Quentin Tarantino Addresses Several Career Controversies, Slams Critics

Quentin Tarantino engaged in a wide-ranging discussion with podcast host Joe Rogan in a Joe Rogan Experience episode released Tuesday in which he tackled several of his career controversies.

The Oscar-winning writer-director discussed his pending retirement after his next film, the Bruce Lee fight in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and movie violence against female characters, as well as his history with producer Harvey Weinstein, among many other topics, which are highlighted below.

On criticism of Jennifer Jason Leigh’s character Daisy Domergue being repeatedly beaten by Kurt Russell’s John Ruth in The Hateful Eight: “It’s bullshit. There’s nothing that happens to her that couldn’t have happened to a man in that same situation. If instead of Daisy Domergue, it’s [David Carradine’s Boxcar Bertha train robber] Big Bill Shelly, a man who’s 250 pounds and a big Grizzly Adams beard, you wouldn’t think shit about Kurt Russell smacking him all the time. Well, I’m having it happen to a girl who’s just as bad as Big Bill Shelly because I’m not playing fucking favorites. It makes it a little harder to watch, but I’m down with it being a little harder to watch – good, it’s a fucking rough movie. It’s supposed to hurt. It’s like when it’s a Black family that runs the stage coach relay place and Daisy’s gang murders them all; having them Black makes it hurt more. Good, it’s supposed to hurt!”

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On Brad Pitt’s hardened stuntman Cliff Booth’s brutal attack on the murderous Manson Family members, including Susan Atkins (Mikey Madison) and Patricia Krenwinkel (Madisen Beaty): Rogan said that other filmmakers would not have been able to get away with that scene nowadays and that Tarantino’s history as an acclaimed and successful filmmaker enabled him to be “grandfathered in.” Tarantino replied, “We are talking about three of the bloodiest, most violent killers of the 20th century. Their own madness grandfathers their face being bashed in.”

On the Bruce Lee fight in Once Upon a Time, which was criticized for depicting the martial arts legend as a braggart who gets bested by Booth: Rogan pointed out, “a lot of people thought you made Bruce Lee into an asshole.” Tarantino replied, “I can understand his daughter having a problem with it, it’s her fucking father, I get that. But anybody else [can] go suck a dick. If you look at it, it’s obvious Cliff tricked him, that’s how he was able to [beat him,] it’s explained a bit more in the book.” Tarantino then explained that in their best-two-out-of-three contest, Cliff let Lee win the first round to see what move he would use, and then he expected Lee to use the same move the second time, which he then successfully countered. “Stuntmen hated Bruce on The Green Hornet, it’s in Matthew Polly’s book … Bruce had nothing but disrespect for American stuntmen and was always hitting them. He was always tagging them with his feet and his fists and it got to the point where they refused to work with him.” Rogan then wondered what Lee might have said if asked about this allegation, and Tarantino said, “Ah, ‘They’re just not good enough. They’re pussies. I want to make it look real.’ But [stuntmen] don’t like that, that’s not professional … Cliff is a combat killer. He fought in World War II … if Cliff fought Bruce Lee in a Madison Square Garden martial arts competition, Cliff wouldn’t stand a chance. But as a killer who killed men in a jungle, he’d kill him.”

On Harvey Weinstein, who produced most of Tarantino’s films and was sentenced to 23 years in prison in 2020 after being found guilty of rape and sexual assault: The director claimed a certain degree of the producer’s behavior was known by everybody — including the major actors who worked with him. He said the Weinstein situation made him feel “sad” and that he considered the producer a “fucked up father figure” … “I wish I had talked to the guy. I wish I had sat him down and had the uncomfortable conversation. I didn’t know about any rapes or anything like that … but I knew he was … I chalked it up to the boss chasing the secretary around the desk … he was making unwanted advances. That’s how I looked at it … I wish I had sat him down and gone, ‘Harvey you can’t do this, you’re gonna fuck up everything.’ I don’t think anybody talked to him about it. And the thing about it is everybody who was in his orbit knew about it … They didn’t know any, probably they didn’t know anything about rapes. But they had heard things.”

On planning to originally cast Mickey Rourke in Death Proof instead of Kurt Russell: “The agent was fucking around with us. I [said], ‘Here’s one of the offers, you have until 9 p.m. Friday night to accept or reject.’ And they let the deadline blow by.” He noted Rourke was interested and engaging on the role, but “the agents were like, ‘Oh they need him, so we can do anything we want.’ Whenever agents treat me like that, I pull the plug. They’re arsonists disguised as firemen.”

On his pending retirement after his next as-yet-unannounced 10th and final film: “You all know actors, bands, singers, sports dudes that you loved and when they were doing something new it was exciting and special. And then at a certain point, it’s not exciting or special anymore. It doesn’t mean they’re without worth, but it’s just not the excitement of when blah-blah-blah had a new movie or album coming out. I want to retire before I lose to Leon Spinks and leave you wanting more. I don’t want it to be like, ‘Forget about the shit he’s doing now, back in the day …'” Rogan countered: “But you’re at the top of your game,” to which Tarantino shot back, “That’s the perfect time!” Rogan noted some directors get too complacent, but, “You’re not that guy.” Tarantino: “I don’t think I’m that guy either. But it’s almost like … you’re not saying this, but way back, back, back behind what you’re saying, [the subtext is], ‘No motherfucker, we [the public get to] reject you. You don’t get to reject us! We’ll tell you when you’re done, you don’t tell us when you’re done! I don’t know what the next story is going to be. I imagine it will be more epilogue-y. [Once Upon] was the big one.” Tarantino added that he plans to continue writing for various projects during his retirement. “I hope to do two more books and a play and then we’ll see what we are. I want to do Hateful Eight onstage and I want to do Reservoir Dogs onstage … I could see myself writing a novelization of Reservoir Dogs…”

Tarantino is currently promoting his new 400-page novelization of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, which expands the story from his acclaimed film.