Ruthlessness is one of the hallmarks of Quentin Tarantino’s films – whether it’s about black humor, violence or brutal language. He now sharply rejects criticism that he often puts the N-word in his protagonists’ mouths.
The fact that he doesn’t put on kid gloves in his films is what made Quentin Tarantino famous in the first place. Exaggerated depictions of violence, coupled with pitch-black humor and dialogues in which no consideration is given to sensitivities, are the central element of films like “Pulp Fiction”, “Kill Bill” or “Django Unchained”.
While the director used to be celebrated for his disrespect, today he has to put up with some criticism of his productions. So presenter Chris Wallace confronted him on his talk show on the streaming service HBO Max with the following question: “When people say: ‘His films are too violent. He uses the N-word too often.’ What do you answer then?” Tarantino replied, “Then you should look at something else.”
The director elaborated, “If you have a problem with my films, they are not the films you should see. Apparently I’m not making them for you.” But Tarantino was even clearer: “That’s nonsense. You can’t tell an author not to use the words, write them down and put them in the mouths of people from certain ethnic groups that these people use in exactly the same way.” The 59-year-old added: “You can’t do that because then it becomes untrue, it wouldn’t be honest.”
Tarantino can also be sure of the support of his leading actor Jamie Foxx in “Django Unchained” in his view of things. The African American said in an interview with the “Yahoo!” portal in 2018: “The N-word came up 100 times, but I understood the text – that’s how it was at that time.”
In an interview with CNN, Tarantino also spoke about his future as a filmmaker. In it, he confirmed earlier statements that his upcoming tenth film would be his last. “I’ve been doing this a long time. I’ve been doing this for 30 years. It’s showdown time. I’m an entertainer. I want to leave you wanting more,” Tarantino said.
“I don’t want to be this old man who gets left behind. In fact, I feel a bit like that just watching recent movies,” the cult director continued. According to his own account, Tarantino still has no concrete idea for his very last film. He’s not in a hurry either, he added.