The director Quentin Tarantino called “the greatest satirist”
As one of Hollywood’s finest auteurs, Quentin Tarantino has shaped an exemplary, unparalleled career over the past three decades. Renowned for a distinctive scriptwriting style, knack for dark comedy, and consummate directional command, Tarantino has consistently delivered captivating stories through a deeply characteristic lens.
While Tarantino’s approach is undeniably original, he acknowledges the influences of revered directors on whose shoulders he proudly stands. Born in 1963, Tarantino had the privilege of growing up during the early rise of legendary filmmakers such as Stanley Kubrick, Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, and Steven Spielberg. These cinematic luminaries played a vital role in shaping Tarantino’s artistic sensibilities; taking his favoured aspects of each hero, he’s fought his way to the top.
Among Tarantino’s many cherished idols in the business is Brian De Palma, the American director responsible for such classics as The Untouchables, Scarface, Mission: Impossible and Carlito’s Way. As it transpires, Tarantino absorbed crucial rays of dark satire from De Palma’s gritty dramas.
“De Palma was a big influence to me,” Tarantino beamed while discussing his favourite directors. “And one of the things about De Palma that people never talked about: I think De Palma is probably the greatest satirist of the last 20 years in cinema. His films are hysterical, biting black comedies. I mean, you know, no one has his wit. His wit is just fantastic, even though he never makes official comedies.”
Continuing, Tarantino remembered how his religious devotion to cinema led to a healthy obsession. “I would just obsess about his stuff the way a big fan would obsess about either a movie star or a baseball star when his movies would come out,” he revealed.
Adding: “I’d be counting down the days, like the first show of this movie, and I would collect all the reviews and all the interviews and put them in these De Palma scrapbooks and stuff that I had set up. And then I would go see a movie of his – Scarface, or something would open, and I would go see the first show, first day”.
“No one could go with me,” he continued. “I didn’t want anyone else to ruin… I was too… it was like a religious experience, and I don’t care what anyone thought. I just sit there and watch the movie. And that’s kind of taking it in and seeing what the story was. Then I would go see the midnight show that night, and then I’d kind of like somebody to see it with me. Then I could really watch; I’ve got the story, I got the film, now let’s see how he did it.”
Sadly, Tarantino still plans to hang up the director’s chair after his forthcoming tenth movie, The Movie Critic. During a 2022 interview with CNN, Tarantino revealed why he intends to stop at the ten-movie mark. “Well, I’ve been doing it for a long time,” he said. “I’ve been doing it for 30 years, and it’s, it’s time to wrap up the show.”
“Like I said, I’m an entertainer,” he continued. “I want to leave you wanting more, you know, and not just work, and I don’t want to work to diminishing returns. I don’t want to be… one, I don’t want to become this old man who’s out of touch when already I’m feeling a bit like an old man out of touch when it comes to the current movies that are out right now. And that’s what happens.”
Undoubtedly, there are scores of aspiring filmmakers out there now, obsessing over Tarantino’s filmography and awaiting their turn under the spotlight.
Watch the trailer for Brian De Palma’s 1983 movie Scarface below.
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