The author Quentin Tarantino called “the biggest influence on my life”
It’s well known that Quentin Tarantino has been greatly influenced by a series of acclaimed filmmakers when it comes to his creative vision and outlook. It’s hard to look beyond his one true cinematic love, Sergio Leone, and the kind of expansive westerns that inspired so many of his movies, most notably Django Unchained.
Elsewhere, we can see the crime-based works of the likes of Brian De Palma and Abel Ferrara playing their respective hands in Tarantino’s movies Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction. In terms of Asian cinema, which Tarantino is a big fan of, we can spot the impact that Hong Kong action movies and even the films of Takeshi Miike have had on the Hollywood icon.
While Tarantino’s cinematic influences are well known, it appears that he harbours a love for literature, too. In a feature with The Telegraph, the director highlighted his passion for the writer Elmore Leonard, the American novelist and short story writer who had begun writing in the western genre but eventually went on to publish crime and thriller works.
“He was probably the biggest influence on my life: I have been reading Leonard since I was 14 and got caught stealing his novel The Switch from K-Mart,” Tarantino said. “I got in huge trouble. I was grounded all summer long. But I was so pissed off that I didn’t manage to get the book that two days later, I went back and stole it proper.”
Leonard became a master of crime fiction, which is likely why Tarantino found such a kinship with the writer at a young age. Known for his works Get Shorty, Out of Sight, Swag and Hombre, Leonard carved out a career for himself as one of the most significant names in the world of thriller literature, and Tarantino even adapted his novel Rum Punch into Jackie Brown.
The New Orleans-born writer’s penchant for sharp and witty dialogue, narratives with countless twists and manoeuvres and characters in the throes of moral dilemma was snapped up in all its glory by Tarantino, and it played a crucial role in his own development as an artist, with the two icons of their respective fields sharing an eternal creative kinship.
There’s also a deep sense of black humour that runs through Leonard’s works that we can also find in abundance in Tarantino’s, and the energy that runs through their films and novels alike has been vital in some of the best crime narratives of all time.
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