Quentin Tarantino says ‘Death Proof’ box office performance was a “shock to my confidence”
Director Quentin Tarantino has revealed that the poor performance of 2007’s Death Proof at the box office was a “shock to my confidence”.
Tarantino made the admission during a press stop in Spain supporting his 2022 book, Cinema Speculation. Looking back on Death Proof, he said it “didn’t do well at the box office”. The thriller stars Kurt Russell as the murderous stuntman Mike McKay, who kills young women with modified cars. The movie was originally released as part of Grindhouse, the double feature including Robert Rodriguez’s Planet Terror.
“I have been lucky enough to write stories that have connected with many people, and this has allowed me to practice my art without the restrictions that most filmmakers have,” Tarantino reflected in Spain’s Diari ARA.
He continued: “Now, a funny thing happened: for a while, I was getting a lot of project proposals, until the studios ended up assuming that I do my stories and it wasn’t worth the effort. But after Death Proof, which didn’t do well at the box office and was a bit of a shock to my confidence, I started getting proposals again.”
“They must have thought, ‘Perhaps now he’s touched, and his temper has gone down, now is the time,'” the director said. “And there’s nothing wrong with making commissioned movies for Hollywood. They always offered me interesting projects. But I preferred to reinvest in myself and made Inglourious Basterds.“
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