Tarantino: Making film in Jerusalem would be fantastic
In an appearance on Real Time with Bill Maher on Friday, director Quentin Tarantino said he would not rule out using Israel as the setting of his next movie, which he insisted would be his final film.
Tarantino, who spent the pandemic year living in Tel Aviv with his wife, Israeli singer/model Daniella Pick, and their 15-month-old son, Leo, was asked whether he planned to make a movie in Israel, which Maher called, “the revenge capital of the world.” Tarantino is known for such violent films as Pulp Fiction, which has become a modern classic, that often feature brutal scenes of revenge.
“I wouldn’t make a movie about the political climate,” Tarantino said. But he did speak enthusiastically of the cinematic possibilities of shooting in Israel’s capital. “... [I]f you actually shoot a movie in Jerusalem, there’s no place you can put the camera that you’re not capturing something fantastic. You have a rooftop restaurant scene, you just see this sea of domes, magnificent architecture, just going on for miles and miles and miles.”
Tarantino, who is making the talk-show circuit rounds to promote the novelization he has written of his Oscar-winning 2019 movie, Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood, which will be published on June 29, admitted he did miss his Los
Angeles home during the year he was in Tel Aviv during the virus crisis. But he pointed out that although Israel is “tiny,” the two places have a similar climate and “vibe.”
The host and director, both known for their politically incorrect stances in the face of woke culture, discussed criticisms of Once Upon a Time, that Tarantino did not give enough lines to his star, Margot Robbie, who portrayed Sharon Tate in a drama about the summer of 1969 that mixed fact and fiction. Maher congratulated Tarantino for refusing to apologize for writing his screenplay the way he wanted it.
Tarantino said, “But there has become a thing that’s gone on, especially in this last year, where ideology is more important than art. Ideology trumps art. Ideology trumps individual effort. Ideology trumps good. Ideology trumps entertaining.”
Maher spent the bulk of the interview trying to dissuade Tarantino from his plan to retire after just one more movie. But Tarantino held his ground, telling Maher, “I know film history and from here on in, filmmakers do not get better.”
He did not give any hint as to what his final film would be about, although he did admit he had thought about remaking his first feature, Reservoir Dogs.
“I won’t do it, Internet,” he joked. “But I considered it.”