Tarantino to Kimmel: ‘Israel was the best country to be in’ during the pandemic
Movie director and sometime Tel Aviv resident Quentin Tarantino said on Jimmy Kimmel Live on Tuesday night that he was happy to have waited out the pandemic in Israel.
Agreeing with Kimmel that Israel had handled the COVID-19 crisis well, he said, “Well look, I would rather not have been out of my own country against my will for a year. However, if I’m going to be in another country, the country that handled COVID the best is probably the best country to be in.”
Tarantino, who is married to Israeli singer/model Daniella Pick, said that the couple, whose son, Leo, was born in February 2020, said they had planned to spend three or four months in Tel Aviv and head back to Los Angeles, but “then COVID hit.”
The Oscar-winning director of such films as Pulp Fiction and Inglourious Basterds, went on the television show to promote the novel he has written based on his screenplay for his most recent film, Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood, which is his first book. He has talked in previous interviews about winding down his movie career – he claims he only wants to direct one more movie – and transitioning into writing. The Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood book will be published on June 29.
Tarantino said that while he was not yet fluent in Hebrew, he had learned a lot and was picking up words watching children’s videos with Leo. “I’m learning cat is ca-tool,” he said, stumbling slightly over the pronunciation of the Hebrew word for “cat” which sounds more like ha-tool. “Horse is soos and cow is para.
“I’m learning the Hebrew Sesame Street [Rechov Sumsum] version of Hebrew,” he said. Asked if Leo was talking yet, Tarantino said he was babbling a great deal, but that, “He can only say one word which is ‘Abba’ and that’s the Hebrew word for ‘Dada.’” Laughing, he added, “And a third of the time he means me.”
Fielding a question about whether his son is named after Leonardo DiCaprio, who has appeared in two of Tarantino’s films, including Once Upon a Time, Tarantino clarified that the baby was named after his wife’s grandfather. Acknowledging that Leo means lion, Tarantino said they had also chosen the name because, “in our hearts, he was our little lion, that’s how we thought about him.”
Asked by Kimmel how long it would be before the baby would start saying “the F-word,” the director said he hoped “as soon as possible.”
And when the host asked what would be the first movie he would show little Leo, Tarantino did not hesitate: “Taxi Driver,” the extremely dark 1976 Martin Scorsese classic starring Robert De Niro about an alienated New Yorker which is heavy on violence, profanity and cynicism and features a storyline about a child pros