From selling pornography to shooting cult movies: 7 interesting facts about Quentin Tarantino, who turns 61 today. Photo

On Wednesday, March 27, Quentin Tarantino celebrates his 61st birthday, an extraordinary director whose films have become part of the golden fund of cinema (both his early films Mad Dogs and Pulp Fiction and, since 2019, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood). At the beginning of his career, he said that he planned to make 10 quality films and then give up directing to focus on writing novels and film literature. He succeeded! Two Oscars, two BAFTA statuettes and four Golden Globes...

In honor of the birthday of Hollywood's main movie rebel, let's recall the most interesting facts from his life in an OBOZ.UA article. You probably don't know the personality of the brilliant and at the same time eccentric Quentin well enough.

1. Questionable hobbies?

Quentin was born out of wedlock to nurse Connie McHugh and actor Tony Tarantino. This couple quickly broke up before their son was born... Later, the mother married another man, musician Curt Zastoupil, and he adopted the boy. The new family often went to the cinema: it was their favorite pastime. In addition, Quentin spent many hours in front of the TV, watching TV series and TV shows endlessly. As for school... He hated it. The only thing he really liked from the curriculum was history (the future director compared it to cinema).

There was another hobby that later became Tarantino's life's work: writing scripts and short stories. His teachers criticized his first attempts at writing. Unfortunately, his mother also suppressed the childhood ambitions of the future Hollywood screenwriter. In one of the verbal skirmishes, she said, "Oh, this writing career of yours is crap! Forget about it." To which Quentin replied, "Okay! But if I become famous as a great writer, you will never get a cent from my success. There will be no house, no vacation, no Cadillac for you. You will get nothing."

Looking ahead, we should add that the world-famous director indeed did not share the money he earned from filmmaking with his mother. He helped her only once when she had serious problems with the tax authorities.

2. His first job was not for children

At the age of 15, Quentin dropped out of school and started working in a movie theater where they showed pornography. Do you think he enjoyed this job? According to him, not at all. He was only interested in earning money and developing independence. "I liked real cinema, not this nasty, cheap stuff," he said in an interview in his later years.

Tarantino was probably still disingenuous... After all, sex and almost outright porn have become an integral part of his author's style. For example, let's recall the "basement scene" from Pulp Fiction, which was inspired by scenes from adult films. Some scenes, apparently, still lingered in the director's subconscious.

3. "No" to streaming platforms

In his youth, Tarantino worked at Video Archives, a video rental company, for some time. Back then, he paid attention to which films were in greatest demand (this knowledge later helped him a lot in his career as a director). When the store closed, Quentin bought the entire video archive. We are talking about about 8000 VHS tapes and DVDs. A sentimental attachment? No.

This is because Netflix, Apple TV+, Amazon Prime Video, and other streaming platforms were becoming popular at the time. Tarantino, on the other hand, remained a fan of VHS (the most common format for recording videotapes). "I'm not at all excited about streaming media. I like something physical that I can feel in my hands (cassettes - Ed.). I can't watch movies on a laptop," Quentin is quoted in Tom Roston's book I Lost It At the Video Store: A Filmmakers' Oral History of a Vanished Era.

4. He writes texts by hand and refuses to advertise brands

Quentin is known for writing all his scripts by hand, hidded in secluded places. This way he can more easily penetrate the creative process. Tarantino's films contain both innocent jokes and cruel, dark humor. They often disgust, repel, and question moral values and generally accepted norms of behavior... It should be added that this director likes to leave 20% of the film "invisible" (for example, he doesn't give away what's in the suitcase in Pulp Fiction) so that people can fantasize about the unexplained and unshown.

Another interesting thing: Quentin doesn't like to advertise brands in his work. Instead, he "creates" his own brands that don't really exist, including the infamous Kahuna hamburger, Red Apple Cigarettes, Jack Rabbit Slims, and Teriyaki Donuts.

5. He loves Formula 1 and hates football

Tarantino is convinced that men don't really like sports but pretend to enjoy it."I don't hang around billiard rooms, play poker, or go to sporting events (the exception is Formula 1 racing - Ed.). For me, even watching sports on TV is torture... One thing I don't understand is that the average American can't sit through three hours in a movie theater but can watch a four-hour idiotic football game with no problem," the director said emotionally in an interview.

Obviously, this is a painful issue for Quentin as many viewers have criticized his films for being too long.

6. Favorite actors

Some of the Hollywood stars have appeared in several of Quentin Tarantino's works. For example, the English actor Tim Roth appeared in the films Mad Dogs, Pulp Fiction, and The Hateful Eight. The American actor and film producer Leonardo DiCaprio was in Django Unchained and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

If we count the number of roles in Tarantino's films, the obvious record holder is the American actor Samuel L. Jackson. You can see him in Pulp Fiction, Django Unchained, and The Hateful Eight. The celebrity also played small roles in the films Jackie Brown and Kill Bill. And that's not all! In the movie Inglourious Basterds, you can hear Samuel's charismatic voice, which was honored to become a narrator.

7. Went to prison three times?

In numerous interviews, Quentin Tarantino loves to talk about how he was imprisoned three times. The reason was unpaid parking fines. According to him, the longest period was 8 days. The New York Post accused the director of lying, saying that Los Angeles law enforcement agencies had no information about these punishments. "A check of court records showed that in August 2000, he paid a fine of $871, including court costs, for a misdemeanor driving without a license," Captain Christopher Reed of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Office told the newspaper.

Thus, it's likely that Tarantino lied about his prison sentences to enhance his reputation as a "tough guy."

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