Quentin Tarantino names the modern rom-com that made him cry
Guts, gore, guns, and violence typify the movies of Quentin Tarantino, with the filmmaker carving out a niche for himself that has made him one of the most successful directors of the 21st century. Working with the likes of Bruce Willis, John Travolta, Jamie Foxx, Leonardo DiCaprio, Margot Robbie and Brad Pitt, Tarantino has created a trim selection of some of the most stylish movies ever made.
So well known for his violent flicks that he finds himself defending his love for gore almost every time he releases a movie; Tarantino once explained the joy of cinematic violence. Speaking specifically about 2003’s Kill Bill, he stated: “It empowers girls [because of] the fact that Uma Thurman is a female warrior. She is a female avenger. Revenge is one of the classic staples in drama. This is about women, they’re not about cute girls going ‘hehehe’ with their butts and their T-shirts [stopping] below their belly buttons, asking permission to kick ass. These girls just kick ass, they are warriors”.
As a result of his notorious tastes, Tarantino is rarely associated with the more softly-spoken genres of cinema, such as sensitive character dramas or beloved romantic comedies, yet, as a lover of all things film, this isn’t to say that the director doesn’t like such genres.
Speaking in an interview with Stephen Colbert, Tarantino exclaimed his love for the humble rom-com, calling the genre a surprising “guilty pleasure of mine…especially on aeroplanes”.
Continuing, he exclaimed: “Kate Hudson is the queen of the skies, as far as I’m concerned. But there’s something about watching a rom-com on an aeroplane flight that I think there is something to the fact that, I think you become more emotional when you’re, like, three miles high in the air. I have found myself crying, literally weeping at like embarrassing confession movies”.
Picking out one especially memorable flight, he added: “For instance, I was coming back on a flight, and I watched that movie with Matthew McConaughey and Jennifer Garner, Ghosts of Girlfriends Past. In that movie, he’s like, this sexy fashion photographer, has a ton of girlfriends, he’s a real jerk”. The director then details how McConaughey’s character is reunited with Garner’s after having known each other in their youth.
“Then it goes to a flashback,” he continues, “When they knew each other, when they were children, and they’re on a swing, and it’s snowing and at a park. She gives him a birthday gift and he opens it up, and it’s a camera, and it actually is like the exact kind of the first camera I was ever given when I was a little kid, and all of a sudden, I just start crying”.
Released in 2009, Ghosts of Girlfriends Past tells the story of a man who is visited by the ghosts of his former girlfriends while at his brother’s wedding. Starring McConaughey and Garner, it also features a supporting cast that includes Michael Douglas, Emma Stone and Lacey Chabert.
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