Speaker A
Quentin Tarantino movies. I make movies for an audience, and they indulge in big set pieces that get an audience reaction.
Quentin Tarantino explains how his video store job, acting training, and personal experiences shaped his writing, dialogue, and directing style, from Jackie Brown to Kill Bill.
Key Takeaways
- Tarantino's filmmaking is shaped by his film-store background, acting training, and self-taught writing.
- Personal emotion is essential to his stories, even when hidden inside genre conventions.
- He prefers curated licensed music over original scores to preserve his vision.
- Non-linear structure and big audience-reaction set pieces define his approach.
What the video covers
- Tarantino says he makes movies for an audience, favoring big set pieces that provoke audience reactions.
- He describes seeing the whole movie in his mind before filming, and the excitement of writing when inspiration takes the story somewhere new.
- His early influences came from working at the Video Archives store in Manhattan Beach, which exposed him to foreign films, classics, and oddball genre films.
- Studying acting for six years taught him dialogue, as he expanded scenes in acting class and applied actor techniques to writing.
- He says he never took writing classes, instead learning by doing and drawing on his own experiences.
- Personal pain, such as a breakup, finds its way into his stories, buried within genre elements like Kill Bill.
- He discusses his non-linear, back-and-forth storytelling style and chapter-based structure.
- Harvey Weinstein pushed him to add a score to Jackie Brown, but Tarantino insisted on using licensed existing music, refusing to trust a composer with the film's soul.
- He frames filmmaking as a passionate, blessed way of life and a cultural phenomenon.
- He sees his films as personal autobiographies wrapped in crazy genre worlds.
Chapters
- 00:00Making Movies for an Audience
- 02:01Inspiration and Visualizing the Film
- 04:22Early Influences: The Video Store
- 07:01Learning to Write Through Acting
- 08:51Personal Pain in Genre Filmmaking
- 09:32Kill Bill and Autobiographical Storytelling
- 11:32Music and Soundtrack Choices on Jackie Brown
- 17:25Non-Linear Structure and Closing Thoughts
Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown
Speaker A
And to me, that's a good night at the movies. [Music] I see the movie in my mind before I make the movie, I've watched the movie.
Speaker A
And to me, that's a good night at the movies.
Speaker A
That first real flash of excitement is always when I'm writing something that should go this way and then all of a sudden inspiration happens and it goes somewhere else and I'm party to it.
Speaker A
I see the movie in my mind before I make the movie. I've watched the movie.
Speaker A
Find whatever story or genre, I want to deal with and do just my own little version of it.
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I've got a genuine vision. That's how I see it.
Speaker A
[Music] And the Oscar goes to... Mr. Tarantino. [Crowd Applause] [Music] Some boys are into sports.
Speaker A
So, Mr. Willis, is this the finest moment of your acting career, or what?
Speaker A
Place called "Video archives." We were specialty was like foreign films classics, TV shows, you know this oddball stuff.
Speaker A
That first real flash of excitement is always when I'm writing something that should go this way, and then all of a sudden inspiration happens and it goes somewhere else, and I'm party to it.
Speaker A
The films of Michael Parks, the films of Andre DeToth, you know, that store was five my one source of artistic expression.
Speaker A
I was put on Earth to face the blank page and pull stuff out of me.
Speaker A
And I always doing bizarre scenes in acting class. Little by little, I just — I started adding more and more and more to the scenes and that was me learning how to write dialogue.
Speaker A
Find whatever story or genre I want to deal with and do just my own little version of it.
Speaker A
My whole thing was - everything I learned as an actor of studying acting for six years, I've basically applied to writing.
Speaker A
Quentin Tarantino Movies.
Speaker A
And I break up with my girlfriend, who I'm like madly in love with and in my heart is shattered.
Speaker A
According to filmmaker and historian Peter Bogdanovich, you are the single most influential director of our generation.
Speaker A
Well the same thing with me as a writer. That pain that I'm feeling has got to find its way into the story or else what am I doing?
Speaker A
And the Oscar goes to... Mr. Tarantino.
Speaker A
So, I bury it inside of a bunch of other stuff, but it's still all very real and it's still coming from me.
Speaker A
Some boys are into sports.
Speaker A
But sticking them in crazy genre world. [Music] -Your unique storytelling. What led you to constructing that?
Speaker A
Some boys are into cars. I was always into movies.
Speaker A
They're doing something and it's just moving in the forward momentum of what they're doing that's taking place in the here and now.
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I worked in a video store in Manhattan Beach, California.
Speaker A
-I always thought if you did it the way they did it in novels that would be inherently cinematic.
Speaker A
The place was called "Video Archives." Our specialty was foreign films, classics, TV shows, you know, this oddball stuff.
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It was drab. -How did you get out? -Shot my way out. They start shooting, so I blasted my way out of there.
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I had a shelf, and every week I would do a new theme.
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But I knew this material better than they did. What I could do is put a bunch of actors in a room and get the best out of them.
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The films of Michael Parks, the films of Andre De Toth. That store was my one source of artistic expression.
Speaker A
The cops didnt`t show up when the alarm went off. They didn`t show up until after Mr Blonde went off.
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The time I never even thought about writing, but where I actually realized I had a little bit of talent at it was going to acting class.
Speaker A
- Look, look. Fuck this Mr.White shit. All right. Hey, hey, hey, wait a minute, don`t tell me your fucking name, I don`t want to know it.
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I was always doing bizarre scenes in acting class. Little by little, I started adding more and more and more to the scenes, and that was me learning how to write dialogue.
Speaker A
You're there to find it together. Bruce, Bruce, Bruce gives just a little bit more of a slow burner.
Speaker A
All of my writing techniques, I never took any writing classes or seminars or anything like that. I didn't read any pamphlets.
Speaker A
Not be watching it on a monitor and not be watching it on a TV set.
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My whole thing was everything I learned as an actor, studying acting for six years, I've basically applied to writing.
Speaker A
-Tell him: "Fuck You." -Fuck You. -And then throw it to everybody all around you.
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If I'm playing, I don't know, whatever, "Sugar Babies," something really crazy in a theater production.
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-Struck a room. Here you go. Get out of your house. Action. [Fighting] Cut. Damn good, yeah.
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And I break up with my girlfriend, who I'm madly in love with, and in my heart I'm shattered.
Speaker A
CUT TO: BLACK SCREEN... "The 4th Film by Quentin Tarantino." [Laughing] [Music] That was me, throwing my hat into the action film making ring in a big way.
Speaker A
When I go out on stage, I have to bring that experience on with me.
Speaker A
That's the Hong Kong way, you know. The American way is like if you ever wonder if we should in this room, we cut the room in half and we do one thing on this side first, and then we do everything on that side.
Speaker A
Well, the same thing goes for me as a writer. That pain that I'm feeling has got to find its way into the story, or else what am I doing?
Speaker A
And hope that all the editings works. Okay. Action. So what you do is, you break everything down to two,three or four fight movement.
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I mean, "Kill Bill" was insanely personal.
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[Fighting Sounds] Then also because you're fighting in order. Anything that happens to the costumes is fine.
Speaker A
Hello, kiddo.
Speaker A
[Sword Slashing Sound] She's leaving a trail of death and destruction behind her, but it's all right there.
Speaker A
I don't necessarily want you to know why it's so damn personal and why it was ripped from my heart.
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He is the filmmaker that you can spot the most in my work. [Music] That kind of operatic quality.
Speaker A
So I bury it inside of a bunch of other stuff, but it's still all very real, and it's still coming from me.
Speaker A
[Music] It all started on Jackie Brown. [Music] Harvey Weinstein was like: "That's not enough music in it. I think you really need to put a score.
Speaker A
It's been a pleasure chatting with a fellow cinema lover. Sweet dreams, mademoiselle.
Speaker A
I'm not gonna hire some guy that I could write a score in the next four days.
Speaker A
I really like taking my story, what I have to say, my tale, my little autobiographies.
Speaker A
Can I do that? Well, yeah, I guess if I license it I can do anything I want.
Speaker A
But sticking them in crazy genre worlds.
Speaker A
I said: "Well, I don't see any reason to change. I like doing it this way." [Music] I didn't ever want to trust a composer with the soul of my movie.
Speaker A
Your unique storytelling. What led you to constructing that?
Speaker A
With Marconi is because yeah, you know, so I see a theme that it's moving forward.
Speaker A
Sort of back and forth, non-linear style.
Speaker A
That sounds pretty fucking good. [Laughing] [Music] -I ain`t dead yet, you black bastard. [Laughing] A filmography is not a hit-or-miss thing.
Speaker A
I've read novels, and in novels you can start in the middle of the story.
Speaker A
Times are changing slowly, but surely and it's men like you that will make a difference.
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They're doing something, and it's just moving in the forward momentum of what they're doing, that's taking place in the here and now.
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We have a little mantra that me and the crew doing a long time where we say: "Okay, we've got it. But we're going to do one more.
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And now it comes to chapter three, and chapter three happened two years before.
Speaker A
-Because we love making movies! And we do. We're living a great life that we're just absolutely blessed to live it.
Speaker A
Right.
Speaker A
That's what I'm really here to do. This is the Zeitgeist Movement. This is a phenomenon.
Speaker A
I always thought if you did it the way they did it in novels, that would be inherently cinematic.
Speaker A
[Crowd Chatting]
Topics:Quentin TarantinofilmmakingscreenwritingdirectingKill BillJackie Browndialoguenon-linear storytellingfilm soundtrackVideo Archives
