Quentin Tarantino admits he’s still “pissed off” about ‘Once Upon A Time in Hollywood’ Oscars snub
Director Quentin Tarantino has admitted he’s still “pissed off” after Once Upon A Time in Hollywood failed to win one particular major award at the Oscars.
The 2019 movie was nominated in ten categories at the Academy Awards, including in major fields such as ‘Best Picture’, ‘Best Director’, ‘Best Actor’ for Leonardo DiCaprio, and ‘Best Original Screenplay’ for Tarantino.
However, it was only victorious in two categories. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood was awarded ‘Best Production Design’ and Brad Pitt was also named ‘Best Supporting Actor’ for his performance as Cliff Booth.
In an excerpt of Jay Glennie’s new book, The Making of Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Tarantino said (via The Times): “Look, I am pissed, even now. The one that I am pissed off about losing out on is screenplay.”
Instead, the ‘Best Original Screenplay’ went to Bong Joon-ho and Han Jin-won for Parasite, which swept up at the ceremony. Tarantino has previously won the honour on two occasions, first in 1995 for Pulp Fiction, then again in 2013 for Django Unchained.
He continued, “I deserved to win the best screenplay Oscar … winning my third original screenplay Oscar would have tied me with Woody Allen. It would’ve been nice.”
In the same excerpt, Tarantino also gave his opinion on the lifespan of Hollywood stars, which he believes only typically lasts for ten years at the top, saying, “A good career is ten years … ten years where you are the girl, or you are the guy. You have your time. With some people it is at the beginning in their twenties and by the time they are 35 or 36 it is over.”
The director said this was due to “a combination of different things”, sharing, “Sometimes the roles dry up and now they’re the second lead or the bad guy. It is not even bad luck. It can be that at a certain time new people come around and fashions change … that’s the business.”
He then listed off a variety of exceptions to the rule, such as Bette Davis, Jimmy Stewart, Harrison Ford, and Tom Hanks. Tarantino also labelled DiCaprio as a “rare breed” who had managed to achieve extreme longevity.
Meanwhile, last month, Tarantino confirmed his next project would be a West End play, stating on The Church of Tarantino podcast, “The play is all written, it is absolutely the next thing that I’m going to [do] and we will start the ball rolling on it in January.”
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