Quentin Tarantino says Netflix films “don’t exist in the zeitgeist”
The films of Quentin Tarantino are always a feast for the eyes and have been ever since his debut movie Reservoir Dogs was released back in 1992. In a new interview, Tarantino explained why his movies are made for the cinema and are not suitable for release streaming services.
“I mean, what even is a motion picture anyway anymore? Is it just something that they show on Apple? That would be diminishing returns,” the director told Deadline. “Well, I’ve always thought that. And they eventually get to television. I saw a lot of them that way.”
“I’m probably going to be doing the movie [The Movie Critic] with Sony because they’re the last game in town that is just absolutely, utterly, committed to the theatrical experience,” he added. “It’s not about feeding their streaming network. They are committed to theatrical experience.”
It looks as though Tarantino is in great admiration of Sony’s approach to releasing films because of how they prioritise the cinematic experience and not just the overall revenue, including streaming sales.
“They judge success by asses on seats,” he noted. “And they judge success by the movies entering the zeitgeist, not just making a big expensive movie and then putting it on your streaming platform. No one even knows it’s there.”
Tarantino then pointed out the money that Ryan Reynolds seems to be making off Netflix’s movies, even though he hasn’t actually heard of them. “I mean, and I’m not picking on anybody, but apparently for Netflix, Ryan Reynolds has made $50 million on this movie and $50 million on that movie and $50 million on the next movie for them,” he said. “I don’t know what any of those movies are. I’ve never seen them.
“I haven’t ever talked to Ryan Reynolds’ agent, but his agent is like, ‘Well, it cost $50 million,'” Tarantino went on. “Well, good for him that he’s making so much money. But those movies don’t exist in the zeitgeist. It’s almost like they don’t even exist.”
In the same interview with Deadline, Tarantino explained why he won’t cast a British actor in the lead role of The Movie Critic. He remarked: “I think when people look back on this era of cinema, and it’s just all these British actors pretending to be Americans and all these Australian actors pretending to be Americans, it’s like phantoms. Nobody is acting in their own voice. We just happen to be in an era of really, really good British actors who, for the most part, can pull it off.
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