, it's an ocean voyage," he stated. "I'm excited about doing a play because pulling it off is a big f**king deal… and that's a challenge, a genuine challenge."
He further elaborated: "[Audiences] pay a lot of money. You can’t tape it. There is no cell phone. You own the audience for the duration of the play every night. It's a great night out. It's worth it for them. That's f**king exciting!"
Mitchell chimed in and indicated that Tarantino’s experience and passion for storytelling would translate into a compelling one-man show. The filmmaker was open to the idea.
Always a cinephile
In the meantime, the Kill Bill director and writer is still immersing himself in DVDs and filmmaking eras. Right now, it’s classic cinema from the 1930’s and 1940’s. Waxing poetic about Gail Patrick’s (an actress from the ’30s and ’40s, who also became one of the first female producers in Hollywood) performance, he mentioned one scene, and said, “That is f**king delicious.
“Maybe I've seen six of the official new movies this year, but I'll see six movies from the 30s that I've never seen like in a week.”
At the end of the day, Tarantino has always been a movie fan, just like the rest of us. It was amazing to hear in speak during such a rare talk. An added bonus was also listening to Bill Murray talk in the same intimate space the day before. He stayed another day and put aside his feud with Tarantino at a dinner afterward in the “Elvis suite.”