| Nehal Mohsen |
Quentin Tarantino was born in in Knoxville, Tennessee, USA. His father is Tony Tarantino, an actor and producer of Italian descent, and his mother, Connie McHugh is an Irish and Cherokee descendant. Quentin was named after Quint Asper, a blacksmith character in the TV series, Gunsmoke (1955-75). In 1966, Tarantino moved to California with his mother where he discovered his passion for the movies that he even wrote his first screenplay at the age of 14.
Tarantino dropped out of Narbonne High School in Harbor City, Los Angeles, at the age of 15 and attended acting classes at the James Best Theatre Company while doing various jobs including an assistant producer and an actor in small roles.
Tarantino’s career as a filmmaker started in the early 1990’s when he wrote the screenplay of the film, From Dusk Till Dawn (1996). He also wrote, directed and acted in his film, Reservoir Dogs (1992), which was an immediate hit and was screened at the Sundance Film Festival. Tarantino optioned (gave purchase rights of) his screenplay for True Romance (1993) to director Tony Scott.
Pulp Fiction (1994) was his breakthrough black comedy crime film that he wrote, directed and acted in with an emphasis on four intertwined storylines that highlight the philosophical meaning of justice and vengeance in people’s minds. This film reinforced how Tarantino uses violence as a form of expressive art that communicates a purposeful message. This approach is known as “aestheticisation of violence”: the violence scenes are meticulously designed and are physically graceful with a visual awe that they do not incite the film viewers to be repelled but rather reflect on the purpose or message in those scenes.
The film grossed over $200 million and was met with critical acclaim.
Tarantino received an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for Pulp Fiction, which he shared with Roger Avary, who contributed to the story. He also won the Palme d'Or for the film at the Cannes Film Festival.
Tarantino's third feature film was Jackie Brown (1997), a tribute to blaxploitation (the exploitation of black people) films of the 1970s.
Tarantino then wrote and Directed Kill Bill, a highly stylised martial arts revenge film that was initially four hours long, so he divided it into two movies - Kill Bill: Volume 1 (2003) and Kill Bill: Volume 2 (2004).
He wrote and directed Deathproof (2007), which was the second segment of a double-feature film, called Grindhouse (2007).
Tarantino then wrote and directed the World War II film, Inglorious Basterds (2009), which ranked as number one at the box office world wide.
He also wrote and directed Django Unchained (2012), a story happening in the American slavery era but with a spaghetti western style.
The Hateful Eight (2015) is a western thriller of which Tarantino edited two versions; one for a 70mm roadshow presentation in limited theaters in large cities, and the other was for the later release in the rest of the digital theaters and was 6 minutes shorter after removing the scenes that would not play well on smaller screens.
Tarantino wrote and directed his film, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019), which was well received in its May 2019 premiere at the Cannes Film Festival.
In the television world, Tarantino portrayed villain McKenas Cole in the ABC television series, Alias (2002–2004). In May 2005, Tarantino co-wrote and directed "Grave Danger", the 5th season finale of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.
Tarantino also produced a variety of smaller, independent and foreign films to get them their deserved attention. Such films are Iron Monkey (1993), Hero (2002), and The Hostel (2005). He re-released films like Switchblade Sisters (1975), Hard Core Logo (1996) and Curdled (1996).
Tarantino was the President of the Jury in 2004 Cannes Film Festival.
|
|
|
