Rupertised!

By Carolyn

Quentin Jerome Tarantino, or QT for short, was born March 27, 1963 in Knoxville, Tennessee. He developed his love for movies at a young age, and one of his earliest memories is his Grandmother taking him to see a John Wayne movie.

Always one to show his creativity in unusual ways, he would write sad Mother’s Day stories to his mom, killing her in the stories, but then telling her how bad he felt about it. Despite having an IQ of 160, he dropped out of school at the age of 16, prefering to watch movies or read comics. After dropping out, he got a job as an usher at an adult film theater. He also took acting classes. Tarantino eventually landed a job at Video Archives in Manhattan Beach, California. There he worked with Roger Avary who shared his passion for film. The two even worked on some script ideas together.

During his time at Video Archives, Tarantino worked on several screenplays, including True Romance and Natural Born Killers. He also landed a guest spot on the popular sitcom The Golden Girls, playing an Elvis impersonator. How’s that for random kids? In 1990, Tarantino left Video Archives to work for Cinetel, a production company. Through one of the producers there, he was able to get his script for True Romance in the hands of director Tony Scott. Scott liked Tarantino’s script, and bought the rights to it.

Working with producer Lawrence Bender, Tarantino was able to secure funding for his directorial debut Reservoir Dogs (1992), for which he had also written the screenplay. Actor Harvey Keitel was impressed when he read the script, saying “I haven’t seen characters like these in years.” He signed on as an actor and a producer for the project. The independent film helped to make Tarantino one of the most talked-about figures in Hollywood. While not a big hit in the United States, it became a popular title on video and did well overseas.

With Pulp Fiction (1994), Tarantino created an unpredictable thrill ride filled with violence and pop culture references. In one story in the film, John Travolta played Vincent Vega, a hit man assigned to look after his boss’ girlfriend (Uma Thurman), a role that helped resuscitate his not-so-hot-at-the-time career. Another part examined Vega’s partnership with fellow hit man Jules Winnfield (Samuel L. Jackson). And yet another storyline involved Bruce Willis as a boxer. Tarantino managed to successfully interweave all these different stories to make a fascinating film. Actor Eric Stoltz, who played a drug dealer in the film says of Tarantino, “His mind works like the Tasmanian Devil on a bullet train. It’s so fast that very few people can keep up with his references.”

Pulp Fiction was both a commercial and critical success. In the United States, it earned over $108 million at the box office, becoming the first independent film to do so. Pulp Fiction won the prestigious Palme d’Or award at the Cannes Film Festival in 1994 and received seven Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director. For his work on the film, Tarantino took home the award for Best Original Screenplay, an honor he had to share with former collaborator Roger Avary. The two had a falling out over the writing credits for the film. Well, nothing’s perfect.

Known for his temper, Tarantino got into a public disagreement with director Oliver Stone. Stone directed Natural Born Killers (1994) and rewrote parts of Tarantino’s script. Enraged by the rewrites, Tarantino fought to have his name taken off the film. Stone told the press that the changes were an improvement over the original, which had poor character development. In a related incident, Tarantino slapped one of the producers of Natural Born Killers when he ran into him at Los Angeles restaurant. Anger Management anyone?

Tarantino went on to do Four Rooms, From Dusk Till Dawn and Jackie Brown. After Jackie Brown, Tarantino took a break from filmmaking. He starred on Broadway in 1998 in a revival of Wait Until Dark with Marisa Tomei. It was a bold move for him, as he had never done professional stage work before. Tarantino played a thug who terrorizes a blind woman (Tomei), and the critics were less than impressed. The reviews for the production were brutally harsh, and Tarantino was devastated. He felt people on the street were recognizing him as “the one whose acting sucks”.

The idea for Kill Bill was formed by Tarantino and Uma Thurman in a bar during the filming of Pulp Fiction. In 2000, Thurman ran into Tarantino at an Oscar party and asked about whether he had made any progress on developing that idea. He promised her that he would write the script as a birthday present for her. Initially he said that he would get it done two weeks, but it actually took over a year. Timing is everything. For this film, Tarantino learned as he went how to make a kung fu film, working and reworking the sequences as he went along.

The plot focused on revenge, as a female assassin known as the Bride (Uma Thurman) seeks to kill those involved in the savage attack on her and her wedding party. Running over budget and over schedule, Tarantino persevered with the project, shooting so much that he eventually had to create two films. Kill Bill: Vol 1 was released in fall of 2003 with Kill Bill: Vol 2  following months later in 2004.

After Kill Bill, Tarantino dabbled in television. He wrote and directed an episode of the drama CSI: Crime Investigation in 2005, for which he received an Emmy Award nomination.

In 2009, he released the long-awaited Inglorious Basterds, which focused on a group of Jewish-American soldiers out to destroy as many Nazis as possible. He had wooed Brad Pitt to play the leader of the “Basterds.” Some of the reviews were mixed, but Tarantino seemed unfazed by any negative comments. He told GQ magazine, “I respect criticism. But I know more about film than most of the people writing about me. Not only that, I’m a better writer than most of the people writing about me.” He clearly may have known best in this case, as the film was nominated for eight Academy Awards, including two for Tarantino for Best Director and for Best Original Screenplay.

So, what does Rupert like about Quentin Tarantino, you might ask? Well, let’s look at what they have in common:

- They both left school at the age of 16

- They are both into cult movies and independent films

- They both like violence (Rupert likes being slapped people, let’s face facts here)

- They are both quite quirky, unconventional lads

- They both collect unique things (Quentin, old board games, Rupert, Teacup Pigs and an Ice Cream Van)

Sounds like a match made in Heaven to me. Quentin? Rupert? Do us all a favor and work together. Thanks.