2 Bears, 1 Cave with Tom Segura & Bert Kreischer - Ep. 160 | 2 Bears 1 Cave w/ Tom Segura & Quentin Tarantino

Episode Date: November 21, 2022

Bert Kreischer is still recovering from his heart surgeries so Tom Segura asked Quentin Tarantino to step in as a guest bear! Go check out Quentin’s new book “Cinema Speculation” and his podcast “The Video Archives!” Quentin discusses his new book, the journey of green lighting Pulp Fiction as well as the decisions made for casting. Tom asks Quentin about accents in Inglorious Bastards, Michael Parks in Kill Bill, and the “Top Gun is Gay” monologue. They discuss forced diversity casting in films, Quentin’s opinion on Alfred Hitchcock movies, and Quentin’s plan for his last film. Quentin talks about writing for TV, Tom reveals Quentin inspired him to film his own projects, Leonardo DiCaprio, and they share their thoughts on all the Marvel movies. They discuss stories about Don Rickles, Robert De Niro, and then Quentin roasts Tom.https://tomsegura.com/tourhttps://www.bertbertbert.com/tourhttps://store.ymhstudios.com/

I have written a TV show. I've written eight episodes. All right, of a limited series. This is breaking news. Yeah, it is breaking news. Holy shit. You just put the failure agents are jerking off right now in the other room. They're like, he does?

Yeah. 100% A-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a- Well, you guys know he's had a quintuple bypass. He had his kidney transplant. I know he just got his, what's it they called? When you're amputated, you get the prosthetics. They're fit in for him now. So, Bert, I hope all that is going well. Sitting in Forbert today is our good buddy, Quentin Tarantino.

Oh, thank you. Thank you. You're sitting in for Bert, man. You mean the Hitler guy? The Hitler guy. Yeah, exactly. I'm setting in his seat. You're sitting there.

His ass print is like molding. Yeah, that might be a little bigger than that. I think it's much bigger than yours. Real, also, I want to point out you have a new book out, cinema speculation. Right on all. I told you I have begun the audio book. I think I might switch.

Yeah, I just got your stock run way down when you said that. So it wasn't the really best way to say it. Sorry. Sorry. Just wanted to let you know that I was actually consuming the material. I appreciate it. You know, you like movies so much.

You make me feel like I maybe don't like movies. That's like, I always thought I like movies. Then't like movies. I only saw it, I like movies, then I hear you talk and I'm like, what the fuck, man? But you were exposed to like such, I mean, this book is like a dive into your, you know, your how you, how I grew up, grew up, because everybody, I think fans of you, of movies in general, kind of knew the story of Quentin worked in a video store. Yeah, yeah. And he really likes movies. And then we, and I've seen you in interviews, sight, you know, refer to other movies from the past,

like it was clear that you were a real fan. I've seen a fan, yeah. I've seen a file. But this gets you in from like the beginning, like how you, as a kid, you were being taken by your mother and going movies all the time. Well, it was interesting, because when I first came up with the idea

to write the book, the idea was more or less just a book of film analysis. So I would pick my idea, I thought, was like I'd pick a few films, and then I would write about them. And that was just kind of more or less the idea. I wasn't expecting it to be quite as autobiographical as it became, but I figured it would be autobiographical to some degree. Because if you're writing about movies personally, then you end up telling about yourself in it.

I mean, one of my favorite critics is Pauline Kale and they asked her, which he ever write her autobiography. She goes, no, I've written my autobiography in every one of my reviews. It's just kind of spread out. Oh, interesting. So I kind of figured that would be the case, but then I ended up writing the first chapter. And I think that was my attempt to try to write

an introduction to the book, and which details, you know, me in 69, 70, 71, being taken to a bunch of these new Hollywood films by my parents when, you know, I was seven, eight, and nine. And when I finished that chapter, it was like, I was aware enough of, okay, well, that's a pretty good chapter. All right. That's not an introduction. That's, that's chapter one.

Yeah. And then once I wrote that chapter, I realized, okay, this is the book now. This is the book. Now I'm gonna still continue on doing, writing about different films, but now all of a sudden it had a structure that it didn't have before. They all had to be movie,

since I was writing about having seen them at a young age, they all had, all the movies I wrote about, I had to have seen them. Right. I had to have seen in the seven. Not something you saw later. Yeah, nothing, nothing I discovered later down the line, you know, and whether or not I, you know, whether or not I discussed what it was like seeing it a 12 or 13 or 15, you know, that remains to be seen. All right, but they all had to come from that area. And they all had, I had to see it from there.

And that kind of became the imbiblical chord that carried through the book leading to the last chapter, which is like the first chapter, another autobiographical movie watching thing that kind of takes me up to that point in my life. Yeah, I mean, it's like you have like this savant like ability, I think when you talk about films, like you can just cite movies. And like I think, when you talk about films. You can just cite movies.

And I think, I don't know, you growing up in this time frame was probably the best thing for the filmmaker that we know today, right? Oh, yeah, absolutely. I mean, if it was a different era, you'd be a different guy. Yeah, no, no, no, absolutely.

And there also is just this kind of really neat thing about the fact that, you know, if you go through the timeline of Mark Harris's book, which is Pictures of the Revolution, that kind of talked about the beginning of New Hollywood, it kind of officially starting, even though Old Hollywood still was dominant in 67, with the graduate and Bonnie and Clyde and those movies coming out

in the heat of the night. So if that's the beginning of the revolution and 68 and 69 are the years of the Revolutionary War between Old Hollywood and New Hollywood was fought, then 1970 would be the year that the revolution was won. Well, that all coincides with me first going to the movies. Right. My very first experience going in the movies.

So my first, you know, just me even knowing what a movie is and just kind of putting it all together is coinciding with Dr. Greatest period of motion pictures in the history of America. Yeah, yeah. Now I heard you, cause I heard you do this phenomenal breakdown of like why I believe 80s movies sucked.

And then we got, but what do you, especially by comparison, by comparison, yes. What's your analysis of, or your thought on current state of cinema? It makes the 80s look fucking great. I'm so happy.

As terrible as the 80s look fucking great. I'm so happy. That's terrible as the 80s was. Now, we never had it so good back in Maryson. Yeah. I mean, like, most things come out and you're like, this is dog shit. I know we can't like shit on everybody who works on every film. But even though that'd be fun.

But there's so many bad movies are so bad. Well, you know, it's, yeah, I'm not gonna, I'm not here as a filmmaker to throw any, I know, I know. I know. I'm not any current movies, but no, it does seem like we're living, we're living through another repressive time

when it comes to cinema. The first really big repressive time was the 50s. Then we skipped the generation with the 60s. Even the first half of the 60s was basically just the 50s part two. But then we got the 70s, and then the pendulum had to swing back again for the 80s, and then the pendulum swung the other way again

for the 90s. I mean, I lived through the 90s, making movies in the 90s. I didn't consider the 90s the 70s part two, but it was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. you about, because I'm a, like I said, a fan. So one thing I never had, I always love so much in your movies, is you're writing,

just like dialogue and the stories. They're so original and they're so fun. And I saw Pulp Fiction when it came out in theaters and I was in fucking, I don't know. I think I was a freshman and I was 14. And you're like, oh my God, this is crazy. A freshman in high school? Yes, in high school.

And one thing I was always curious about was what was the reception of that script like originally when you like was it celebrated as a, oh my God, like they could they see what this movie would be? Or was it like, this is crazy, dude, you know like yeah, and I'm No, no, it wasn't actually it wasn't celebrated or it wasn't it was it It wasn't the situation where like the whole industry was like oh my god. This is the greatest thing after okay, okay situation where like the whole industry was like, oh my God, this is the greatest thing. Okay. Okay. And they're lining up to do it. Because a matter of fact, it was we had a

a deal to make the movie at TriStar at the time, because I did it through Denis DeVito's production company, Jersey Films, and they had a set up situation at TriStar. And so, you know, and they paid me a lot of money to write the script. So, I hand in the script, and then Mike Metavoy and all his TriStar executives, and then the, the Dandy Vito, Jersey Films executives, we all get together to have a big meeting about it. So we're in this big conference room and whatever. And it becomes fairly clear. Mike Metavoy's not really into it, really.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And, but, to give him, to explain it with him a little bit, which by the way, was sort of throwing me a bit for a loop for the simple fact that, you know, I wanted to work of all the studios. He was the one that I wanted to work with that I made me trust the studio the most because Mike Medivol used to run Orion.

And I loved the history of Orion movies. I thought they were fantastic. And you know, I thought he was really a great executive. And he was a great executive. All right. But it was towards the end of his little tenure. But the thing about it though was he had just gone to like a retreat that Bill Clinton was having with people in Hollywood and the media and pop culture. I might be misrepresenting this slightly, but it was something like that.

Okay. And Clinton was haranging the Hollywood people about the violence in movies. Oh boy. Yeah. He was haranging them about the violence in movies. He was haranging them about a permissive drug use and then just I Frankly, it's fucking strange. All right, you know all the things you would imagine the right wing would be herring

Okay, Clinton was gilting Hey guys, let's tone it down. Yeah, all his big Hollywood supporters about this and like I think like really kind of scolding them Mm-hmm all his big Hollywood supporters about this. And like I think like really kind of scolding them. So Mike Metavoy comes back from that and reads Pulp Fiction. That's perfect. So he's just sort of, he's kind of not known with the whole thing.

Okay. And then none of his yes men or yes women are disagreeing to him, are disagreeing with him. And so I remembered the conversation, and this is not the goof on him. We're friendly when we're bumped into each other. I'm glad it worked out the way it worked out.

But the thing about it, though, is I remember one of the things is, so he's going through a list of the grueling things, or what he he considers the grueling things in the movie. There's quite a few of those are criteria. So he's going through, you know, and so I mean, he's described, it sounds like he's describing Ken Russell's The Devils or something. I mean, you know, not this comedy, all right, that I wrote. Yeah. And so when he gets to the end of it, I go, well, Mike, did you think it was funny?

It goes, what do you mean? It's a comedy. Did you think it was funny? Well, I guess a little. You know, I go, well, it's a comedy, man. And then we go, we talk a little. You know, I go, well, it's comedy, man. And then we go, we talk a little bit more, and a little bit more. And he goes, well, you know, Quentin,

you say it's a comedy, and I'm watching the lead character shoot up heroin, and I really doubt that the audience is gonna think that that's funny. And I'm like, well, maybe not that moment, but I guarantee you, people are gonna laugh. This is a, I'm guaranteeing you, this will get, not that moment, or say even the that actually moment

does get a laugh. When John gets that smile, you're on his face, you know, the heroines work in the whole audience giggles. At that point. But it was just like, he just didn't get it. He didn't get it. He didn't get it. But, you know, know the heroines work in the whole audience giggles. At that point, but it was just like, he just didn't get it. He didn't get it.

He didn't get it. But, but, you know, I have to say though, there was an interesting thing though. There was something I was always curious about. And I give him credit for giving me the answer to this. There was something I was always curious about. I was able to finally ask somebody who knew who could give me the right kind of answer.

And, and, and, and, and, of answer. And he gave me the answer. Even if it made him look a little bad, he gave me the honest answer. So one of the things is, I think on the internet, there's a thing floating around about my wishlist of the cast. Okay. Hope fiction. Okay. It's kind of floating around. And it's not, it's not, that's not really what it was. This list, that's floating around. What that was, I remember my agent telling me, okay, well, here's the thinkwin. What you want to do is you want the studio to sign off on the things that you want. Okay.

So if they sign off on it, then anything on that list, you have permission to do. Now, if they don't sign off, then you have to negotiate and you have to talk to them about it. But anything like that, but anything that they finally agree to, you're good with. So then I took a, and I didn't know exactly who I wanted to play this part or that part or this part of that part

and so You know so I wrote a giant list with a ton of names I wanted to get them all pre-approved sure and I didn't know if it's gonna work out if I would Live with the person or if they would even do a good job, but I wanted to get them approved So in case I did, and this is an ambitious list, right? You're second film. Yeah, exactly.

And so it's ambitious that you ended up doing it without even knowing what your list was. Yeah, yeah. And so it's kind of all over the place, but that was kind of the idea. I wanted to be able to explore it and go all over the place. But then I'm also really very opinionated.

So it's sort of like something like, I think for like for pumpkin and honey bunny, for instance, I think it was one of those things where, okay, so for pumpkin, we will offer the movie to Tim Roth. If Tim Roth turns it down, we will offer it to Christian Slater. And this is how you're telling them this. Well, yes, that's actually written on the list. And if he turns it down, we will offer it to Johnny Depp.

And I think it was the same thing with Alabama. We will offer it to Amanda Plummer. If she turns it down, we'll offer it to Patricia Arquette Blubble Blubble. Anyway, so, so my question before you answer this, before you take it further, is it considered at the time,

are you shooting too high, or is it like perfectly normal for you to be targeting this talent at the time? No, yeah, yeah, I mean, no, they could have done it. It's perfectly reasonable. No, I was, no, it was, I was, I was a little hip cat. Okay. After Reservoir.

Okay. Well, yeah, of course, of course. Yeah, actors were really looking so, you know, it was reasonable, I'm saying. Oh, no, no, no, I could, you know, if I, you know, especially if I was offering them the, the John Travolta robe. Sure. Uh, uh, Johnny Depp would have, you know, would have totally read this script. No, especially if I was offering him the the John Travolta role. Johnny Depp would have you know would have totally read the script. And I'm not saying he would have said yes. Right.

But they would have considered it. Sure. Okay. And so, um, and you know, I know some working with the studio. This is like a big studio. All right.

I got a studio behind me. This is not a little independent outfit. Mm-hmm. So, uh, so, um, Mike Metav Metavoy is looking at the list and goes, okay, well, let me just look at this list here what you say, okay, let me give you the order I would go. I mean, Tim Roth is a very fine actor

and I know you just worked with them on reservoir dogs. So I'm sure that there's a connection and a loyalty there. However, the order I would go in is we would offer it to Johnny Depp first. And then if he turns it down, then we would offer it to Christian Slater. And if he turns it down, I would find somebody else other than Tim Roth to offer it to. And then if we can't do that, then Tim Roth. And I go, wait, might be me as a question. This is a question I've been dying

because I've heard these kind of stories before as far as Hollywood is concerned. And I've always had a question about this. And maybe you can answer it. Do you think Johnny Depp playing the role of pumpkin in this movie, which is the opening scene and the closing scene, that's it. Do you think that will add that much

to the box office take him playing that role? And Mike Metavoy said, it won't add a dime. It would make me feel better though. And that summarizes how most studio executives are, essentially. Yeah, it's like, oh, we're doing chance material. However, if I get these big name actors, design a board, okay, well, that's a,

that gives us something to sell, that gives us something to sell, and also we have compadres on this, they like it, they're responding to it, they give us a bit of cover. And then I get to, as the studio executive, I get to go, well, I did a pretty reasonable thing. That's exactly, yeah, if it all blows up, hey, I did my best. Yeah, I got Johnny Depp, and I got Johnny Depp. I got so I got Patricia Arcade,

I got Jennifer Jason Lee doing this thing. I covered my ass the best I could. How was casting? Because I've always, I mean, the film is obviously incredible film, Bruce Willis. He's so great, he's so great in it. Was that, was it like, he read it just yes, or was it like, well, that was an interesting story. I mean, we weren't going out to Bruce Willis.

I mean, that just seemed, I mean, especially at that time, he was one of the top five, if not even three, biggest stars in the world. It's a's a surprise when he like when you first see the film you're like Bruce Willis isn't like you know you get shocked almost absolutely you know and he was definitely popular in America But I mean you go to Korea or and like no he's he's the man. He's a man. Yeah, and so what happened was I Originally wrote the part for Matt Dylan Because Matt Dylan was a was a phantom ice script for reservoir dogs. And part of the thing, though, it's a little case of Tri-Star's long sense gone, we've made the deal with Maramax.

And part of the thing about Maramax was, what was the deal? Uh, uh, we needed, we have an ensemble cast, but we needed a mirror max, one, at least one approved, if not two approved mirror max actors in the cast. And then from that point on, okay, you can cast anybody you want. As long as they had one of their, you know, somebody they considered a name, but they could sell. And so Matt Dillon kind of fell into the name category that they would accept. Okay.

So I wrote it for Matt and it kind of seemed like it was gonna be easy peasy getting him. But he read it and he wasn't so sure. He wasn't so sure. He wasn't so sure. He wasn't so sure about it. He liked it, but he wasn't quite so sure. He was disturbed of the fact that there wasn't actually, like he wanted to see butch actually boxing.

You know, he was really, I wanna see the fight. And there's even a little bit, maybe he didn't 100% get it. All right. But, and I think, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh somebody else. And so, so he didn't say no, but he didn't say yes. So he still has to think about it. And that was a little scary because I thought I had, I thought he was in the back. And with him in the back, I had a go movie.

And all of a sudden, I didn't have such a go movie anymore. All right, so I only should. So anyway, in the meantime, Harbickettel, who's in the movie, and he was one of the guys, so I had him. He was shooting in town, and when he was shooting in town, he'd usually rent a house in Malibu. And so he would invite friends to come over

for the weekend and hang out. Jesus. And so I came over and I'm hanging out at Harvey's place. And then, well, it turns out that Bruce Woolis was only living about three or four or five houses down the way. Okay. And so I come over to Harvey's and I'm there

and some other people are there and there's Bruce Willis. I've never met him before. And it turns out he's a huge fan of reservoir dogs. Okay. Huge fan. And like, he goes like, if I had read reservoir dogs, I would have been in reservoir dogs.

I would have agreed to do it, you know. I think it was one of my favorite, me, my buddies, watch it a bunch of times. We know the dialogue by heart. We do the dialogue with each other. Wow, that's amazing. Yeah. And I think it was one of those situations

where he told Harvey that some time earlier, you know, a couple of days earlier, and he goes, well, you should look at a, Quentin's got a new script out there, it might be something he might like in it. And then he's going to be coming by on Sunday, you know, to hang out. So if you want to say hello to him, you know, that would be a good time. And that's exactly what Bruce Dan, so Bruce called the bus agent, and he'd get me that damn, uh, Tarantino script, I want to read it. So little did I know he had already read Pope fiction by the time I show up at Harvey's house, that Sunday. And so we're all having a good time and we're all talking and then he goes,

Quentin, take a walk with me. I'm going to take you to my house. I'm going to introduce you to Demi. All right, let's take a walk to my place. So we're taking a nice walk along the beach because so look, I, I read your script. What, reservoir talk? No, no, no, no, the new one, pop fiction. Wow, I mean, that blew my mind. Yeah. All right. And it goes, yeah, so I wanna play Vincent. Is I wanna play Vincent?

I gotta go. Well, I kinda have a John Travolta set up to play for Vincent. And so we go, well, John's great, John's terrific. John's good, John's good. So when we keep talking a little bit more and goes, okay, well here's the deal then. Okay, John is a good Vincent,

and I wouldn't want to fuck him up. All right, so okay. His agent later tried to throw John Travolta under the bus. All right, it's good agent. He did. All right. I think even I remember what his agent said. He goes, okay, Quinn, I just want to just put this out to you that when your movie comes out, the last movie

Bruce will have done, that will be released. Any name, some big Bruce Willis movie that like roast $300 million or something, that will be the last movie that Bruce had done when your movie comes out. The last movie, the star of your movie, John Travolta will have done, will be Lukus talking three. I'm just saying. I mean, he's not a bad agent. Yeah, yeah.

These are things that they do. So then all of a sudden Bruce goes, I guess, okay, what how about this? What if I play jewels? And I go, well, obviously, because I know he's black, I know he's black. Face paint. Yeah, the Sam Reams, the Sam Jackson. Sam Jackson, I know I'm playing face paint.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, he goes, look, I know the character is black, but, uh, you know, but it's more like just, you know, but he could just be a hipster dude, you know, and, and I could do that dialogue because I like, that's the kind of, that's the way me and my friends talk with each other. Sure. You know, uh, so you could make him a white guy and I could just be this hipster dude with John. And, and I'm telling you that, the, the, the, you know, you know, uh, you know, that's the way Bruno talks. Bruno talks like that.

Hard sell for this part, man. Yeah. And okay, so. And that was the real hard decision. Well, so that's a real pressure at that time. I mean, for you, right? Because you have one of the top three movie stars in the world being like, I will do this.

Yes, exactly, exactly. And it's like, okay, so I've already said no once before to push somebody else. And now he's offering me one more bite of the apple to get his full attention and his full commitment to this movie and the movie needs it. I mean, it's just, you know, it's like winning the fucking lottery.

Yeah. Getting, but it's not right. It's just, you know, it's like when in the fucking lottery. Yeah. Getting bru- but it's not right. It's just not right. Mm-hmm. You know, and I told him that, well, you know, the part that would be fantastic for you is, is a butch. And- This is right in that moment, you told me.

Well, I let him know. I let him know. Okay. Okay. So then finally, I go, okay, well, let me think, okay, that would be a big, big change. Let me think about it. Let me think about it, let me call you tomorrow, okay? So I think about it all night long, and finally I realized, look, I just can't make,

I can't do it. So I call them up, and I tell them, and I'm kind of telling them how it's not gonna work. And it goes, when it's all okay, let me take you off the hook. I get it, I understand. You wrote the character for a black guy. You want a black guy, I get it, I get it.

I go, okay, but you know, Bruce, yes. But I think you should be in this movie. You understand it. You get the script, you get my sense of humor. I think you should be in the movie. Now, you naturally were attracted to the Vincent character and then you were naturally attracted to the Jules character. There is a third lead here that I think you would be perfect for. And one of the reasons I think you would be perfect for Butch is I see him as like a 50s leading man.

I mean, he could be a star from a 50s movie. Yeah. is like a 50s leading man. I mean, he could be a star from a 50s movie. And like the actors that I think of, when I think of the character of Butch, is more like actors from the 50s, like a Ralph Meeker or an Aldo Ray or a Brian Keith or somebody like that. I would ask you, you've had your mindset on other people, on other characters.

I would just ask you to read the script one more time with the idea of you playing butch. And if you don't respond fine, but I would just ask you to read it one more time with the other characters at your head and with that character on your plate. And then if you and if you don't respond, you don't respond. And he goes, okay, I'll do that. I can do that. I'll do that tonight. Come in tomorrow. And so he did that. And then I called him the next day.

And he said, Quentin, the shortest sentence in the Bible is Jesus wept. The shortest sentence in Hollywood is, I'm in. And I'm in. Wow. Dude, that's an awesome story.

He was a great guy. He is a great guy. Yeah, that's a, wow. What an incredible get for the film. It opened up everything. It opened up everything. I mean, it all, especially how successful the movie ended up being overseas.

That is a direct result of Bruce Willis participating. How were you dialed in? I know you've been asked, but I don't know. How were you dialed in on Travolta for Vincent? Why, like, how was that clear to you? I was just always a big fan. You're just always in a big fan. No, I thought it was, I thought it was a damn shame that he wasn't as big a star as he, as, as, as he used to be. Yeah. I thought Hollywood was full of shit for not understanding it. And it was even one of those things where it was like,

at that time, John Travolta was kind of almost the epitome of, you know, I guess you would cruelly call a has been. But then I would go out with him and people would lose their fucking minds. We would walk down this street and people like, you know, drive down the, hey, Johnny, hey, Biberino, you know, they would just like, screen shit at him all the time as he, as we're walking down like, Los Yennega or something.

Yeah. I took him to like, I eddebevics because I go, well, this is kind of as close to Jackrabbit Slim's kind of places that exist. So you just get an idea of what these weird places are at least 50s, what these weird 50s joints are like. And I take them in there. Oh, restaurant just lost their fucking mind. They actually had to put us into another section

of the restaurant and keep everybody away. Yeah. And then even like walking outside, like some tourist family, we're like, ah, just, it was, it was crazy. And it was just like, this guy's a superstar. It's only stupid Hollywood who doesn't realize it.

Yeah. The public absolutely thinks he's a star. Just put him in something we're seeing and they'll go. Wow. So you, I mean, that's incredible that you could see it. All right, this is one where I love this, these two little details in the scene, and I wonder if there was an origin for this,

and that is in glorious bastards. There's this character who he has, I think he's supposed to be English, and he has German parents, so he speaks fluent German. I'll be it with a subtle accent. And the reason I think that this resonates so much with me is when you have a foreign parent, your ear gets tuned to these little details about accents that people with an untrained ear don't like even though if you don't have a like in the words

If you're American you speak English you can hear somebody speak English and go like where you for like I have a friend You know who he He can one of the first times we spoke and I met him. There's Michael And we're talking and I was like where you from and he says so he says like you know Washington or something. I'm like, you're from Washington, you're accent. So strange. He's like, well, I was born in Estonia. I came over and I was 10.

I was like, well, yeah, man, that's why you wanted to talk. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I go, that's why you don't know that your accent's fucking weird as fuck. You talk? So in the movie, what? Yeah, I don't think, I don't think Archie Hiccup's accent is weird.

No, no, it's not. It's not. It's just not as dramatic as the Nazis. I don't think Archie Hiccup's accent is weird. No, no, it's not. It's just not as dramatic as the Nazis. I was making the point about my friend. But what I know is as a child of a foreign parent is that you really get dialed. So my mother speaks Spanish, right? She's in Peru. And then you grow up and you start to note

like your ear gets tuned to people speaking Spanish. Yeah, yeah, right now. And you can start going, you start identifying. Well, no, yeah, exactly. The difference between Argentina and Peru, the difference between Mexico and Spain. Yeah, Cuba, yeah. And then you can start to note how children of those parents,

how good the child's Spanish. In other words, in my case, the Spanish is, so you're like, oh, yours is really off, yours is really good, but then your ear can pick up on just the slightest little detail. And that theme of that scene, it drives it, fascinated me. I was like, oh, this is something I felt very much like I related to.

And I was wondering if the origin of it or what that was for you, like why you dialed in on the fact that it's just that's just the reality of what would the case would be, but where I came up with that concept of that scene in the first place was, I've seen a ton of World War II cloaked and daggary kind of movies where some, you always see them, we're like a couple of Americans that speak German. And apparently speak German perfectly.

Yes. And they put on Nazi uniforms and they go to, they'd go to Nazi restaurants and they go to Nazi bars. And they're able to hang out at go to, they'd go to the Nazi restaurants and they go to the Nazi bars and they're able to hang out at general shadows, shateaux with other generals and, and completely pass themselves off, no worries. And we see that in dirty dozen

with Lee Marvin and Charles Bronson dressed up as officers go to that shateau, really other generals are hanging out. And it's also, you know, really played a big, in're Eagles dare because memory like Clint Eastwood and Richard Burton are all dressed up as Nazi officers and they're just, you know, kicking it in German and selling everything. Now naturally, them being American movies, nobody speaking German. All right, they're all speaking English when we're supposed to just know. Mm-hmm.

They're speaking German. And so what should be the most greatest element of suspense, can they pull off the German? Yes. Inside of a room full of motherfucking Nazis. It's so great. It doesn't exist at all in these movies because, well, English is German.

And of course, they can speak English. And that, naturally, there's never an issue about their accent. But then to not, you know, but then to do it, you know, not with a German actor, but with a guy doing German. Yes. And then pulling it off or not pulling it off. Now, that's a whole element of suspense that I've never seen played out in a movie before.

Absolutely. Even though I've seen that scene, seemingly a hundred times. Sure. I love that because I think it's such an original take. And it also, like, you know, you get it there. The other, by the way, this is not related to it, but this is related to accents and in your films, um, in, um, in Kill Bill, when you have Michael Parks playing Esteban. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I did not know that that wasn't a Mexican guy.

Uh-huh. I mean, he, he was terrific. But like, I appreciate it so much as an audience member. Watching this guy speak and you're like, oh, I wonder what Mexican guy this is. He's like, and then you're like, I'm thinking, Bronson, man, it's crazy because it also takes me out of other movies when you have somebody half-assing the accent. Yeah, yeah, right on.

You know what? I'm like, yeah, man, this is terrible. Like it ruins the sea, it ruins the whole dialogue. I mean, I was watching, what was it? How's the Gucci in there? They were like, they're like doing it. Mom, mommy. I haven't seen it, so I'm not making fun of that movie,

but I'm not making fun of that movie. It's dog shit, but like the actors are like, I mean, they're all big actors, but they're going like it. I want these to work out. I'm dead. Are you sick? And like it's in the same scene. You're just like, yo, man, you just dropped the accent. Oh, they did. Yeah, you're just, it's like the whole accent just dropped. I don't know. Parks was unbelievable in that part.

Well, that's an actually an interesting story about how that came about because, you know, Michael Park is actually one of my favorite actors. And I already cast him in the movie. He was a, you know, pleased to check this Ranger. Yeah. And, um, so we always have a big, you know, a big day in our movies is when I have the script reading. We all get together. The actors have been cast. We're getting ready to start production, maybe in a couple of weeks. And then we get together with the actors and we just all sit around a table and read the script. And that's a very, very important day for me, because I'd like the closest to me actually seeing the movie finished before I start shooting the movie, because you get it, I'll get

it. You know, the first time I heard the script, with the actors, they're going to play the roles, all kind of doing the thing. I get a sense of the movie. And so the thing is you have a bunch of actors and maybe not everybody is there. So like, oh, hey, you take this role. Hey, you read this one.

And I had actually had cast Ricardo Montabon. To play Esteban. To play Esteban. And he couldn't make it. So Michael was there because he was playing the Texas Ranger. So he did the Texas Ranger world. And then I threw something else at him and threw something else at him.

And then I go, Hey, Mike, would you play Esteban? Because yeah, sure. And he did such a fantastic Esteban. At this table, right? Yeah, at this table, right. It was, you know, just, stole the show.

It was just great. And there also is this aspect as wonderful as an actor as Michael Parks is, he was always cast inside of his own persona to wonder, you can take your own persona a zillion different ways, but he was never cast to be somebody completely different. I mean, like a complete other type of humanity than who he was and talk in a completely different way than the way he talked. But here he was doing it. And I always knew he was a fantastic actor that that would be, this could be fantastic. He's never been, he's never been given an opportunity to do a character

like this. So we paid off Ricardo Montemont and I cast Michael instead. God, that's got a suck to get that call. That's got a suck. Well, his ass should have been at the fucking table. Yeah, you know what I mean? You know, if he had some plays better to be, then we have some plays better to be too. And it's with Michael Parks, my other fucker. Yeah, Michael Parks.

Michael Parks wasn't too busy. There you go. I worked on a movie where I think it was like, was it the hair guy? I mean, I love hair, but I was in the hair chair or something. And he was, I think he had done all, he had been on all your films at that point. And so I was like,

oh, it's like to work on a film, he goes, he loves to shoot, man, he loves to shoot. He said, you guys were down, I think shooting that for months longer. Which one? I think the Kill Bill, whatever you filmed in Mexico. Okay. But you don't really love to shoot,

but you should film, you still do it. Yeah, yeah. And does anybody else do that? Yeah, Christopher Nolan does, you know, but it's just a handful, right? Yeah, it is a handful. Sounds like a handful of the highest levels. Yeah, exactly.

It's a handful of the best. So the best guys shoot on film. That scene also by the other coolest fuck thing about the bastard scene is the three things. Yeah, it's such a cool little detail that just that it just come about, something you knew you'd seen before. No, I'd heard about it.

All right, and go, hey, well, that's terrific. And it was actually really funny because one of my makeup gals is, she's from Iceland, in the Heba. And she's been working with me for, for God, almost 20 years now. Anyway, so she's waiting in the script. She got sent the script and she's reading it. And she reads the whole thing.

And she's like, you know, well, she's from Iceland. So yeah, they do it like this. And she's like, what know, well, she's from Iceland. So yeah, they do it like this, right? And she's like, what the fuck is he talking about? And I don't get that. So she goes to her husband who's American. She goes, hold up three fingers. And he goes like, this is fucking right. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, it's so distinct. Yeah, yeah. And something you never really think about. Yeah, it's something you never think about. Until somebody points it out. It's such a cool thing. When you, like there's a, when you, what's the, the top gun is gay?

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, from a slip with me. Yeah, you wrote that. Yeah, well, me and my buddy Roger Avery kind of, I think Roger came up, Roger did, I don't think. Roger did come up with it first, but back when we were a video archives, it's like, we worked on it, we churned in routine.

It's because, that we did at parties. We did it at parties, we did it at gatherings. It was just this routine that the two of us did together. It feels like a standup. Yeah, it was a whole routine that we did together. And then I got, I was doing a cameo in this fun little movie that I was doing and I was just told to pretty much improvise something.

Well, I had that routine ready to go. You know what I did? And so I just like did it and that became a thing. Dude, it's so good. I mean, it reminded me in a way of in, when in reservoir dogs when you go on about like a virgin. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's the same thing.

Yeah, it's in the same, it's in the same vein. And the same vein, and it feels like, you know, as like a standup, you go like, oh, this feels like a good bit. A good bit. Yeah, it's a good thing. No, that would, that would definitely be part of my five minutes.

Yeah. Building up that good five minutes. Yeah, you would crush with that. You would crush. I. You'd crush. I know this is probably, I mean, I don't know if this is tired topic to you, but you know, like there's so much made about race when you, when you, like every time I go pitch now,

do you know they're like, who's this character? And you're like, that's the friend they're like, is they indignate or something? And you're like, I mean, I don't know. Sure, should they be? And they're like, it would be better. And you're like, okay, and it feels like it's so forced in into these conversations that you that's that's not even new. I mean, there is the thing about, like, why what was it? I think you got mail, I think it's you got mail. All right.

So, uh, Tom Hanks. Yeah, Tom Hanks in the Meg Ryan movie. And he's like sort of like the, uh, the vice president of like Barnes and Noble or something like that. But his best friend is Dave Chappelle. Yeah, yeah. Where's the world? Where the vice president of Barnes and Noble's best friend is Dave Chappelle. Yeah, yeah. Where's the world? Where the vice president of Barnes and Noble's best friend is Dave Chappelle. Yeah, yeah. And that's what makes, but it's almost like back to that studio guy being like, well, I feel better. Yeah, no, it is.

What, it's exactly what that is. Yeah, okay. For different reasons. Right. But it's still is the thing today where even when you, like I said, every time I've gone into pitch something, they're like, what, like, so this person is Latin and this is Asian and they're great. Now we're good to go and you're like,

no, yeah. Well, I don't have to play that bullshit. No, you don't have to do that shit. You feel like any of, I mean, I have a, you know, I'm actually quite known for writing my black characters, all right? But I'm not gonna, you know, I'm actually quite known for writing my black characters All right, but I'm like and you know, but it's like well No, if I wanted him to be black, I would have made him black if I wanted him to be Mexican

I would have made the character Mexican. Did you get pushback back then though about no? Yeah And and was was a was a was it reset? You already obviously a huge success with Django But was that there were they like this too much? This is too crazy. Now, the studios were lined up, they all wanted to do this. They were fighting, they were fighting for it. Fighting for it, wasn't too... No, no, they were fighting, they were fighting to get it. Wow, that's pretty rad. One thing I've wanted to ask you too is that,

so I'm my favorite genre of films to watch. If we walk to the theater and there's 10 movies out, I'm always drawn towards thrillers. That's just what I enjoy the most. That's my wife too. He doesn't like horror movies, but he loves thrillers. I love thrillers. What is a Quentin recommended couple thrillers?

Because I'm imagining I have definitely not seen everything you've seen, that you would, Oh, if you're gonna try and have me pick something that's like, That's awesome. Completely off the beaten track. Sure.

Yeah, I got one. Okay. All right. I mean, when you say that to me, a thriller, or like the first thing is I come to my mind or something like Dr. Stakeel kill or fatal attraction or like that. But a cool one that's off the, that you might not have seen, that's a, that's really good. And it actually starts an actor, I don't like it at all, but he's actually pretty good

in this movie. Yes. Yes. Is a film directed by Curtis Hanson, who later did a, a, a, a, L.I. confidential. Uh huh. Called the bedroom window. The bedroom window. I filmed directed by Curtis Hanson, who later did a LA Confidential called the Bedroom Window. The Bedroom Window. Yeah, I was like in the late 80s, it was done for Deano De Larente's company, the same

company that did Blue Velvet and Raw Deal and things like that. And it's kind of a Hitchcockian rear window kind of redo. And it's with Steve Gutenberg and Elizabeth McGovern, who's fantastic in the movie. She steals the movie, but also Isabelle Hupe, who's wonderful in it too. Wally Sean has a magnificent cameo in it that just brings the house down.

It's a really, really fun thriller. Okay. It's very Hitchcockian. It's meant to be like a Hitchcock hub. Were you a big Hitchcock guy? Not a Hitchcock in. It's meant to be like a Hitchcock comment. Were you a big Hitchcock guy? Not a Hitchcock fan. Really? Yeah, tell me, because I would imagine,

I think you talked to most people who go like cinemas everything that he's like, you know, he's one of the- He's one of the greatest directors whoever lived. I'm not, I think he was held back by the times that he worked. I think his movies, I normally don't like the third acts of his movies. Now some of them I do. Strangers on a train has a magnificent third act.

The third act of thrillers is the, like well, especially thrillers. Yeah, but I do think that they all, they all, they oftentimes, oftentimes, this is just my opinion. They oftentimes they peter out and he's not quite able to end them like, you know, the way I think he would have if he was coming, if he was, if he was the age he

was in the 50s, in the 70s, I think his, his, his, I would, I would appreciate his films more. Uh, I think they're, you know, he's held back by the haze code. I think he was really truly held back by the haze code. Now at the same time, he was a clever little bugger. All right, so because he could use the Hayes Code against their own selves from time to time. One of my actually favorite Hitchcock endings

seems to be a compromise, forced on him, but then he subverts the compromisers. There's an expression in Hebrew called Fukalafuk, which means like a reverse on a reverse. And he kind of does a Fukalafuk at the end of the movie, suspicion. If you've ever seen suspicion, it's with Kerry Grant and Joan Fontaine and the whole idea is,

Joan Fontaine is thinking, she's married this cat, played by Kerry Grant. And little by little, she starts thinking that maybe he's trying to kill her. And little by little we're thinking, oh, he's trying to fucking kill her. And so it's going on, it's going on, it's going on, it's going on. And well naturally in the original script, yes, of course he was trying to fucking kill her.

But then the Hayes goes, no, we can't do that. You can't have Kerry Grant actually be a killer. But then the Hayes go, no, no, we can't do that. You can't have a carry grant, actually be a killer. So at the end, it has to be explained that she was wrong. That, no, no, he wasn't trying to do it. It just, it looks suspicious, but no, it's just, she's wrong. She's wrong. He wasn't trying to kill her at all. So that plays out. That plays out and it looks like, you know, he's taking her to the cliffs of Dover to throw her off. And then she confronts, you're trying to kill me?

What are you talking about? I don't want you to want to kill you. But you do this. Well, here's the reason I do this, you know. And it's plausible. Yeah, well, more, I don't buy it. Yeah. It seems like dick sucking as far as I'm concerned.

You know, they're trying to talk themselves out of the corner that they painted themselves in. I find it completely unconvincing. Mm-hmm. All right, but she doesn't. And the movie seems to wrap up. And then they get in the car and they drive home So apparently everything's fine and Hitchcock ends it with this shot like they're driving a roadster

It's a convertible roadster. Hitchcock ends it with this shot behind them And he's driving as she's in the passenger seat and like everything seems okay and in this really creepy way Kerry grand puts his arm around like, oh, shit. He's gonna kill her. Yeah, he's just talked, he's just talked his way out of it. Oh, no, he's just talking way, he wants to get her home, he's gonna fucking kill her.

Now they don't say that. But it's kind of implied by the creepiness of the last shot. I'm gonna watch this tonight. Oh, yeah, it's a good movie. It's really good. Suspicion. Suspicion. Oh, man. I'm gonna watch this tonight. Oh yeah, it's a good movie. It's really good. Suspicion. Suspicion. Oh man, I'd love to do that.

And he's fantastic. And Kerry Grant made a great villain. He should have played villains more. He's a magnificent villain. Yeah, I mean, they did so many films together. Yeah. So he did like a, yeah. Yeah, he did a lot of them, yeah.

So a lot of them made about, I know you're gonna, you're gonna continue writing, right? You like lot of them, yeah. So a lot of them made about, I know you're gonna continue writing, right? You like you enjoy writing, yeah. But you're still always enjoying writing. Well, you're always going to write, but I'm saying you're gonna write more books. But you're still, you are gonna do one more film? Yeah, I'm going more, yeah.

Written yet? No, I haven't even thought about it yet, really. Yeah, man. Might just finish the book. I know. I know. But that's so exciting that you're gonna do one more. Yeah, I think it's, yeah, it'll be fun.

No, okay. So you'll just take your gem, like the, sorry, the, just a little idea, seed, and just sit down with your pad, get to it. How long does a movie take to pour out of you normally? Oh, I don't know. Well, I just have to come up with one. I have to be ready to make another movie. Yeah. And then I have to have a neat idea. And then, you know, and I'm not in a hurry to make my last movie. I'm going to tell you the truth. So, you know, so whenever that idea comes up, you know,

I'll probably start writing it. Like I said, I'm gonna know Perri on in that regard, especially right now, because I don't even know what I'd be writing at for. I didn't even, you know, do movies the way I have always known them do they even exist right now. I think that remains to be seen. Sure. And so I kind of would like to know what I'm writing at for.

What's going on, what is the deal? There's this theme that has happened, occurred in a few of your last few films, which is kind of a fantasy revenge endings, right, because in glorious bastards, how is it? Django has this like revenge. Well revisionist history, I think so, sure. And then once upon a time, yeah, three of them have it. Yeah, that's sort of them have it. Yeah.

That's sort of my, that's sort of my, your revenge trilogy? Well, no, my revenge, surely. My revision is history, trilogy. Okay, okay. But like, do you, do you feel like that's something that you would be drawn to still? Well, since I don't know what I'm going to do, the next one, I don't, I don't have an answer for that. But I don't think I would do that for the last, I think, like I said, I think I had no problem

doing it with the Manson one, because I was just like, well, that's my revision is history trilogy. So I think that's that. And then you picked, is 10 for you, like a special, people, some people have these numbers that, like this would be your 10th film. Is it 10 for, or you just feel like one more

is all you want to do? Well, I think 10's a good number. Okay, so it is, I think 10th film. Is it 10 for or you just you just feel like one more is all you want to do? Well, I think 10's a good number. Okay. So it is I think 10 yeah, uh, uh, also I'm at that point where I think, okay, it's ready to uh, bow bow off the stage, leave them wanting more. All right. Uh, uh, uh, don't make any left-handed movies, don't make any movies for the wrong reason, don't don't money up Don't make any left-handed movies, don't make any movies for the wrong reason, don't money up money at my Filmography with a bunch of Out-of-touch old-man movies. Is that hard to do though? What is that hard to do to say that like you know, I mean to go like I mean, I imagine as a filmmaker a lot of them you go I'm just gonna keep making movies forever, you know like I think this is what most of what I do. Yeah, but is it hard?

What to make movies forever to no say, to have the perspective of like, uh, one more and then it's a great catalog and I walk away. Is it hard to leave it? No, I, I, well, I don't think so. I mean, because I've, I've done everything I wanted to do. Okay.

I've done everything I wanted to do. I. I've done everything I wanted to do. I mean, I've had just an amazing career. I've had an amazing amount of luck, amazing good fortune. And I had no idea that the audience would, in fact, if I had to guess, I would guess that the audience wouldn't have accepted my movies. Really?

And then ended up not being the case. And I've been able to work in this business at the highest level, at the highest level a director can work. And I want to leave at that high level. I want to leave where a new Quentin Tarantino movie coming out is an event. And the people who like my stuff and who follow my stuff and even that, like, no, they want to see it in the one to see it opening night. And I don't want to just be that ugly.

Oh, yeah, I remember. I remember when I was so into him. I remember when I was so passionate, I remember when I had that shit on my wall. You know, I remember all the when I was so into him. Yeah, I remember when I was so passionate I remember when I had that shit on my wall, you know, I remember all the 25 years ago. Yeah, exactly, you know, and I mean, you know, not I mean, look, he's fun and everything Yeah, but he's an old man and he's not the same thing. Yeah, and he's out of touch and and He has no idea who the new filmmakers are. He has no idea the new movies are out now. He's just doing his own thing Would you continue to produce and stuff though? I don't like producing. I'm not a He has no idea who the new filmmakers are. He has no idea the new movies are out. Now he's just doing his own thing.

Would you continue to produce and stuff though? I don't like producing. I'm not a, if I'm not making a movie, I don't wanna fuck a make a movie. Okay. All right, I didn't know. Yeah, I wanna like, yeah, I'm, making movies are hard work.

If I'm not making it for me, I'm not interested. So it would really be back to like, right? Well, I could do a TV show or something like that. Oh, okay. Well, I could do a TV show or something. Oh, okay. Yeah. I could do a TV show. That that would be different. You know, I could do that. Get ready to back up a brinkstruck for Quentin. I mean, these checks are big these fucking days, dude. Holy shit. You just put the failure agents are jerking off right now in the other room. They're like, he does? Well, I'll say one thing. Okay, let's say I'm out of the bag right now.

I won't say anything about what it is or whatever, but I have written a TV show. I've written eight episodes of a limited series. I've written all eight episodes. I direct all eight episodes. I need to do a polish on it. But that might be what I, like start setting up next year. Dude. Can I just, can I read please? Can I just get a, can I read for you? Yeah, sure.

Okay, hey, he's on camera. Yeah, yeah, sure, sure, sure. And you signed a con, you don't realize what you signed me. Yeah, right. Right. Dude, you have a fucking eight episode limited series? Yeah, yeah. That's so exciting. And it has not, you have not said it. No,? Yeah, yeah. That's so exciting.

And it has not, you have not said it. No, no, no, no, no, no, I like my agents, my agent is Reddit and like a couple of people, I'm be working on it, I'm producing, so the only ones I've read it. This is breaking news. Yeah, it is breaking news. Holy shit, guys, put this shit out right now.

Ha, ha, ha, ha, fuck, man. Did it, do you ever, like, I know this is like a thing that when people get so successful that you must be asked, but do you ever stop and go like, holy shit? Like your name is a reference. You know, if somebody picks up a camera and goes, I'm gonna go shoot this.

I'm like, okay, Tarantino. Yeah, yeah. Like you're a reference. Is it wild to you? It's awesome. It's amazing. Look, I, it's what I always wanted. I mean, not that I, and I always thought I would get it, if I was able to get work at

all, that was the question. Right. Uh, uh, uh, and that was a question I didn't know the answer to, but if things were to work out, I thought I would have some level of this success, but to actually have the level of success I had and be able to hold on to it. For 30 years, where I came up with a lot of different people, but they all kind of have, not all of them, but a lot of them have kind of fallen by the wayside.

Not all of them, Rick Linkletters, still out there working, doing good, but a lot of other people have, I thought we would all be working together, into our old age, but that's just not really how it works. No. In town. Well, that's the thing that I think the longer

that you do anything in entertainment, the more you appreciate more than anything is the longevity of somebody's career. When you go, you've been doing this for 30 years. It's crazy. Yeah, yeah, exactly. And the high level. And to be at, yeah, well, and that's the key.

Just as far as I'm concerned, you just said the key right there is to be able to work at this level. Yeah. I'm not working at a lower level. I'm not working at a, you know, if I wanna do a $4 million movie, that's my choice. Right. I'm not reduced to doing $4 million movie.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. By the way, you fucking, I thought about you, you inspired me to do something. You were a big part of the inspiration, which was I heard you way, you fucking, I thought about you, you inspired me to do something. You were a big part of the inspiration, which was I heard you say, you know, just go out and go out and do something.

Yeah, right on. And yeah, so me and my friend, Rami Hashash, we got together and spent my own money, we shot a proof of concept for a show. Oh, well, good deal. Good for you. But like, I would hear, I remember you saying this stuff because like, you can just do that.

You can just do that now. Just go for it, yeah. And now you can do it. Before you had to, okay, we gotta get a cinematographer. We gotta get a camera. We gotta cost me way more money than I ever thought I was spending my life. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

But we still did it. Yeah, exactly, yeah. Cause they lied to me about how much it would cost. Yeah. No, but then, now you're committed. Yeah. Now you're committed, exactly, yeah. Because they lied to me about how much it would cost. Yeah. No, but then now you're committed. Yeah. Now you're there, you're committed, okay, put the fuck in, it's like building a house.

Yeah. Well, I could have bought one. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's like building a house, okay. It's got a cost board and it's gonna take way fucking longer. Yeah. I think they ever say. Yeah, fucking well.

It's like the money pit. Yeah, it's exactly what it is. And then now you get calls about, well now we gotta get more for this. And I was like, yeah. I thought that was the budget, bro. Yeah. Like's exactly what it is. And then I get calls about, well, now we got to get more for this. And I was like, I thought that was the budget, bro. Yeah. Like the budget was the budget. Yeah. No, you got to write another check. But thank you for helping me spend all that money. Yeah. I thought of you so much. I mean, give you a hold in your backyard to throw money into. Oh, dude. It's so much fun.

I mean, it's amazing now with technology that you really can go shoot something for not a lot of money. But if you want to spend the money, you can. Yeah, exactly. Like, if you look in the right places, you can spend the money. I remember, we were working with a car guy. We had a car, we wanted to change something in it. Yeah.

That would, and to make it operate different, I think I think we were trying to like take a, can we take this car and for the, our purposes in the movie, can we, can we take the, it's a stick shift. Can we make it an automatic? It goes, you know, is that possible? And then the car guy goes, yeah, we can do that. We can do that. How would you do that exactly? Well, you open up the hood and then you take a bunch

of money and you get stuff in inside. Yeah. Okay. And then it works. And stuff it inside. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. And then it works. And then it works. And now you got your automatic. Yeah. That's fucking cool, man.

Thanks. How much all the money? That's the thing. I think I got a lot, a lot of money. All the money is what it takes. Are you a fan at all because I don't know what it's like on set with you, but do you give people or do you ever do improv takes with your actors? Or is it like, yeah, because I heard and I don't I've not heard the story firsthand.

I heard it second hand that Leo losing his shit. Yeah, what happened there was I knew I wanted to have that scene, but I didn't want to I didn't want to write it out. I didn't want it to have to be dialogue he remembered. So I got Leo and I was like saying, so look, here's what I want to do. I want you to come in having fucked up on set, not knowing your lines,

and I want you to come in the trailer and have a whole mad anger at yourself, the test fest, a complete tinder tantrum against yourself. And a whole the test fest on you and just, you know, just a gigantic pity party where you just lose your shit. Yeah. But against yourself, nobody else, just you. And nobody else sees it, just you. And I want you to, I wanted to have the randomness of an improv, it just comes out of you. Now what I did do though, is I gave him different subjects.

He could rant about different things. So okay, well here's a subject, here's a subject, here's something you could say. Which helps, this helps. Yeah, here's something else you could say, here's something you could say. And so I gave him some subjects, I gave him some bullet points.

And even a couple of pieces of lines, all right, that he could go on. And he goes, great, okay. And he was a little nervous. He was like, you know, kept, it was actually very cute, that he was really great, okay. And he was a little nervous. He was like, you know, kept, it was actually very cute that he was really, he was nervous that day. Cause it's on him.

And he knows that. And so we're shooting in this scene and I'm like right by the camera as we're shooting. And so he's doing it and we just do a few different takes. And it's, it was great. And then from time to time, if I thought he ran out of something,

I could throw something his way. Okay. Talk about that little girl. Yeah, that fucking little girl looking at me. Like, Dad, she's judging me. Who the fuck is she to judge me, man? Fuck that little girl. You know, and then Jim said, yeah, fuck that fucking Jim.

Stacy just sitting there looking at me, laughing at me. Fuck that dude. That's fun. It's fun to get the, to be able to riff with suggestions. Yeah, exactly. So you were able to give suggestions. Do you feel like by the way that there's, I don't know, way, there's less movie start,

like about like name, cells, tickets now. No, well that's definitely the case. So because there's like five real movie stars. Yeah, that's No, well, that's definitely the case. Because there's like five real movie stars. Yeah, that's, yeah, that's definitely the case. You put like three of the, like, all of your movies. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, no, that's, no, I mean, that is one of the,

and I'm not even putting them down, frankly, to tell you the truth, but that is one of the, the legacy of the marvelization of Hollywood movies, where it's... You love these movies, these Marvel movies. I don't love them, no, I don't love them. I don't hate them, all right, but I don't love them. I mean, look, I used to collect Marvel comics,

like crazy, when I was a kid. And so there's an aspect that if these movies were coming out when I was in my 20s, I would totally be fucking happy. And so there's an aspect that if these movies were coming out when I was in my 20s, I would totally be fucking happy. And totally love them. I mean, they wouldn't be the only movies being made. They would be those movies amongst other movies. But, you know, almost 60.

So yeah, no, I'm not quite as excited about them as- Can I tell you the thing? I mean, for me, I don't have your level of knowledge of cinema, but as a film go or somebody who likes movies. I mean, what's exciting about a movie is usually some element of surprise, right? And what you see, what I've seen in a lot of these films is that it is just a carbon copy essentially of the previous release.

Like, you're never taken somewhere you don't expect in the film. Yeah, well, I'm not here to round those. I know. So it's like, you know, I don't have it. My only axed grind against them is there the only things that seem to be made. Making, yeah.

And there are the only things that seem to generate any kind of excitement amongst a fan base or even like for the studio making them. All right, that's what they're excited about. And so it's just the fact that they are the entire representation of this era of movies right now. And there's not really much room for anything else. That's my problem. And they do like billion dollar box offices.

Yeah, but that is literally my problem. It's a problem of representation. Okay. But, you know, but go back to your initial question, part of the marvelization of Hollywood is, yeah, no, it's the, you have all these actors who have become famous playing these characters, but they're not movie stars. Captain America is the star. Thor is the star. I mean, I'm not the first person to say that. I think this has been said a zillion times, but you know, but it's like, you know, it's the these franchise characters that become

become a star. Personally, I mean, this is my own thing. It's just that I've gone to these movies and you just go like, yeah, it's another, it's not that different from the previous film. There's just knew there's some new effects. Well, before though,. Well before though, okay, here's a better way to say it. It's like before, even 2005, 2009 or something like that. If an actor stars in a movie that does as good as the Marvel movies do, well, that guy's a new star. Sure. They're an absolute star.

And that means that people dig him or her. And they like them and they want to see them and stuff. And then they, you know, Sandra Bullock is in speed. Right. And everyone thought she was amazing in it. She was charming as hell. Everyone fell in love with her. And so even she does a couple of mediocre movies

after that, the Nats and something else. Okay, well, people want to see it because they were excited about it. I said, I don't know if they want to see her and something else. And she's good in those movies. Yeah. You know, but that's not the case now.

Yeah. Yeah, it's not the case. No, no, no, we want to see that guy playing whoever, Wolverine or whatever. Yeah, fuck another one. Um, was there anything in the last few years movie wise that you're like, I've really enjoyed this film? I've seen it a few things, but I didn't really want to talk about new stuff. Okay, all right. Well, just because we're doing this book. No, because I just don't like to talk about new stuff.

Really? Yeah. Why? Why? Why? Because I don't want to say anything bad about anybody's movie, because that's me like attacking them. I'm like an ambush, and I'm not here to cheer about bad about anybody else's stuff It's unfair and so everything is about cheerling. I'm fucking tired of cheerleading. No, hey man There we even on my podcast, okay, we don't we're not choosing movie me and Roger on the video archives podcast We're not Choosing movies that we love we're choosing often that, I'm trying to put movies, most of, we watch three movies and I try to have at least one of them, one movie I haven't seen, so I can watch a movie

and we'll see how I feel about it. And you'll give an honest take on this. Oh, absolutely. But we're not watching new shit, we're watching stuff on VHS. Right, so most of those guys are not working. Yeah, who cares? Yeah, okay.

Yeah, that's like this, all right? You know, it's like, you know, these movies are all over 40 years old. You know, I can say whatever the fuck I want to put. I'm sure the directors are big boys, they got it. Now, there's a redmi of, so George Carlin, he would bring this regular, whatever. He's been dead a while.

He would bring this regular opener and people were like, they were like, that guy's not that great. And he was like, yeah, it's not his fucking show. I don't care what you think of him. I thought that was great. I mean, most guys are like, oh, you know, I brought this guy, I went you to,

and he was like, yeah, that guy's just filling time. Yeah, right. You're here to see me. Yeah, right. Oh, that's funny. Oh, that guy's just filling time. Yeah, right. You're here to see me. Yeah, right. Oh, that's funny. Oh, so he's not actually going out and hand picking, you know, the best dude, all right, from the club that he saw in Cleveland.

Yeah, right. This guy's just wearing a, while people seat, he'll be up there, go ahead and get a drink. When he's done, the real show starts. Yeah, okay. So he's not, he wasn't advocating for some, yeah, you need to check this guy out. He's so funny.

He was like, well, I remember the person who would talk about that is we need to watch a, you can go see a, Don Rickles. Oh, yeah. Because if Don Rickles would do his show, he would never have a comedian open his show. He would always have like some singer

that you've never heard of. Some woman usually go out and sing a bunch of songs. And then he come out and rag on her. You expect Todd Rickles to rag on you. Okay, she came out there. Apparently she thought she was doing a live album. Rickles would, you know, he would lay in everybody. Now, yeah. So you get me some of this. Now he laid in to me a couple times, did he? Oh, did? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Good ones? Oh, they were hysterical.

Yeah, he was so fucking funny. And he was with the Dodgers one time and this fucking Dominican baseball player, he comes up. He's like, how's it going? How's the language treating you? Your wife's still cleaning her hotel rooms? Yeah. Because then he sends her on it with Send Him On his way.

But I had, I know somebody who went to see him live and they were so excited and they wanted to get lit up. Right, yeah. So they put on like goofy glass. Oh, it's like he were pointing it in the eye. And they, and like, you know, buttoned up all the way and they kind of looked like, you know, almost like special needs.

Yeah, yeah. And they were like, oh, and he came by and put his hand on them and said, it's gonna be all right. They went too far. They went too far. So he saw her. I heard like the Bill Burr. All right, we say something a little bit like,

he went, uh, Don Rickles and he's like, excited. And like, he kind of wants to get a little bit of, and Dunibur! Yeah, I was saying something a little bit like he went sod don't recalls and he's like excited like I Kind of wants to get a little bit of it Dunnibor! Yeah, I know my name I was like yes, I got one it would be so amazing to get I mean you got it you got lit up by him. Yeah in person Yeah, uh-huh at a show or no no no no, I just had a party that a Oscar thing and it was during this during the time I was having a bit of a I was doing more acting in everything and that he was like a say he goes yeah this kid comes out of the

director now he's like oh no no I don't do no, no, no, I'm gonna start movies. Oh, oh, oh. But not only that, the best one though was, talk about embarrassing, literally one to hide under the carpet. I wasn't, I'm not speaking of acting, I was like in Vegas, I was acting in a movie in Vegas and it just turned out that during that time, Scorsese was doing a casino in Vegas at the time and I think Paul Verhoeven was doing showgirls in Vegas that they're both simultaneously taking over Vegas doing these movies. And so I had a day off and I'd never really met Martin Scorsese before and so I got an invite

and I'd never really met Martin Scorsese before and so I got an invite to go visit the set of Casino. So I'm gonna meet Scorsese. I'd met De Niro before, but I'd never met Scorsese and now I'm gonna actually go on Scorsese, sat and he knows I'm coming. So the whole idea is I'm gonna come for like an hour before lunch or maybe two hours before lunch and just kind of watch him shoot and all that

and then we would have lunch together. That's super excited. Yeah, fucking me. That was great. And so, uh, so they're shooting at some show girl area. Uh, yeah. There's a bunch of show girls in Denero. And so, uh,

Don Rickles is in that movie and he was on set. That day. So I'm walking, uh, okay, and I'm like, I, I've just done pulp fiction. I've only done two movies. I'm meeting one of my heroes for the very first time. I'm walking on Scressies. I'm going to have lunch with them later. This is, yeah, this is my, yeah, this is like right up there with, you know, the gates of Oz. Yeah, opening up. And I'm going to meet the wizard. So I'm walking to meet the wizard. I'm walking on the set that kind of see me and then Don Reckles goes, Quentin, thank God you're here.

This guy doesn't know what he's doing at all. Thank God a real director has finally showed up. This cat is out of it. Please say this is a disaster. It's a disaster. Please save us from this wreckage. You are a talented man. We need your talent.

Oh my God. Okay, that Marty's laughing. The crew is laughing. De Niro's laughing. I want to hide under the carpet. Yeah, of course, so funny. Ah, cold sweat. So funny though, dude.

That is so, he fucking, I've told this before, so when I had, I worked with Norm McDonald. And I was asking him about the rickals seen in dirty work. And he's like, we couldn't even get, we only had him for like a few hours. And they couldn't get through the scene because Rickles was just making them laugh. And they're supposed to stay straight. He's just like, he's just busting their trunks.

Firing him, firing him. And they're like, we're at the end of the window that we have. We still don't have it. Yeah. Literally people keep doubling over. And they finally like, we're at the end of the window that we have. We still don't have it. Literally people keep doubling over. And they finally get it. And then they, it's like two weeks later, he's coming back for another piece they're shooting.

And it's, it's the week that Sinatra is dying in the hospital. So, Norm's like, you know, it's in the news. So he's like, hey, you know, he's gonna say like, I'm sorry about Frank. And he's done, he said that Tom goes, oh yeah, yeah. I was with him yesterday in the hospital, you know, and he was all, eehh, and he was like, oh my God,

I'm like, so even then, he's still ripping on his dying thread, you know. Like, he's just ripping on his dying friend, you know. But he's just in book. You know that great Pat Henry joke about Frank Sinatra, he goes, yeah, Frank Sinatra saved my life once. These two mafia goons were beating the fuck out of me in an alley and the Sinatra goes, okay,

okay boys, he's had enough. That's good too. Did you, or I, I couldn't get asked, you mentioned him, was it a, I'm assuming a dream to book or to get to Nero for Jackie Brown? Now I was wonderful. Yeah, no, it was a big deal.

That was also kind of a funny story too, as far as, it kind of matches almost the Bruce Willis story, where I wrote Jackie Brown and I decided at some point in writing the script that Robert Forster would be terrific as Matt's cherry. Don't forget to have Robert Forster's story. Okay, good. And so while I'm still writing the script,

I bump into Robert Forster, we went to a coffee shop that was similar that we went to a bunch. The silver? Yeah, silver spoons. Yeah, yeah. That's right, that's where my story takes place. And so

So I decided I'm gonna give them the party because I figure Look, if I don't get this is be a big big deal part So if I don't give him the part then once I'm done with it and it gets out in the town Then it's gonna be like Gene Hackman's and Paul Newman's and people like that that will be pretty hard to say no to. But if I just give him the part right now, I've got the juice to get it through, and now I can't take it back because I won't, you know, that wouldn't be a man of my word. Yeah. So to lock myself into that decision, I give it to him before I finish writing it. I give it to him before I finish writing it. And so then now comes the time to do it. And so Robert De Niro reads it,

and he wants to be in it, but he wants to play Max. And I'm going to go, well, you know, I look you would be a fantastic Max, but I've already given that to Robert Forster, and I'm a man on my word, I can uh, look, he would be a fantastic max, but I want to, I've already given that to Robert Forster and I'm a man of my word. I can't take it back. Now, Danero is very much a man of his word. So he understands that. He gets that.

And he's just like, uh, yeah, that's just, uh, just, I'm just, it's just disappointing. Uh, it's just regretful. I go, what? Well, just because you were thinking about him, so you wrote it for him, but if we had had more dinners and hung out a little bit more than you would have been thinking about me and you would have written it for me. And I understand what happened, but that could have been changed if we had spent more time with each other before this.

And so he kinda discreeted the same Bruce Willis thing. Well, think about it. Just think about it for a couple of days, all right? And then, you know, kind of a going, going gone situation. Think about it for a couple of days and then let's talk again. Maybe Bob could play Lewis, the other guy. And so then I actually have Bob Reed Lewis,

all right, with me, and then Reed Max. And if that could work, maybe that could work. But it wasn't. No, everything that made him perfect for Max made him wrong for Lewis. And so I get on the phone with Denero. No, obviously in person actually with Denero. And I go, yeah, you know, I tried. I explored that. But no, everything about him that makes him perfect for Max makes him wrong to play this ex-convict guy. And he goes, yeah, yeah, I get that, I get that, I get that, I get that.

Okay, so tell me about this Lewis character. I go, you would consider playing Lewis? Yeah, it's a good character, it's a good movie. I want to be part? Yeah, it's a good character. It's a good movie. I want to be part of it. It's a good character. I wanted the other character, but yeah, yeah. This is a good character.

I'd be happy to play it. I go, well, you know, let me know that before. I go, well, I didn't want to let you off the hook. I wanted Lewis. I wanted you, you were on the hook. I wanted you on the hook. Yeah. But now if that ship has sailed, then let's talk about Lewis.

Well, and then it was done. Yeah, done deal. I recognized Robert Forster, and it was a cool thing to recognize him, because it made me feel like I was recognizing somebody kind of under the radar. Yeah. You know what I mean?

It's one thing when you're in LA, where you see fucking Matt Damon or something, you're like, well, yeah, that's Matt Damon. No, it's like Robert Forster, you see Don Stroud. Yeah, right. So I'm going to be. No, it's like, it's like Robert Forrestry, you see Don Stroud. You know that. So I'm going to that diner and I see him there and I, you know, he was, he was always there. I, every time I was there.

No, he was there every, every day. Yeah. If he wasn't on location, he was there. Yeah. I would see him reading a paper. Yeah, yeah. And I'd just say, oh, that's Robert Forrestry. And then one day I'm driving by there and he's stalled in the street.

Oh, holy shit. And it's Super Bowl Sunday. Oh. And so I reckon I start to go by and I go, do you need a jump? He's like, yes. And so I get out and he's very nice and very thankful. And as I'm, he's like, so what do you do, young man?

And I go, I'm a comedian. Yeah, where's the comedy store? I'm a comic. And he's like, so what do you do, young man? You know, and I go, I'm a comedian. Yeah, where's the comedy store? Yeah, I'm a comic. He's like, are you on HBO? And I go, no, I'm fucking 22, man. Yeah. And he was like, hopefully. Yeah, hopefully.

Hopefully. He's like, where can I see your stuff? And I was like, I mean, up there at the club, pot luck Thursday. Yeah. I have bringer shows where you can, I could pay of somebody for you to let, they'll let me do stand up if I pay that. And he's like, oh, okay, he's like, so,

and he brought up HBO a second time, he's like, so not HBO, I go, no man, not fucking HBO. And then I jumped his car, and he said, no, no, no, that was it. No, I know you gotta run, but it's a real treat. Thank you for my pleasure for coming and congrats on the book. Okay. You said you've been ready to get for a little bit. Where are you up to now? I don't know. You are talking about going to you've. Open chapter. Yeah. I didn't read it. I told you that I know boy you're still listening. I was listening to it You've listened to the open half of the opening chapter

I Where where in the opening chapter did you did you arrive at Hey, when you listen to it today for the first time as you drove from your house to the studio today Where you pulled up today? And I'll tell you where I am you're at the movies. Okay, that's where you're at in this one You're somewhere Oh, and I'm watching the Jim Brown movie Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's it the Jim Brown movie

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's it the Jim Brown movie. Yeah, that's the ticket That's the 70 something like that you're literally describing the first three pages Look man, I only go by audio. I don't know what pages mean You are literally describing the first three fucking pages Doesn't take away from the fact that I'm a genuine fan. Okay. No, no, it doesn't and I I ask good questions. Yes, you did. Yes, you did. Yes, you did. Doesn't mean that I'm not going to fucking read this Could a bit a little bit more in depth on the manuscript that I'm here to talk about but nevertheless nevertheless Can roasted by Quentin at the end of this thing I'm going to be a little bit more of a bit more of a bit more of a bit more of a bit more of a bit more of a bit more of a bit more of a bit more of a

bit more of a bit more of a bit more of a bit more of a bit more of a bit more of a bit more of a bit more of a bit more of a bit more of a bit more of a bit more of a bit more of a bit more of a bit more of a bit more of a bit more of a bit more of a bit more of a bit more of a bit more of a bit more of a bit more of a bit more of a bit more of a bit more of a bit more of a

bit more of a bit more of a bit more of a bit more of a bit more of a bit more of a bit more of a bit more of a bit more of a bit more of a bit more of a bit more of a bit more of a bit more of a bit more of a bit more of a bit more of a bit more of a bit more of a bit more of a bit more of a bit more of a bit more of a bit more of a

bit more of a bit more of a bit more of a bit more of a bit more of a bit more of a bit more of a bit more of a bit more of a bit more of a bit more of a bit more of a bit more of a bit more of a bit more of a bit more of a bit more of a bit more of a bit more of a bit more of a bit more of a bit more of a bit more of a bit more of a bit more of a bit more of a bit more of a bit more of a as far as you know. There you go. There you go. Thank you very much. Six weeks, New York Times bestseller list. Let's hope this makes it go back on. Okay. Also, lastly, a lot has been made. Memes, comments, you've leaned into it, you've leaned out. I don't know. A lot of people have talked about it. I have no idea what you're going to say. Well, I'm going to tell you. A lot has been made in films, the representation of beautiful

women's feet. And all on, I want to say something. Thank you. Okay. I don't know if anyone's ever said it, but I'll say it. Thank you. You're welcome. There's not a chance in hell that they'll keep the clean. Here's what we call, screw bears one cave. No scripts to bet a booze amateur, for topology. Dirty jokes, rancher humor, no apologies. Here's what we call, screw bears one cave. you