The director who called Quentin Tarantino a “pussycat with a machine gun”
Quentin Tarantino and violence go hand in hand. While he is famed for his scenes of elongated dialogue and mastery surrounding revealing critical details about characters without exhausting the audience with exposition, he is also famous for exploding heads, gushing blood and some of the most graphic, aggressive scenes on the planet.
Tarantino has consistently advocated for violence in movies, claiming that it’s fun and entertaining and that any comments about how it should be banned from cinema are nonsensical. Every film he has made has some scenes that will shock audiences into silence, as they are blown away by the sheer level of violence that Tarantino is able to get away with.
The first time people watched Inglorious Bastards, they held their breath in their mouths when they saw the bastards scalping Nazis in horrendous detail. Add to that the fact that Adolf Hitler is shot towards the end of that movie so much that his face is chopped up and cannot be recognised anymore.
Equally, at the end of his most recent movie, Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, the perpetrators behind those who murdered Sharon Tate come to a grizzly end. They are mauled by a dog, beaten senseless and set on fire; it becomes impossible not to wince at the sheer level of aggression which has been shown on screen.
Because of the violence that floods his films, some people think that Tarantino might be a violent man. Paired with some of the more questionable scenes in his movie that glorify certain fetishes, many people have a perception of the director that isn’t necessarily fair.
Alexandre Rockwell once made this perception clear, as they said in a conversation that they didn’t want Quentin Tarantino anywhere near their film set on a hypothetical movie they would make together. Whether this is because of a preconception of Tarantino or because they didn’t want any interference in the filmmaking process, they had to be convinced that he would be fine.
“You introduced me to Sam Fuller, and we were talking about doing this film where you do a segment, and I do a segment,” recalled Tarantino in conversation with Alexandre Rockwell as they shared movie-making tips and recalled stories. “You said, ‘I don’t want Quentin on my set’. Sam Fuller said, ‘He’ll be okay on your set. He won’t say anything. He’s a pussycat…a pussycat with a machine gun!’”
Despite the violence in his films, most people who have worked with Tarantino attest that he is a joy. Rockwell already likely knew this and probably wanted him away from their set because they knew he wouldn’t stop talking about his love of cinema and interjecting with ideas. Tarantino remains passion personified, or as Sam Fuller puts it, a pussycat with a machine gun.
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