Hey folks, Harry here... Our shark-skin wearing fountain of blood, Quint is here to give you insight and intrigue with this fine fine fine interview with Quentin Tarantino. All I can say is that, I should just move out of the way and let you enjoy the read.... Quint's Questions are in ALL CAPS, and Tarantino's answers are typed normal. I hope you enjoy this interview and get happy and glad about what you hear about the upcoming CRITERION PULP FICTION and JACKIE BROWN dvds... I know I am...
Ahoy there, my little sea squirts! Everybody’s favorite humble sailor here
once more, this time with an interview conducted aboard the Orca with
Quentin Tarantino. I dressed up for this one, done face to face, leg to leg
with whales providing the right background music. I wanted to look my
spiffiest. I wanted people to take one look at me and exclaim, “Now there’s
a salty seaman with taste!” So I combed my hair and brushed the crust off my
old, blue shirt.
Anyway, this one doesn¹t need much introduction. I just want to point out
that Quentin has a very unique way of speaking. Needless to say, his super
fast, super informal way of talking can sometimes not come through in
writing, so I kept in as many “likes”, “you know”, “all rights” that I could
to try and make it easier for you squirts to understand Quentin¹s
personality and character. I also want to add that we didn¹t get to totally
complete the interview, so look for a possible follow up next year when the
man comes back to Austin for the next QT Fest. Quint vs. Quent....in... the
rematch!
So, without any further adieu, here it goes!
TO START OFF, I HAVE SOME WORDS TO PASS ON TO YOU. THE FIRST ONE
COMES FROM
CHRIS MCQUARRIE. HE TOLD ME TO TELL YOU... I WAS TELLING HIM THAT
I WAS
THINKING OF ASKING YOU FOR AN INTERVIEW AND HE TOLD ME, “WELL,
TELL
TARANTINO THAT IF HE SITS DOWN WITH YOU AFTER ME, HE¹LL BE
ACCUSED FOREVER
OF RIPPING OFF MY INTERVIEW.”
(laughs)
HE WANTED ME TO PASS THAT ALONG TO YOU.
Tryin’ to psyche me out before the interview, right?
EXACTLY. I MET ROGER AVARY OVER THE SUMMER IN SAN DIEGO.
For the Comic Con?
YEAH. HE TOLD ME TO TELL YOU THAT YOU ARE FORGIVEN FOR PUTTING
A ROGER
WOULD LIKE TO SUGGEST SIGN” IN THE GAY SECTION AT VIDEO
ARCHIVES.
(laughs) Yeah, that was literally a thing where all of a sudden, Roger
appeared in, like, the Los Angeles Times in some style section. A Los
Angeles Times photographer was like walking around Manhattan Beach or
Redondo Beach and Roger just had this T-Shirt on and these torn jeans. They
said, “Hey, can we take a picture of you?” And he goes, “Yeah,” so he puts
on these sunglasses, takes this little kicked back, surfer boy pose and they
totally print it. It’s just a full shot of him like this (Quentin lowers his
chin and crosses his arms). We went crazy. We cut it out and blew it up and
one of the guys, Russel, blew up Roger’s face, where it took like 12 xeroxes
to make the face. He just went out of control with it.
We had a gay section in the very, very back of the X-rated section. The
X-rated section was like a tunnel, all right, it was like this tunnel area.
It had saloon doors and blue, neon light. The only light was this blue neon
light and we would always have music wafting out of there. Lance, the guy
who owned Video Archives wanted to have that Damn Yankees song, that
(singing) “Whatever Lola wants... Lola gets..” But we never got around to
have the ambition to do that, but what we did was that last section, almost
in an alcove, in this cadecove area of the tunnel, this indentation next to
the bathroom was the gay section.
So, what I did is we xeroxed... actually we didn’t even xerox it, we cut the
picture of Roger out of the actual newspaper of Roger like this (same pose
as above), lookin’ all cool with his glasses and we just wrote this little
word bubble and stuck it next to the gay section. Like, “Hi! Roger here! I
know when you¹re looking at the gay porno and you¹ve never seen all of them
and you’re like, “Which one do I get?” Well, at this moment, I’d like to
take the time to offer my choice of some of the finer ones we have here. So,
please, take my suggestion.”
The funny part about it was, Roger was like, “Yo, man! Take that down!” All
right. I talked him into leaving it up. I don¹t know how... I mean, then I
realized I could anybody into anything if I can talk Roger into letting that
stay up. I convinced him, I actually convinced him to not, like, rip it
shreds, all right. At least not for a couple of days anyway.
THAT’D HAVE TO TAKE SOME DOING...
That’s some snake oil sellery and some shin-shamery.
EXACTLY. SINCE WE’RE SITTING DOWN, FACE TO FACE, DOES THAT MEAN
YOU’RE GOING
TO PUNCH ME OUT?
No. (laughs). Unless you did something to me six years ago and I¹ve been
waiting six years to see you again, all right. (laughs)
WHY DID YOU START THE QT FEST HERE? WHAT WAS THE IMPETUS OF IT?
It was just basically a chance to watch a bunch of my prints with other
people. It’s like literally the germ that started it off after collecting
prints for my first year of collecting them and everything. I was like,
“OK, this is only so good just watching them by myself,” getting it then
screening it kinda feels like they almost still don¹t exist if only I see it
because, of course, I’m going to see it.
There is a slight, not to get too sentimental or verbose or anything, but
there is this kind of thing almost... Until I show ‘em in an environment
where a bunch of other people can see them, in particularly a couple of
strangers, so they aren’t just friends of mine, they just don’t exist. When
a whole bunch of people watch the, it just kinda validates their existence.
I think maybe even buys the print 10 more years, you know what I mean? If
you just taking it purely from “It’s serving its purpose.”
That’s one of the things I found really interesting in collecting prints.
You would think, “Oh no! Don’t ever play it through a projector!” There’s
this aspect about a film projector, 35(mm) or 16(mm), like it’s this live
monster. It’s benevolent, but at any moment, the monster can get mean and
eat up your print. Yeah, that can totally happen. That is something that is
true. But it can be the reverse. What makes prints lose their color and go
red and vinegary, is if it’s just sitting on a shelf for years. It needs to
be ran through projectors and have the light shine through it. It¹s actually
needs that, as long as it¹s a good projector. So, it¹s literally an aspect
of use it or lose it.
That’s one of the reasons that guy, the guy in Dayton, Ohio, who does the
Cinerama screenings, he compiled How the West Was Won, all right. He had to
compile 3 separate prints. It took him years, but he did it. One of the
reasons it looks so good and has held its color is he’s always shown it. He
was showing it all while he was putting it together, he was showing it once
he’d put it together, he¹s had a million little screenings of it in his
house. That’s one of the reasons why it has held up so good, his constant
screening of it. It is kind of cool that film has that aspect of use it or
lose it.
IF YOU DON’T SCREEN IT, THEN IT’S BASICALLY JUST AND EXPENSIVE
PAPERWEIGHT.
Exactly.
WHAT’S THE POINT IN HAVING IT? IF YOU’RE NOT GOING TO WATCH IT?
Exactly. There is that aspect of the prints getting validated by having a
whole bunch of other people see it. It’s totally like the case... it really
seems like Kiss the Girls and Make Them Die and the Psychic have really
kinda jumped out of the pack of all the films I’ve screened here so far.
It’s so cool. It’s cool the way everybody is referring to Kiss the Girls and
Make Them Die, like, “That’s one of the best secret agent movies ever.
That’s as good as any of the Bond movies and a helluva lot better than any
of the ones they’ve made in a long time.” That’s so cool, man. In Austin,
right now, Kiss the Girls and Make Them Die is getting its place in cinema.
It’s cool because all of the writing I’ve read about it is like, “Forget
everything! This is great! This is a perfect secret agent movie!” (laughs)
I LIKE WHAT YOU WERE SAYING ABOUT IT UP ON STAGE WHERE IT¹S
WHAT MATT HELM
MOVIES SHOULD BE.
Yeah! Exactly. What I always want them to be, but never are. Exactly.
IT TOTALLY HAD A MATT HELM FEEL TO IT.
Did you feel that? It was like, “Oh, wow! If they worked as movies as
opposed to just a Dean Martin Friar Roast.”
WHY DID YOU KEEP THE FEST HERE? YOU COULD HAVE MOVED IT
ANYWHERE, WHY HERE?
Part of it is, well, ‘cause, you know, I have friends here and everything,
so it’s always like an excuse to hang out for a week with those friends
while I’m here and stuff. But also, the audience completely supports it and
it helps the Austin Film Society. They do all the work. I just program the
movies, I’d be thinking about it for a long time, but I usually don’t give
them a list until the last like minute. I just program the films, have the
prints and show up. They do all the work, all the scheduling and booking the
theater. Tim (League, owner of the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema) does all the
work of all the actual real presentation.
This year, I gave him a little bit of help. I’ve got some projectionists
working for me in Los Angeles, so I compiled like the Spaghetti Western
night trailer reels. They put those reels together, so Tim didn’t have to do
everything. It’s kinda cool ‘cause it had a little bit of presentation
quality, they put just a little bit of, like, black leader in between each
of them, so it had this smooth...
COOL....
I had read in somebody’s article, I think it was Moriarty’s article, I read
it last night and it had like, you know, where you can just write in one
sentence or something and make a comment about something or other, just
anybody on the internet. It just had this, “Hey, man. We should take this
Tarantino thing to Cleveland!” It really cracked me up. (laughs)
YEAH, THAT’S TALKBACK... JUST WAIT AND SEE, IT¹LL START SPAWNING
ALL THESE
BREAK-OFFS. YOU KNOW, YOU’RE GOING TO BE SUNDANCE AND THEN
YOUR SLAMDANCE
EQUIVALENT WILL POP UP.
That would be the coolest thing if all of a sudden there started being fests
of just random older cinema. It’s like the actors and directors are getting
honored out of the fuckin’ blue and didn’t even what’s really going on.
THAT WOULD ROCK. IT WOULD MAKE A MUCH HAPPIER FILM NATION, I
BELIEVE.
Yeah, that would be cool. I liked what Harry said, he goes, “It’s really
kinda cool to go to a festival where it ain’t about distribution and the
goddamn filmmakers aren¹t even there.” It’s all about independent
appreciation.
What’s neat is that as time has gone on, I’ve done the festival and just
through the coarse of happenstance or something, I’ll bump into somebody
that was in one of the movies I’ve shown or is a director or was related to
one of the people and I get to tell them, “Hey, man!”
In fact it was cool, I was in a delicatessen, actually writing, I think, and
this woman comes up to me and said, (Southern fried accent) “Hello, Ah don’t
know yew, but I heard you lahke mah daddie. My dad¹s director Jack Starrett
and Ah heard you lahked some of his movies and ah just wanted to come say
hello to you. Ah¹m his daughter.” I go, “Oh! Jack Starrett! Yes! I really
like Jack Starrett,” and I told her the whole story about showing the Dion
Brothers here in Austin, how we have the awards and it won Best Picture, won
Best Director, Best Action Scene. Fredrick Forrest and Stacey Keach won Best
Actor in a team together. It was so cool. And we’re showing a Jack Starrett
movie on Saturday Night, he did Walking Tall: Final Chapter.
COOL! ONE OF OUR GROUP, JOHNNY WADD, HE BOUGHT A 16MM PRINT OF
DION BROTHERS
SHORTLY AFTER THE LAST FEST. WE GOT IT AND ARE SITTING IN HARRY’S
BACKYARD,
WATCHING IT. IT STARTS AND HE DOES HIS WHOLE, “I CAN’T TAKE THIS
ANYMORE!”
AND HE GOES, “I’M KIRK FREAKING DOUGLAS!” I’M LIKE, “NOOOOO!!!”
Nooooo! Oh yeah. Exactly. Yeah. See, that’s the perils of 16 collecting.
When all of a sudden the first ‘Freakin’” comes out you¹re like, “Oh!
Wah-wah.” The thing is that those are usually, like, the most gorgeous
prints because the show it on television, so everything looks like the
sunset. It’s all great, all right, then they screw it up with that... you
know... (giggles) “Kirk Freakin’ Douglas.” (laughs)
LET’S SEE... I DON¹T KNOW MUCH ABOUT WHATEVER PUBLIC THING WAS
GOING ON
BETWEEN YOU AND AVARY THAT HAPPENED. WHEN I MET HIM IN SAN
DIEGO... YOU
KNOW, I’VE BEEN BASICALLY HANGING OUT WITH YOU FOR A WEEK
EVERY YEAR FOR THE
LAST FOUR YEARS NOW AND I KNOW THAT YOU¹RE ONE OF US,
OGLE-GOGLE, YOU’RE
JUST A GEEK LIKE ALL OF US AND I MEET ROGER AND HE’S JUST A GEEK
LIKE ALL OF
US. SO, WHATEVER HAPPENED HAPPENED. HE SAID THAT HE’S
FORGOTTEN AND
FORGIVEN. I JUST WANTED TO KNOW IF THERE WAS ANY CHANCE OF YOU
TWO
COLLABORATING AGAIN SOMETIME SOON.
I don’t think there’s much chance in that, but I don’t have a public thing
going on with Roger. It’s more private. It’s like whatever I have with Roger
is just my own private feelings, all right. But I don’t have, like, a feud
going on with or anything like that and stuff. I don’t think I’ve ever said
anything bad about him... I don’t think I’ve ever actually said anything bad
about him ever in public. I’ve never talked bad about him in the press or
anything
SEE, I HAVE NO IDEA WHATEVER ANY OF THIS....
It’s just, that’s just...That’s just fanboy rumors and everything. Anything
between me and Roger is such ancient history.
SOMETHING THAT’S REALLY INTERESTING... IF YOU NOTICE, YOU WERE
TALKING ABOUT
TALKBACKS EARLIER, I’VE NOTICED YOU SEEM TO REALLY POLARIZE
PEOPLE. ON THE
ONE HAND, YOU HAVE PEOPLE SHOUTING, GOD AMONG DIRECTORS!” AND
YOU GOT
PEOPLE ON THE OTHER HAND SHOUTING, “HACK” WHY DO YOU THINK
YOU DO THIS TO
PEOPLE?
Well, OK. You’re also talking about the base that’s making those comments,
all right. That’s the movie geek fanboy base. As I was, like, talking about
it one of the nights, they’re like fuckin’ the biggest snobs in the world.
They’re completely the biggest snobs. I mean, reverse snobbery... when
you’re a reverse snob, you can be snobbier than the most aristocratic
asshole, all right, because you righteous indignation on your side, all
right.
That’s actually one thing that annoyed me about comic book geeks and horror
geeks and film geeks and everything... I hate it when different groups say
they don’t like another group, but then mirror those group’s most offensive
characteristics. You know what I mean? It’s like, at least have the... well,
no, if you’re going to go with your “I’m going with a horror film aesthetic,
that’s my aesthetic, all right,” then don’t be a snob like these assholes
over here. But there totally is that. It comes down to... the biggest snob
in the world is like a comic book geek about this that and the other. It’s
like, “Wait a minute!” I hate it when people’s opinions are like, “Oh, this
is great and this is piece of shit!”
Most of the comic book geeks that don’t like me, it’s like their point is
they don’t like me. And nothing to do with any of my films or anything like
that. It’s like, okay, there are those who are against and there are those
for. I always made a thing up that I think is kinda true, in terms of rock
‘n roll music popular culture. You’re either an Elvis person or a Beatles
person. I’m an Elvis person, but I don’t dislike the Beatles. I don’t have
to hate the Beatles because I’m an Elvis person. You know what, I don’t have
an affection for them, that just innately happens if you’re a Beatles
person. I can think Elvis has done wrong about this, that or the other, but
I just have this ingrown affection for him, but I don’t have to dislike the
Beatles in order to like Elvis. There are a lot of people where it’s like,
“If you like Spider-Man, you have to dislike blah-blah-blah” all right. Film
geeks, if you like Buster Keaton, you have to talk shit about Chaplin.
What it is is just talking shit about somebody in order to push your heroes
more power. I remember people used to say, because I’m a big Mario Bava fan,
they were like, “Ridley Scott ripped off Planet of the Vampires, man! He
just fuckin’ ripped it off for Alien. That whole design thing...” He didn’t
fuckin’ rip-off Planet of the Vampires! It’s kinda similar. If you like
Planet of the Vampires, you’re going to say that because it’s going to push
your movie, that nobody has ever heard of, more power. Ridley Scott didn’t
rip off any fuckin’ thing. I doubt he’s seen Planet of the Vampires! (laughs)
I question anybody, and this happens a lot, so if this is your criteria... I
question anybody who almost defines their aesthetic by what they don’t like.
Don’t tell me about what you don’t like, tell me about what you fuckin’
like! You’re already coming from a bad place.
SPEAKING OF ELVIS, WHAT WAS THE WHOLE DEAL WITH YOU ON THE
GERIATRIC WOMEN
SHOW WHERE YOU PLAYED AN ELVIS IMPERSONATOR?
Oh, that was... that was a job I got and I was happy to get it, on the
Golden Girls. They actually put it on two different episodes, so I actually,
back in the time where I had no money at all, I made a lot of money off of
that show. I made something like $1500 in the course of, like, a year and
half for the time where I was making $10,000 a year, so that was like a
windfall of cash. Every time I was on my ass, I’d all of a sudden get a $150
check or a $75 or a $50 check and I’d be all, “Ahhhhhh!!!!!!”
SOMETHING I WAS TALKING WITH MCQUARRIE A LOT ABOUT WAS LIKE,
MAN, USUAL
SUSPECTS... I CAN’T FATHOM WHAT IT WOULD BE LIKE TO WRITE THAT
MOVIE AND
HAVE THAT MOVIE THAT EVERYBODY IS JUST LIKE, “AHHHHH... WOW...
KEYSER SOZE...
AHHHHHH” AS I WAS PREPARING FOR OUR INTERVIEW, I WAS LIKE, “WAIT
A MINUTE!
PULP FICTION MADE IT ON AMERICAN FILM INSTITUTE¹S TOP 100 FILMS OF
ALL TIME.
NOT JUST WON SOME AWARD, BUT IT¹S CONSIDERED BY THE FILM
INDUSTRY TO BE ONE
OF THE TOP 100 OF ALL TIME. OUT OF THE BILLIONS OF FILMS THAT HAVE
BEEN
MADE... HOW WEIRD DOES IT FEEL, ESPECIALLY AS A FILM BUFF, TO
KNOW THAT YOUR
MOVIE, OUT OF THIS GIANT POOL OF FILMS, IS CONSIDERED ONE OF THE
CREME DE LA
CREMES?
It’s funny because when I first heard about it when it was all happening,
with the whole hoopla about the list and the TV special, they wanted me to
be on that special to just say a few things. I was like, “I don’t wanna talk
about it. If you wanna choose it, great. have somebody else talk about it.”
You know what I mean? Like who cares what I have to say about... I mean, I
don’t care what the fuck I have to say about something like this, I want to
hear what you have to say.
The thing is, it’s really easy and it’s actually a good perspective, to not
take it really that seriously... I mean, it’s still just a panel of people,
man. If most of them didn’t like the kind of stuff that I do, then it
wouldn’t be there. What about all these really cool movies that aren’t on
it? And you can even go the reverse and say, “But you know what? If my movie
wasn’t so damn new, it would be higher on that goddamn list! But it’s too
new...” You can go back and forth, you know. On one hand I can be saying
that it should be in the top 50, at least I would choose it in my personal
top 50, you know. (laughs) Just going by myself, all right... If somebody
else made it, it’d be there. But at the same time, it’s like Pulp Fiction
shouldn’t even be on that list. There’s 50 other movies that should be on
that list. It’s just personal taste, so it’s easier to go say that.
But after all that was over with, after all that over with.... (pause)
that’s kinda cool that it was on that list! It’s kinda cool that I’ve done
something that did that. That’s on there. All of a sudden, in the years
since that, I think that was, like, 2 years ago or something like that, a
couple different times I’ve just walked into random mom and pop video stores
and all of a sudden they just have this shelf that has the AFI 100 Films and
they have them in numbers... I’m just like, “Wow! Oh my God! This is like
really weird. This is like almost officially become this Library of Congress
kind of thing, in a weird way. At least as far as video stores are
concerned.
I’m serious. It was when I stared walking into random video stores and
seeing the AFI Top 100, like, sections given over to them. It was like,
“Wow, that’s kinda really cool. That’s neat.” That’s like being in the
coolest spot in the library or something like that. That’s kinda cool.
I GOT AN EMAIL FORWARDED TO ME FROM THIS HIGH SCHOOL KID IN
INDONESIA WHO
WAS READING HARRY’S WRITE-UPS ON THE QT FEST AND HE WANTED TO
PASS ON A
QUESTION TO YOU. HE’S WRITING A PAPER ON 2 BOOKS AND PULP
FICTION IN SOME
HIGH SCHOOL PAPER.
Cool!
HE WANTED TO KNOW THE REASON FOR JUXTAPOSING THE STORY LINES
IN PULP FICTION
AND WHAT YOU THINK THAT ADDED TO THE FILM?
Well, now, if he’s writing a piece on Pulp Fiction, he can’t ask me that
kind of question. He’s gotta tell me those kind of answers. It ain’t about
me giving him help, all right. It’s in the work. If you’re writing about it,
you dive into the work and find it. It’s like, you should be telling me.
ALL RIGHT. SO, THERE YOU GO, CHRIS FROM INDONESIA. LOOKING BACK
ON IT, WHAT
DO THINK IS YOUR FAVORITE SCENE IN PULP FICTION?
I don’t know... if you ask me at different times, I would have a different
answer for that every time. It’s probably the adrenaline shot sequence.
That’s the funniest scene to watch with an audience. To tell you the truth,
almost from the point where the date starts, you know, it starts with that
little piercing conversation and he’s over at Eric Stoltz’s house. From that
point to the end of that story, to the tomato joke, I think is as good as
I’ve ever done a movie. There’s a flow and a rhythm there. It’s what I’ve
always tried to do and I think that section completely worked for me in its
own seamless way. You can completely disagree with me, but for what I’m
trying to do, that was the perfect musical number.
THAT SCENE AND THE STUFF AT THE BEGINNING BETWEEN JULES AND
VINCE ARE MY
PERSONAL FAVORITE FOR THE SNAPPY DIALOGUE.
Yeah, those are all different things. That’s like I’m doing little rock
music things, or opera things, that’s like its own little symphony from the
start of that date to the end of it. Cinematic symphony.
ONE OF THE CONSTANTS IN ALL OF THE FILMS YOU’VE DONE SO FAR IS
YOU ALWAYS
HAVE A KICKASS SOUNDTRACK. THE MUSIC OBVIOUSLY PLAYS A BIG
PART IN YOUR
FILMS, HOW DO YOU ORCHESTRATE THAT? DO YOU WRITE KNOWING THE
SONGS ARE GOING
TO BE THERE?
A whole lot, a whole lot of the songs I know are going to be there even
before I’m writing. Some I’m finding while I’m writing. Then there’s a few
left over after the script’s over them I’m can move around until I find the
right one, or whatever. It’s like a ratio... that’s like only 20% of them
that I put in afterwards. It’s like 60% before I even wrote the script. That
helped me write the script was finding that song. There’s an aspect of just
finding a rhythm that the movie is supposed to play in. Just finding a
rhythm to the film, when I’m diving into my used records, that’s what I’m
doing.
JUST AS A SIDE NOTE, THERE WAS A SUMMER WHERE I HAD GOTTEN THE
RESERVOIR
DOGS SOUNDTRACK AND I HAD ONLY SEEN THE FILM ONCE ON VIDEO...
THAT SUMMER
WAS DOMINATED BY THAT SOUNDTRACK. EVERY TIME I’D HAVE A CD
PLAYER AVAILABLE
TO ME, I’D PUT IT ON. “I GOTCHA!” IS NOW ONE OF MY ALL TIME
FAVORITE SONGS.
Cool, cool. Excellent.
I NEVER HEAR IT PLAYED ANYWHERE, EITHER, SO...
Yeah, yeah. I actually love its use in the movie. That was actually going to
be a different song. That was actually going to be Grand Funk Railroad’s
version of Locomotion, but we couldn’t get the rights.
In fact, it was kinda funny because we got them from EMI, all right. They’re
the people that got us “Stuck in the Middle With You.” We had, like, 13 or
15 thousand dollars for our entire music budget and we were willing to pay
the entire music budget for “Stuck in the Middle With You,” all right, but
we gotta get them to give it to us for $15,000 a featured big song, featured
song in the movie, under this big violence scene, so we had to talk them
into it.
Basically, it was this woman named Pat Lucas who was the woman with the
power of the pen as far as EMI was concerned. We didn’t wine her and dine
her, but we, like, invited her out to the set, my music supervisor Karyn
Rachtman would talk to her. We had people that we knew Pat Lucas knew who
wrote letters to her that went, like, If you are inclined to do something
like this you should because Quentin could be another...” it was one gal,
Stacey Sher, later was a producer on... she’s one of the main gals, like
number 2 position, at Jersey Films. Two or three... 3rd position at Jersey
Films. She knew Pat Lucas and wrote her a letter saying, “I think Quentin
Tarantino could be a new Kubrick and this could be helping out Kubrick...” I
mean, it was like... it was a blowjob letter is what it was, all right
(laughs) but it was like, This would be like helping Kubrick out on The
Killing, then you would have a relationship with him. So, if you’re inclined
to do it, this might be the one to do it on.”
So, she let us do it. Then later we had another meeting and she was like,
“So, any other songs EMI has, maybe we can help you out with those, too and
get them for you.” I go, “Great! Actually, you know what? You guys have
Carole King’s songbook, don’t you? We would like to maybe have Grand Funk
Railroad¹s version of Locomotion” She said, “Oh! Well, I’m friends with
Carole! That’ll be no problem, just as long as it’s not like that other one,
just as long as there is no violence as the scene is being played.” I go,
“Well, it’s not violence like that. Well, like a cop is getting beat up.
Would she consider that violence?” (laughs). She’s, “Yeah, I think she would
consider that violent.” I go, “But it’s not like that other scene. It’s so
much easier than that other scene.”
THIS QUESTION COMES STRAIGHT FROM MOUTH, ONE OF THE WORLD’S
BIGGEST TRUE
ROMANCE FANS. HE WANTED TO KNOW THE STORY. HE TOLD ME OVER
THE PHONE, “MAN,
I THINK TRUE ROMANCE IS QUENTIN’S BEST SCRIPT! YOU GOTTA ASK HIM
ABOUT
IT!!!” SO....
Well, you gotta ask me a more specific question than just tell me about it!
(laughs)
OK... HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE MOVIE?
I love the movie! I think Tony Scott did a great job with it. He did a great
job.
SO YOU¹RE HAPPY WITH WHAT THEY DID. THIS WASN’T A NATURAL BORN
KILLERS.
No, no. Not at all. Actually, if it wasn¹t for Natural Born Killers I would
have gotten away scot clean in Hollywood, by never having a bad experience.
That was my only trip. If it wasn’t for Natural Born Killers, I have nothing
but great stories to tell about my experience with the film industry. Even
that one isn’t such a bad story now.
YEAH, WHEN YOU’VE GOTTEN SOME DISTANCE FROM IT...
It’s one of those things where it’s become, when you become pragmatic about
it, it’s become what it’s become. My script original script for Natural Born
Killers has been published. My script, not that Oliver Stone stuff, has been
published in England for like 2 years now and it’s coming out in American in
September. You’ve always been able to get it in England, but now it’s coming
out in an American edition
So, his movie is his movie and that has become that. My script is out there.
So, it’s just like 2 independent entities. It’s more like I’m a novelist who
doesn’t like the movie version of his novel, thinks it’s trite, all right.
IT’S KINDA OF A STEPHEN KING-SHINING THING GOING ON THERE.
Yeah, exactly. It’s OK. His movie is out there. If you liked his movie, go
ahead. My book’s out there. If you like my book, more power to you.
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