Pulp Fiction director Quentin Tarantino attends Jerusalem screening
Tarantino attended the screening of the documentary, QT8: The First Eight by Tara Wood.
By HANNAH BROWNQuentin Tarantino at the Jerusalem Cinemateque on December 14, 2019.(photo credit: SHAUL WEINSTEIN)
Sounding like any American married to an Israeli who was eager to show off his Hebrew, Quentin Tarantino, the director of such classic films as Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs, addressed the audience at the Jerusalem Cinematheque on Saturday night at a screening of a documentary about his work with the words, “Shalom! Mah nishmah? [How are you?]”Dressed appropriately casually for the Israeli crowd in a denim shirt, Tarantino was accompanied by his pregnant wife, singer/model Daniella Pick, who was a bit dressier in a tailored black outfit.Quentin Tarantino at the Jerusalem Cinemateque on December 14, 2019. (Shaul Weinstein)Introduced to the crowd by the CEO of the Jerusalem Cinematheque, Dr. Noa Regev, Tarantino said a few words about the documentary, QT8: The First Eight by Tara Wood, a look at his first eight films (plus his segment of the anthology film, Grindhouse).“Tara Wood did a good job... [the film] is very flattering to me... Naturally, I’m kind of a sucker for the film.”Wood never interviewed him, “But I thought that was cool.” He said that she had financed the film and “put her whole heart and soul in it.”The title refers to the fact that Tarantino has said that he will make only 10 films and then will retire to spend time with his family and to write.Noting that he had seen the documentary previously but never in front of an audience, Tarantino, who was the guest of honor at the 2016 Jerusalem Film Festival, said that when he first saw the film, “My face was crimson,” pronouncing the words in a German accent that sounded like Col. Hans Landa, the Nazi villain at the heart of his film, Inglourious Basterds. This was particularly appropriate because Christoph Waltz, the Austrian actor whom Tarantino plucked from European television to star in this film – and who has won two Oscars appearing in Tarantino’s movies – was one of the main interviewees in the documentary.The film featured interviews with many of Tarantino’s cast and crew and film clips from all his movies, up until his most recent film, Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood, a look at Hollywood in the summer of the Charles Manson killings, which was released last summer.QT8: The First Eight is a careful and affectionate look at all of Tarantino’s work, starting with the early films, such as True Romance, for which he wrote the screenplay but didn’t direct. It examines his extraordinary storytelling gift, as well as his talent for dialogue, his unique visual style, his penchant for strange, quirky violence and his love of genre films.
The film doesn’t shy away from some controversies surrounding his career, notably his friendship with Harvey Weinstein, who produced all of Tarantino’s films up until Once Upon a Time ... , and who has since been accused of rape and sexual harassment by dozens of actresses. It also looks into Tarantino’s decision to have Uma Thurman do a driving stunt in Kill Bill that she did not want to do, and which resulted in an accident in which she suffered permanent neck damage.Jamie Foxx, who starred in Django Unchained, Tarantino’s politically incorrect slavery drama, spoke about how he was fine with the use of the “N-word” in the film and said that he felt that “political correctness can choke art.”The actor Robert Forster, who passed away recently, recalled how Tarantino insisted that he star in the movie Jackie Brown in spite of the fact that he wasn’t a big name, which revived his career. Other interviewees included actors Samuel L. Jackson, who will always be remembered for his unforgettable performance as the Bible-quoting hitman in Pulp Fiction, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Zoe Bell and Eli Roth, an actor/director who played the menacing “Jewish Bear” assassin in Inglourious Basterds.It was while promoting that film that Tarantino met Pick, the daughter of iconic Israeli singer, Svika Pick. The couple have reportedly rented a house in Tel Aviv and are said to be planning to move here after the birth of their first child. She had a cameo in his latest film, Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood, as an Italian actress.When Regev presented Tarantino with a Hebrew poster for Reservoir Dogs, the director asked, if it was “legit,” meaning an actual poster from the 1992 film, or whether it was a blown-up video illustration. Regev admitted it might not be totally legit, but Tarantino thanked her graciously.“That’ll go up in our house in Tel Aviv,” he said, before sitting down with Pick to watch the documentary.QT8: The First Eight will be screened at the cinematheques in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Holon throughout the month.
