In January of 1992 a film titled Reservoir Dogs hit the Sundance Film festival. The writer-director was a first-timer by the name of Quentin Tarantino. The film garnered critical acclaim and the director became a legend in the England, UK and the cult film circuit. Two years later he followed up 'Dogs' with the film Pulp Fiction. 'Pulp' premiered at the Cannes film festival, where it won the coveted 'Palme D'Or' the virtual equal of the Best Picture at the Academy Awards. At the 1995 Academy Awards, 'Pulp' was nominated for the Best Picture Oscar, also for Best Director and Best Original Screenplay, among others. Tarantino and writing partner Roger Avary came away with the award only for Best Original Screenplay. In 1995, Tarantino directed one fourth of the Anthology Four Rooms with friends and fellow auteurs Alexandre Rockwell, Robert Rodriguez, and Allison Anders. That film was released on December 25th in the United States to very weak reviews. This is mainly due to the heavy cutting of the first two segments and the introduction which make much of the plotline unintelligible, and creates a complete mess out of the second segment, directed by Alexandre Rockwell. The best two segments of the film are Robert Rodriguez's and Tarantino's. Tarantino's next film was From Dusk Till Dawn, a crime/vampire film which he wrote and co-starred with George Clooney. The film did fairly well theatrically.


Was sued by Don Murphy for $5,000,000, accused of assault. Tarantino attacked Murphy in restaurant, slammed him against the wall and punched him. [14 November 1997] Was planning to direct an episode of "The X Files" (1993) but refused to join the Director's Guild of America. The Guild refused his request for a waiver so that he could direct the show. [November 1996] First noted screenplay was titled "Captain Peachfuzz and the Anchovy Bandit," which was written in 1985. Collects old board games having to do with TV shows like "I Dream of Jeannie" (1965), "The Dukes of Hazzard" (1979), "The A-Team" (1983), etc. Is widely reported to have helped to write Tony Scott's Crimson Tide (1995). Is a big fan of The Three Stooges. Although he uses both elements in his films, he strongly detests violence and drugs. Two of Tarantino's favorite films are _'Manos' the Hands of Fate (1966)_ (which he owns a 35mm copy of) and Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan (1982), which he references in Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003). Considers Ride in the Whirlwind (1965) one of the finest Westerns ever made, even writing an extensive article about it for Sight And Sound magazine titled A Rare Sorrow. The article was featured in the Pulp Fiction (1994) Special Edition DVD as an extra and also appears in Paul A. Woods' Film Geek Files (pgs. 129-132). Interestingly, the director of Ride in the Whirlwind, Monte Hellman, was the executive producer of Reservoir Dogs (1992). He is a good friend of Robert Rodriguez. Named after the Burt Reynolds character Quint Asper from "Gunsmoke" (1955) In 1994, before Pulp Fiction (1994), in an interview with Charlie Rose, he cited his three favorite films as Blow Out (1981) (directed by Brian De Palma), Rio Bravo (1959) (directed by Howard Hawks) and Taxi Driver (1976) (directed by Martin Scorsese). Considers two of his best friends to be Paul Thomas Anderson and Sofia Coppola. Once a vocal proponent of celluloid-over-digital film-making, Tarantino got his first experience with the latter technology by directing a segment of the film Sin City (2005) with his friend 'Robert Rodriguez' (I) . Rodriguez, who lauds the technology at every opportunity, made it his mission to convert Tarantino as well. At the end of shooting, Tarantino is reported to have said simply, "Mission accomplished." Hates product placement hence, the use of the fictional cigarette Red Apple and now-defunct cereal Fruit Brute in his films. Six of his movies are mentioned in FHM's (DK) 100 Best Male Movies Ever (7 October 2004 issue): True Romance (1993) at #75, From Dusk Till Dawn (1996) at #73, Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004) at #26, Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003) at #25, Reservoir Dogs (1992) at #11, and Pulp Fiction (1994) at #1. Has stated that he would like to direct a James Bond movie at some point in his career. Named his production company, A Band Apart, after the Jean-Luc Godard film Bande à part (1964) (Band of Outsiders). Is a huge fan of the Half-Life computer game series, and has considered possibilities of directing a movie adaptation. Cites his influences as Martin Scorsese, Brian De Palma, Sergio Leone, and Jean-Luc Godard. Was the spokesman for SkyperfecTV, a Japanese based satellite TV network, a competitor to the now locally defunct DirecTV endorsed by Arnold Schwarzenegger. Eli Roth wanted to have the world premiere of Hostel (2005) at the 2005 Iceland Film Festival. During the festival, Roth and Quentin Tarantino were made honorary vikings at Viking Village, in a ceremony arranged by Eythor Gudjonsson. Roth's Icelandic name is Eli Sheldonsson, and Tarantino's Icelandic name is Quentin Conniesson. Each of his movies, with the exception of Death Proof (2007), features someone from the cast of Martin Scorsese's Mean Streets (1973). Harvey Keitel from Reservoir Dogs (1992) and Pulp Fiction (1994), Robert De Niro from Jackie Brown (1997), David Carradine from Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003) and Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004), and David Proval is in Four Rooms (1995). Was originally offered the chance to direct Speed (1994/I), but turned it down. Is spoofed in the short film Let's Get Real! (1999), which contains several satirical references to Pulp Fiction (1994). Named his favorite films of 2005 as Sin City (2005), Domino (2005), Hustle & Flow (2005) and The Devil's Rejects (2005). During his stay in the Philippines, Tarantino got trapped in traffic due to flooding as he was traveling to Malacanang Palace to meet President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and receive a lifetime achievement award. Refusing to give up, he and his partner Tikoy Aguiluz got off their limousine and took a pedicab each to reach the palace. After arriving, Tarantino stated "It was a lot of fun. It just took a long time but it was not bad at all". His father was born in Queens, New York, and has a sister named Diane. Their parents are Dominic Tarantino and wife Elizabeth. After his parents divorced, his mother married Curtis Zastoupil. Wrote the forward for the book Unfiltered: The Complete Ralph Bakshi". Was ex-girlfriend Mira Sorvino's date the night she won her best supporting actress Oscar. Close friends with Jennifer Beals. In the 2008 Empire Magazine poll of the 500 Greatest Movies of All Time, Tarantino listed his favorite films as: 1. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966), (Sergio Leone), 2. Rio Bravo (1959), (Howard Hawks), 3. Blow Out (1981), (Brian De Palma), 4. Taxi Driver (1976), (Martin Scorsese), 5. His Girl Friday (1940), Howard Hawks), 6. 5 Fingers of Death / King Boxer (1972), (Chang-hwa Jeong), 7. Pandora's Box (1929), ('Georg Wilhelm Pabst'), 8. Carrie (1976), (Brian De Palma), 9. Unfaithfully Yours (1948), (Preston Sturges), 10. Five Graves to Cairo (1943), (Billy Wilder), 11. Jaws (1975), (Steven Spielberg). Choices #2, 3 and 4 are marked as "interchangeable". Directed 5 actors in Oscar nominated performances: John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Uma Thurman, Robert Forster, and Christoph Waltz. Waltz won for his performance in Inglourious Basterds (2009). Jason Sarayba is a huge fan of his. He screens Rio Bravo (1959) for potential girlfriends as a test of their compatibility.