Oliver Stone claimed Quentin Tarantino ruined ‘Natural Born Killers’
Oliver Stone has conducted widely differing experiments throughout his career, ranging from popular films such as Platoon to the cult classic Natural Born Killers. When it comes to the latter, Stone has maintained a grudge about its critical reception because he felt that Quentin Tarantino deliberately ruined the film’s reputation.
The innovative 1994 crime drama is an intriguing and unique exploration of American society and its dangerous relationship with violence. It stars Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis as a pair of co-dependent lovers who embark on a cross-country murder spree while attempting to escape the trauma caused by their abusive parents.
According to Stone, Natural Born Killers was an attempt to conduct a radical reconceptualisation of the road movie genre by trying to analyse the narrative through the lenses used by contemporary media institutions. The satirical gem has garnered praise from fans in the years that have followed, but when it was first released, critics dismissed it as a failed project.
During a conversation with MovieMaker magazine, Stone claimed that Quentin Tarantino was a major reason why Natural Born Killers became a critical failure. Although Tarantino is credited with the idea for the story, he attempted to publish his original screenplay even though he had forfeited all publishing rights.
While talking about the reception, Stone blamed Tarantino’s involvement: “All over the world — everywhere we went — we were hurt by the critics with him saying we had rewritten the script. He hadn’t even seen the movie, but he was commenting on me, saying stuff about my films. It was just outrageous.”
In later years, Stone became more stoic about the feud: “I don’t think it’s right in our filmmaking culture for filmmakers to trash other filmmakers. I think it’s wrong. We take so much s**t from press, so much, especially if you’re established, that it’s, it’s mean-spirited… I never went out with a hatchet for the director, because I understand the nature of the medium, which is that it is the director’s call. So, you know, these things come full circle.”
Over the years, Tarantino has expressed his hatred for a lot of films (including his recent outburst about Bill Murray’s movies). However, he hates Natural Born Killers with a special intensity. He once said: “I hated that fucking movie. If you like my stuff, don’t watch that movie.” In addition, he still insists that he hates the film so much that he has never watched it in its entirety.
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