Quentin Tarantino doesn’t need a new movie to stir the pot; the podcast mic is more than enough. On a recent appearance on the Bret Easton Ellis podcast, where he began unveiling his top films of the 21st century and placed “Battle Royale” at number 11, he used the countdown to take a flamethrower to “The Hunger Games.”
He said he simply can’t believe the original author didn’t drag the YA juggernaut into court. As he puts it, “I do not understand how the Japanese writer didn’t sue Suzanne Collins for every fucking thing she owns. They just ripped off the fucking book!”
Tarantino then turned his fire on the literary establishment, accusing them of helping the franchise skate by. He argued that critics never bothered to look toward Japan in the first place, saying, “Stupid book critics are not going to go watch a Japanese movie called ‘Battle Royale,’ so the stupid book critics never called her out on it. They talked about how it was the most original thing they’d ever f*cking read.”
QT claimed film critics, at least, caught up once Gary Ross’ adaptation hit theaters. Remembering the reaction to the first movie, he recalled, “As soon as the film critics saw the film, they said, ‘What the f*ck! This is just “Battle Royale” except PG!’”
Tarantino also used the podcast to retell his own first encounter with “Battle Royale,” which he has called one of his favorite films of the century. He said he walked into an early Japanese screening with no idea what was coming: “I had no idea what the f*ck I was about to see. And holy f*cking shit! I don’t even know what I saw. It was so wild…”
The filmmaker remembered carrying that secret back to the U.S. festival circuit and savoring the moment before American audiences saw it. “They were going to be showing ‘Battle Royale’ at midnight. Nobody had seen this in America yet,” he said. “I knew what they were going to see. This is going to deliver more than they even know! They are not prepared for how this is going to deliver. To have that knowledge was power.”
By the end of the episode, what started as a neat cinephile list has turned into a mini-relitigation trial of Suzanne Collins and the “Hunger Games” machine. But given how much Tarantino has adored “Battle Royale,” can we really be surprised he’s this protective of a piece of cinema he finds so beloved? Let’s hope part two is just as spicy.
