70 Fun Facts About Quentin Tarantino

In which city was Quentin Tarantino born in 1963?

His mother moved back to Los Angeles with him in 1966; he was later sent to live with his grandparents in Tennessee for a spell.

Tarantino was named in part after Quint Asper, a character played by Burt Reynolds in which TV Western?

His mother was a fan of the show; the future director never met his own father.

Tarantino spent five years working at the Video Archives store in which California city?

He liked to say that instead of film school, 'I went to films'.

As a 15-year-old, Tarantino was grounded for shoplifting a novel by which author from a Kmart?

He later adapted the same author's Rum Punch into Jackie Brown, and Leonard called it the best of the 26 adaptations of his work.

In 1988 Tarantino played an Elvis impersonator on an episode of which sitcom?

He said the roughly $3,000 in residuals from reruns helped support him while he prepared Reservoir Dogs.

Tarantino's first Hollywood job in 1986 was on an exercise video fronted by which action star?

He worked on Maximum Potential alongside Video Archives colleague Roger Avary, his future Pulp Fiction co-writer.

What was the title of the low-budget 1987 film Tarantino co-wrote and directed before Reservoir Dogs?

It was never completed, but some of its dialogue ended up in True Romance.

Which of Tarantino's scripts was sold to finance Reservoir Dogs and directed by Tony Scott in 1993?

He wrote it non-linearly; Scott straightened out the timeline and changed the ending so the lovers survive.

Which director's rewrite of Natural Born Killers left Tarantino with only a story credit?

The falling-out is one of several public feuds in his career.

Reservoir Dogs' title reportedly came from a customer mishearing Tarantino recommend which French film?

He also liked that it sounded like a Jean-Pierre Melville picture starring Alain Delon.

Which colour-coded alias does Tarantino himself play in Reservoir Dogs?

He originally planned to shoot it for $30,000 in black-and-white 16 mm with his friends before Harvey Keitel came aboard.

Which 1970s song plays as Mr. Blonde tortures the captured cop in Reservoir Dogs?

The Stealers Wheel track became inseparable from the ear-slicing scene.

Reservoir Dogs was accused of borrowing heavily from City on Fire, a 1987 heist film from which country?

Tarantino has openly called Ringo Lam's film a major influence.

At which festival did Reservoir Dogs premiere in January 1992?

He had workshopped a short version at the Sundance Institute the previous summer.

Which prize did Pulp Fiction win at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival?

It went on to earn Tarantino his first Academy Award, for Best Original Screenplay.

With whom did Tarantino share the Best Original Screenplay Oscar for Pulp Fiction?

The two had met working the counter at Video Archives.

Which character does Tarantino play in Pulp Fiction?

His suburban house is where Jules and Vincent clean up the mess in 'The Bonnie Situation'.

Tarantino's admiration for which 1981 Brian De Palma film led him to cast John Travolta in Pulp Fiction?

Travolta's career was in the doldrums; the role earned him an Oscar nomination.

Jackie Brown is an adaptation of which 1992 crime novel?

It remains the only feature Tarantino has directed from someone else's source material.

Jackie Brown pays homage to Coffy and Foxy Brown, both of which starred which actress?

She walks through the airport to Bobby Womack's 'Across 110th Street', another blaxploitation borrowing.

Which Jackie Brown actor earned an Academy Award nomination for playing bail bondsman Max Cherry?

It was his and Pam Grier's first lead role in a major film in many years.

Tarantino wrote From Dusk till Dawn as his first paid writing assignment. How much was he paid?

Effects house KNB paid him in 1990 in exchange for a promise that they would do the makeup on Reservoir Dogs.

In From Dusk till Dawn, Tarantino plays the deranged brother of a bank robber played by whom?

The brothers end up trapped in a desert strip club that turns out to be full of vampires.

Tarantino directed the final segment of which 1995 anthology film with Rodriguez, Anders and Rockwell?

Tim Roth plays the bellhop who links the four stories.

Roughly how long was the Kill Bill cut that persuaded the studio to split it into two volumes?

Harvey Weinstein, known for pressuring directors to trim, suggested the split, announced in July 2003.

For which actor did Tarantino originally write Bill in Kill Bill, before David Carradine?

As the part grew to demand more screen time and martial arts training, the Kung Fu star took over.

In Kill Bill, the Bride travels to Okinawa to obtain a sword from which legendary swordsmith?

The character is named in tribute to Sonny Chiba's role in the 1980s Japanese series Shadow Warriors, and Chiba plays him.

Why is the Bride's fight against the Crazy 88 in Kill Bill: Volume 1 shown partly in black and white?

The animated O-Ren Ishii backstory in the same film was produced by Ghost in the Shell studio Production I.G.

What is the name of the deadly move the Bride uses to finally kill Bill in Kill Bill: Volume 2?

Master Pai Mei supposedly refused to teach it to anyone; a victim can take only five steps before dying.

What is the Bride's real name, finally revealed in Kill Bill: Volume 2?

It is bleeped out whenever it is spoken in Volume 1.

The Pussy Wagon from Kill Bill later made a cameo in the music video for which 2010 song?

Lady Gaga and Beyoncé borrowed the truck at Tarantino's suggestion.

On which 2005 Robert Rodriguez film was Tarantino credited as 'Special Guest Director' for a car scene?

He reportedly did it for a dollar, returning a favour after Rodriguez scored Kill Bill for the same fee.

The 2007 Grindhouse double feature paired Tarantino's slasher with which Robert Rodriguez zombie film?

Robert Rodriguez directed the zombie half; the whole package underperformed at the US box office.

Who plays Stuntman Mike, the killer with rigged stunt cars, in Tarantino's half of Grindhouse?

Tarantino cast him wanting to make his childhood hero 'a badass again'.

Which stuntwoman, the Bride's double on Kill Bill, plays herself in the climax of Tarantino's Death Proof?

She has since acted or done stunts in seven of Tarantino's films.

Which of his own films did Tarantino call 'the worst movie I ever made' at a 2012 directors' roundtable?

He added that if that was as bad as it got, he was doing fine.

Inglourious Basterds is a misspelled nod to a 1978 war film by which Italian director?

Tarantino called the odd spelling 'a Basquiat-esque touch'; Castellari has a cameo at the film premiere.

Which comedian was Tarantino's first choice for Donny 'The Bear Jew' Donowitz in Inglourious Basterds?

He turned it down because of a scheduling clash with Funny People.

Which Inglourious Basterds character won Christoph Waltz prizes at Cannes and the Oscars?

The self-styled 'Jew Hunter' was Waltz's first English-language starring role after decades in German TV.

How many Best Supporting Actor Oscars has Christoph Waltz won for Tarantino films?

He is the only actor to win two Oscars under Tarantino, for Inglourious Basterds and Django Unchained.

Django Unchained takes its title from a 1966 Spaghetti Western directed by whom?

Its star, Franco Nero, turns up in a cameo asking Jamie Foxx how his name is spelled.

What was Christoph Waltz's Dr. King Schultz before becoming a bounty hunter in Django Unchained?

He still travels in a wagon with a giant tooth bobbing on a spring above it.

Which of these was considered for the title role in Django Unchained before Jamie Foxx was cast?

Idris Elba was also mentioned; the film became Tarantino's biggest hit at $449 million.

Roughly how much did Django Unchained, the highest-grossing Western ever, take worldwide?

It passed Dances with Wolves for the Western record and won Tarantino his second screenplay Oscar.

Leonardo DiCaprio really cut his hand while filming which Django Unchained scene?

He smashed a glass slapping the table and carried on in character.

Tarantino nearly abandoned The Hateful Eight in January 2014. Why?

He staged a live reading of the leaked draft instead, then relented and shot the film in Colorado a year later.

The Hateful Eight was released in a roadshow version on which extra-wide film format?

It was the widest 70 mm release since Far and Away in 1992, until Dunkirk two years later.

Which composer won his only competitive Oscar for The Hateful Eight, the sole original score in a Tarantino film?

It was his first complete Western score in 34 years, after five previous nominations without a win.

Most of The Hateful Eight takes place in a snowbound stagecoach stopover called what?

Filming took place near Telluride, Colorado, from January 2015.

In Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, what is the name of DiCaprio's fading TV-Western star?

His old series was Bounty Law; Tarantino himself voices its narration and plays the director of a Red Apple cigarettes ad.

What is the name of Cliff Booth's pit bull in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood?

The dog earns her keep in the finale; the film won the Palm Dog at Cannes.

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood was the first Tarantino film made without which producers?

He cut ties after the 2017 abuse allegations and made the film with Sony instead.

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is dedicated to which actor, who died in March 2019?

He plays Wayne Maunder, the star of Lancer, in the show-within-the-film.

Tarantino's 2021 debut novel resolves an ambiguity left open by the film it adapts. What does it confirm?

The book is dedicated to Robert Blake, and it goes further than the film in filling in Cliff's backstory.

What is the title of Tarantino's 2022 non-fiction book about the films of the New Hollywood era?

He said it was inspired by the critic Pauline Kael.

What was the title of the tenth-film script Tarantino developed and then abandoned?

He has long said he intends to retire after ten films; after dropping The Movie Critic in 2024 he said he was in no hurry to make the last one.

Which Los Angeles cinema did Tarantino buy in 2010, promising it would always show films on 35 mm?

He added a second theatre, the Vista, in 2021, also film-only.

Tarantino co-wrote and directed 'Grave Danger', the 2005 season finale of which TV series?

It brought him a Primetime Emmy nomination for directing.

Which editor, Tarantino's 'number one collaborator', cut all his films until her death in 2010?

Fred Raskin took over from Django Unchained onward.

Which actress has Tarantino described as his 'muse', having featured her in three of his films?

They developed the Bride together during Pulp Fiction and she headlined Kill Bill.

Which fictional brand of cigarettes recurs across Tarantino's films in place of real product placement?

Big Kahuna Burger, Jack Rabbit Slim's and K-Billy radio are among his other invented labels.

In 1998 Tarantino made his Broadway debut, to poor reviews, in a revival of which 1966 thriller?

He played the psychopathic villain opposite Marisa Tomei.

Which director publicly criticised Tarantino in 1997 for his frequent use of racial slurs in Jackie Brown?

Samuel L. Jackson, who starred in both, defended the writing.

How many Academy Awards has Tarantino personally won?

Both were for Best Original Screenplay, for Pulp Fiction and Django Unchained; he has never won Best Director.

In 1995 Tarantino formed Rolling Thunder Pictures with Miramax to do what?

It put out titles such as Chungking Express before Miramax shut it down in 1997 for poor sales.

Which 1977 Burt Reynolds film inspired the screenplay Tarantino wrote at 14, Captain Peachfuzz?

His mother ridiculed his writing, and he later vowed never to share any of his future wealth with her.

Which two studio projects did Tarantino turn down after Reservoir Dogs, retreating to Amsterdam to write Pulp Fiction?

His usual line about film school is 'No, I went to films', a reference to his years recommending tapes at Video Archives.

From 2002 to 2004 Tarantino played the villain McKenas Cole in which ABC spy series?

In 2004 he also served as president of the Cannes jury, where Kill Bill: Volume 2 screened out of competition.

Tarantino helped produce Freedom's Fury, a documentary about a 1956 Olympic match in which sport?

The Hungary-USSR 'Blood in the Water' match came to him while negotiating with Lucy Liu for Kill Bill; he called it the best story he had ever been told.

Which actor has appeared in five films directed by Tarantino, plus a sixth that he wrote?

Stuntwoman-turned-actress Zoë Bell has acted or done stunts in seven of his films, and Madsen appears in five.