Quentin Tarantino punishes on-set sleepers with a giant dildo
When it comes to on-set behaviour, Quentin Tarantino is meant to be about as strict as directors can be. He allows no phones on his sets, and all crew and cast members are required to hand them in at what Brad Pitt once termed “Checkpoint Charlie”. But even aside from that, Tarantino seems to go to great, erm, phallic lengths to punish those who act up during production.
When appearing on late-night television with Conan O’Brien, one of Tarantino’s frequent collaborators, Uma Thurman, was asked about Tarantino’s methods for controlling his cast and crew on-set. O’Brien noted the peculiar way that the iconic director gets “revenge” on those who fall asleep while they are meant to be working or paying attention.
Thurman noted: “He had a weapon of choice. There was a large dildo, and we’re talking something like this [holds her arm out]. I don’t know who this is made for. An elephant rapist would use this thing.” Even knowing what we know about Tarantino’s penchant for excess, this tool just sounds beyond measure.
“So this elephant rapist tool, or elephant inseminator, whatever it was,” Thurman continued, “Whenever snores would be found in various corners of the set, it would be brought out like Jaws, and then sort of presenting is some ungodly horrific angle next to the face of the offending sleeper.”
Thurman herself has been known to have had some issues with Tarantino’s methods on-set, so it’s understandable that she would then say, “I was quite troubled by it. I found it quite unkind. There would be photographs taken, and there was a wall of shame. I attempted to kidnap this wall on several occasions, but it was kept under lock and key.”
Tarantino had confessed to using the “elephant inseminator” in his own interview with Conan. When asked simply what Tarantino does to on-set sleepers, he, in his typical roundabout Tarantino fashion, replied, “To put it the exact way, it always bugged me when you shoot at night and see a crew member or an actor sleeping. So I came up with something where it wouldn’t bug me, and if it did happen, I’m now happy about it.”
“I introduced a new crew member to the set around Jackie Brown, called Big Jerry,” he continued. “Big Jerry is a big purple dildo that’s about this long [again, indicate enormous size]. It’s the second biggest dildo in the store. If somebody has fallen asleep, we come in with Big Jerry, as close to the mouth as humanly possible.” The way Tarantino describes the Big Jerry punishment/prank with sheer enthusiasm just shows the big kid that he really is, laughing at dildos and getting his revenge.
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