With Quentin Tarantino‘s "Django Unchained" coming in at the wire — Showbiz 411 reports that the sound is pretty much getting done as we speak — and getting ready to screen for critics this weekend, he’ll shortly be doing the rounds with press. He’s already starting things off in a big way by taking part in THR‘s usually solid roundtable conversation series, and as usual, he remarks are highly quotable.
Among the many memorable moments, Tarantino was quite candid about the film that he believes is at the bottom of his body of work. Once again stating he wants to leave the game with a solid filmography, right now he knows which movie doesn’t make the grade. "I’m really well versed on a lot of directors’ careers, you know, and when you look at those last five films when they were past it, when they were too old, and they’re really out of touch with the times, whether it be William Wyler and ‘The Liberation of L.B. Jones‘ or Billy Wilder with ‘Fedora‘ and then ‘Buddy Buddy‘ or whatever the hell. To me, it’s all about my filmography, and I want to go out with a terrific filmography," he said. "[2007’s] ‘Death Proof’ has got to be the worst movie I ever make. And for a left-handed movie, that wasn’t so bad, all right? — so if that’s the worst I ever get, I’m good. But I do think one of those out-of-touch, old, limp, flaccid-dick movies costs you three good movies as far as your rating is concerned."
So once he walks away from the game, what will he do? He wants to write novels and film criticism, and he reveals he already has stuff he’s working on about filmmakers Sergio Corbucci (director of the original "Django"), George Roy Hill ("Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid," "The Sting") and Don Siegel (check out our Essentials feature right here). Certainly, next to Martin Scorsese, Tarantino might be the most interesting and passionate person to talk about the film, so we’re definitely eager to see what he pulls together.
Other highlights from this interview? Tarantino talks about "Kill Bill" briefly — a picture he says was the only one where he was able to include everything from the "novel"-like scripts — and says if he’d ever make a "big epic" again it would probably be a six-hour mini-series. His comments on film vs. digital are nearly scathing too. He says digital is part of the reason he wants to retire, and it’s "not what I signed up for." The filmmaker clearly loathes digital projection, calls it "television in public" and says because of DP, "it’s over."
Check out a clip followed by the full roundtable chat below with Gus Van Sant, Ang Lee, Ben Affleck, Tom Hoooper and David O. Russell.