======================================================= Q U E N T I N T A R A N T I N O A N D S O M E O F H I S F I L M S ======================================================= Quentin Tarantino was born in Knoxville, Tennessee, on the 27th of March, 1963. His mother, Connie Tarantino, named him after Burt Reynold’s character, Quint in Gunsmoke. His real father, Tony Tarantino left them at an early stage. His stepfather’s name was Curt Zastoupil. When Quentin was 2 years old, they moved to South Los Angeles, and that is where Quentin grew up. At this early age his mother took him to the cinema for the first time, he saw the tough film Carnal Knowledge when he was 8 years old and Deliverance when he was 9. Because of this early introduction to films, Quentin just knew what he would do in the future. When Quentin was 16, he left school to make his ultimate dream come true, to be an actor. He began working very hard. For example he took a job at the local ”pussycat theater”. When he was 22 years old he got his most important job, at the video archives, a store in Manhattan Beach, California. There he and Roger Avary spent all day watching discussing and recommending videos. He always wanted to be an actor but soon he realised that he was going to be a director. He made his first (unfinished) film in 1986 - My best friend’s birthday, and after that he wrote his first script True Romance a year later. By 1988, Tarantino had written his second script, Natural Born Killers. Natural Born Killers was later sold to Oliver Stone, who re-wrote it. After Quentin read the re-write and found out it was completely different from his original version, he promised him self never to sell another script. In 1990 he sold the script True Romance for $50 000. He decided to use this money to make his third script, Reservoir Dogs. He was supposed to make it on 16mm and in black and white with his dearest friends in the leading roles. At this time Quentin left the video store to do rewrites for CineTel, a small Hollywood production company - where he met Lawrence Bender. Bender was going on acting classes given by a friend of Harvey Keitel’s wife. Keitel saw Quentin’s script and was very impressed. He helped Quentin with money problems, and helped Quentin cast the main roles, Harvey would also get a role in the film. At this point, producers Monte Hellman and Richard Gladstein also joined the project. In 1991, Quentin filmed some scenes at Sundance with him playing the role of Mr Brown and Harvey Keitel playing the role of Mr White and Steve Buscemi playing Mr Pink. These scenes were shown to all kinds of film people to give their comments. The group containing Terry Gilliam were very impressed. Reservoir Dogs finally had its premier at Sundance in 1992 after having been shown at almost every film festivals around the World. Miramax picked the film up for distribution after Sundance and it was released in the US later in 1992 and in the UK on January 8 1993. Tarantino travelled around all the festivals in 1992 promoting his film and writing his next script, Pulp Fiction which won the Palme D'Or at Cannes in 1994. It was finally shown on October 14 in the US and October 21 in the UK. Pulp Fiction went on to become one of the bestknown movies of 1994, grossing over 100 million dollars worldwide and picking up several Academy Award nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor and Actress, and winning an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. After the release of Pulp Fiction, Quentin said that he would like to take some time off directing and perhaps ”live a life”. He has since guest starred in friend Margaret Chos ”All American Girl”, a half an hour comedy series featuring a Korean family. The episode was a parody of Pulp Fiction and was titeled ”Pulp Sitcom”, Which I don´t know the meaning of. Quentin starred as Johnny Destiny in Dylan McDermotts heavy movie, Destiny ”Turns On the Radio”. And not so long ago he directed an episode of the award-winnig hospital drama series ”ER”, one of his favourite shows. He has written a unknown part of the thriller Crimson Tide which is known in Sweden as ”Rött Hav”. In his latest film, Desperado, he is playing the drug dealer, El aka Mariachi. It will be shown in Sweden sometime during end of 95 or begining of 96. Reservoir Dogs (1992) (Actor - Mr Brown) (Director) (Writer) Reservoir Dogs is the first film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino and was released in the USA in 1992 and in the UK at the beginning of 1993. The plot of the film is said to be borrowed from the Hong Kong crime movie City of Fire which is one of Quentin’s favourite movies. This film starts right after the robbery, with flashbacks to before the robbery, and to the planning of the crime. The film is about six robbers who have been involved in an attempted jewellery heist. The robbery has been organised by Joe Cabot with his son Nice Guy Eddie who have put together a team of six men, each with a different role to play and each with a different colour chosen by Joe. The robbery has gone wrong but one of them has still managed to get away with the diamonds. Joe Cabot believes that one of their robbers is a police informer and the whole thing ends with a Mexican stand off (I think it is called so. It is a triangular shooting). Past Midnight (1992) (Associate) (Producer) (Uncredited Writer) A man (Hauer) gets out of prison after 15 years for stabbing his wife to death, and his social worker (Richardson) becomes convinced he was innocent. As she researches his case, and interviews other people who were involved, she begins to fall in love with him, but her friends warn her that he's dangerous. True Romance (1993) (Writer) Clarence and Alabama, are newly married. They get mixed up with dangerous gangsters when Clarence kills a gangster and by mistake takes a suitcase full with drugs. The gangsters follow them and kill Clarence’s father. They are hunted by Gangsters and the Police. The end is very bloody. Sleep with Me (1994) (Actor - Sid) Six different writers wrote a scene each of this romantic comedy featuring the marriage and turbulent relationship of Joseph and Sarah, with Joseph's best friend Frank trying hard to cope with letting the love of his life marry his best friend. Featuring Quentin Tarantino in a cameo as Sid, a movie-bore party goer Pulp Fiction (1994) (Actor - Jimmie) (Director) (Story Writer) The film opens in a diner where a couple of thieves, Honey Bunny and Pumpkin discuss the possibility of robbing restaurants. This film contains several stories. Pumpkin and Honey Bunny are smalltime robbers in love. Vincent and partner Jules are philosophical hitmen for their big boss Marsellus Wallace, and Vincent also has the not-very-comfortable job of escorting Mia, the wife of jealous Marsellus. Meanwhile, the tough boxer Butch plans to doublecross Marsellus. The stories are told in different order and in the end we finally return to the diner for the final scene. Originally the script was three separate stories written by Quentin and his friend Roger Avery (from the video store in Manhattan Beach) and Reservoir Dogs was one of those stories Natural Born Killers (1994) (Story Writer - If you can call it that) The adventures of Mickey and Mallory, lovers and serial killers. They travel across Route 666 and kill alot of people, not for money, not for revenge, just for kicks. Loved by the media, the pair become legendary folk heroes. They always leave one single person alive who can tell their story. Killing Zoe (1994) (Executive Producer) An American vault-cracker ( Zed ) meets an old friend ( Eric ) in Paris. Eric and his gang have planned to rob the only bank in the city which is open on Bastille day. Zed is trapped in a situation that he can’t handle: heroin, poor planning and a call-girl named Zoe turns the robbery into a very bloody seige. These two paragrafs below are quotations Destiny Turns on the Radio (1995) (Actor - Johnny Destiny) Jimmy Destiny burns into Las Vegas in his Dodge RoadRunner. He only stopped to pick up a stranger stranded in the desert. But then, things aren't always what they seem. Anything can happen in that town ...especially since there's been some weird electrical disturbances. As the stranger, fresh out of prison, tries to put his life back together--to recover his money from an old bank heist and the girl he lost in doing the job--something keeps interfering with his plans. Is it fate...or just Destiny? Desperado (1995) (Actor - El aka Mariachi) Director Robert Rodriquez, Sam Peckinpah and John Woo master of ultra-violence. This is a continuation of "El Mariachi," where a travelling musician, looking for work, gets mistaken for a hitman and gets mixed in a web of love, corruption, and death. This time, he is out to get revenge for his lover and the maiming of his fretting hand, which occurred at the end of the earlier movie. A case of mistaken identity leads to a very high body count, involvement with a beautiful woman who works for the local drug lord, and finally, the inevitable face-to-face confrontation and bloody showdown.