Similar to folks like Christopher Nolan, Martin Scorsese, and Steven Spielberg, Quentin Tarantino is a long-time advocate for the theatrical experience and all that entails. Needless to say, it’s highly unlikely that you’ll ever see Tarantino create a film that can only be viewed on TV screens, tablets, or laptops. And apparently, if you even suggest that he release a project on a smartphone, he’s going to just walk out of the meeting.
While speaking to the Wall Street Journal, the CEO of NBCUniversal, Jeff Shell, explained that one meeting with Tarantino went very, very badly because of a suggestion that he release a film on iPhones.
According to Shell, when he was the head of Universal film studio, he had a meeting with Quentin Tarantino about the film, “The Hateful Eight.” At the time, Tarantino said that he wanted to release the film on 70mm film, which would require a special projector to be used at only select theaters. At that point, Shell replied with, “What if we released it on iPhones?”
Apparently, Tarantino responded with a simple, “Great,” and walked out of the meeting.
As we know now, the filmmaker would eventually work out a deal with The Weinstein Company to distribute his film and he was able to secure some limited 70mm screenings of the feature. Of course, now, if you wanted, you could view Tarantino’s film on your iPhone, thanks to Netflix, which also features a new cut of the film, broken up into four parts. So, Shell’s idea wasn’t completely without merit, just not exactly what Tarantino was looking for.
This brings to mind the recent issues that Martin Scorsese experienced with Netflix where he wanted “The Irishman” to have a theatrical run. He also spoke out about how he didn’t want people to view his film on phones because of the incredibly small screen. It’s clear that Tarantino very much agrees with Scorsese on this point.
As mentioned, if you want to view “The Hateful Eight” on your iPhone, you can now thanks to Netflix. But just know, Tarantino is probably judging you.
