Last month, Quentin Tarantino drew some headlines when he said that Ava DuVernay‘s "Selma" was a picture that "deserved an Emmy." It was seen as something of a snarky takedown of the director’s Martin Luther King Jr. drama, but Tarantino later tried to clarify his comments saying he ranked the movie alongside the great TV movies of the ’70s and ’80s. Though his defence was muddled by the fact he hasn’t actually seen DuVernay’s film.
"I’d be honored to be placed next to those films. However, I haven’t seen it. Does it look like a seventies TV movie? Yes. Does it play like one, I don’t know, I haven’t seen it," Tarantino wrote in a statement.
DuVernay has remained quite about the hubbub until now, when asked by THR, and she has taken the classy high road. "I was surprised by how surprised everyone was. When you look at his work and his persona, there’s nothing surprising about what he said," she said. "But it didn’t bother me like so many assumed it would."
So, a bit of light jab back at Tarantino, but otherwise, it seems DuVernay has already moved on. But we’ll see what Tarantino has to say as I can’t imagine "The Hateful Eight" press tour won’t involve someone asking him about it.
Tarantino obviously isn\’t happy about da Varnay\’s Selma because one of its subtexts is to repair the sociopolitical alliance between African-American men and women. Coretta Scott King\’s relationship with the philandering MLK and her forgiveness of him is a big part of the film, and of course is also a larger symbolic gesture. Part of Tarantino\’s subtexts in his films has been to peel away Black women from Black men (his mother was a Laker groupie and often dated Black men when he was a child, leaving him feeling emasculated).
My god. He just shared his opinion about a movie.. That´s all. It wasn\’t like he tore it apart. And do people really think that Selma is great movie ? Come on…
Tarantino is such a fascinating contradiction to me. He is one of the greatest directors of all time but he does sound like a f***ing moron every time I\’ve heard him talk. Those movies though! Are WE the f***ing morons for not agreeing with him more often? I literally can\’t tell.
i love tarantino but have definitely soured on his work in past 5 or so years. its all still magnificent for the most part but nothing is all time great (like he\’d think) past jackie brown.
Agreed,Tarantino is a great director but he is annoying everytime he opens his mouth.
Tarantino needs to stfu fast. I enjoy his movies for the most part but hes so over rated and I hate him whenever he opens his mouth and bad talks everything else in the world