Quentin Tarantino

**Quentin Jerome Tarantino** is an American director and writer. He was born in Tennessee in 1963. Tarantino's directorial debut came with 1992's *Reservoir Dogs*; since then he has directed nine full length features with an interval of (usually) three years. Tarantino won an Academy Award twice: for best screenplay in *Pulp Fiction* (1994) and *Django Unchained* (2012).

## Early Life

Quentin Jerome Tarantino was born in Knoxville, Tennessee, on March 27th, 1963. When he was two, he and his single mother moved to the Los Angeles area. As he grew up, his mother would often take him to the theaters. They often saw films along the lines of *A Fist Full Of Dollars*, *Carnal Knowledge*, and so on. As he grew up, he became an avid film goer and student of film, to the point where he said that he had a case of 'tunnel vision', where if there was a film in theaters, he said he could not even feign interest. He said that his strongest subjects in school were History and Language Arts. During the 9th grade, he started going on a hiatus from school, over a two week period. Once his mother found out about this, she said that he could drop out, only if he could get a job. His first two drops were in the porno industry. His first job was working in a truck, collecting money from newspaper machines and putting the recent newspapers in. Then, he began to work in the Pussycat Theater (which he had no interest in at all), working the snack bar. When he was 21 years old, he got a job at Video Archives, the now defunct video store. There he would mingle with customers and coworkers about movies and TV. While working there, he began reading *All My Friends Are Going To Be Strangers* by Larry McMurty. This inspired him to write his first work, which was unpublished.  He would meet directors at parties and say he was writing a novel, and would interview them. All of them would say that they had written and directed their first works by their early or mid thirties. He decided that could beat them all, so he got to work on his first official piece.

## Career

### *My Best Friend's Birthday*

When he was 23, Tarantino gathered a group of friends and began shooting My Best Friend's Birthday, which would become the basis for True Romance. Most of the film had been victim of a fire during the editing; the surviving film can be found online.

The first part of the story concerned a DJ (Tarantino) and his guest discussing the rock and roll star Eddie Cochran. A friend of the DJ then comes with a bag of smack, on which the DJ almost died over.

### *Reservoir Dogs*

Chronologically speaking, True Romance was the first script done by Tarantino. After being declined many times, and after many failed attempts to finish it independently, he wallowed into a small depression, but he soon got himself out of it and began writing his first sold script, Reservoir Dogs. The story concerns six crooks, all strangers to each other, that - after a heist gone awry - begin to believe that there is a rat in the house. The film was praised by critics. After this, Tarantino was an eye to keep out for; this brought the birth of the sale of True Romance.

### *True Romance*

The film was the first to not be directed by Tarantino, but at the same time penned. Tony Scott, the director, originally wanted to do both Reservoir Dogs and True Romance, but Tarantino talked him into just doing True Romance, and Tarantino doing Reservoir Dogs. The story centers around two lovebirds, Clarence and Alabama. One night, Clarence brutally kills her pimp and on his way out, accidentally grabs a briefcase full of smack.

### *Natural Born Killers*

The last script to be sold and not be directed by Tarantino, the film centered around two killers on a killing spree being praised by the news. The film was directed by Oliver Stone, and was the victim to multiple script changes. Tarantino ended up getting story credits in the final film.

### *Pulp Fiction*

In his second film, the king of modern crime films, Pulp Fiction centers on three separate stories. A nonlinear storyboard ties characters in and out successfully enough to make it feel like a whole movie over an anthology. The stories are; Vincent Vega and Marsellus Wallace's Wife, followed by The Gold Watch, concluding with The Bonnie Situation. A fourth structure concerns two restaurant robbers.

### *Jackie Brown*

The only film in the Tarantino filmography not to be of original works, adapted from the mind of Elmore Leonard, features aging flight attendant Jackie Brown. She is busted with possession of narcotics, and a bag full of money.  To get out of the hot spot, she agrees to help police in the bust of Ordell Robbie.

### *Kill Bill: Volume 1*

The second movie made with Uma Thurman, who portrays The Bride, an assassin trained for The Deadly Viper Assassination Squad. One afternoon, the squad massacres everyone at her wedding rehearsal, leaving her the sole survivor. After four years in a coma, she awakens hellbent on vengeance.

### *Kill Bill: Volume 2*

Bill's crew is now down to three surviving members. The Bride continues to hunt them down. Her true identity revealed, she faces a shocking revelation when face-to-face with Bill. This is considered the second half of the *Kill Bill* film, not a sequel.

### *Inglourious Basterds*

In Nazi occupied France, a pocket resistance known as The Bastards make their way through Nazi occupied France, picking off Nazis.  This was the first film that united Tarantino and Waltz, and featured Samuel L. Jackson as the uncredited Narrator.

### *Django Unchained*

Django is a slave who is freed from slavery by Doctor King Schultz. He frees him in hopes of receiving help for his bounties. They soon make a deal; if they collect all of their hits through the winter, they will go collect Django's enslaved wife, Broomhilda. This marks the second time that Waltz and Tarantino worked together, and the fourth time that Samuel L. Jackson and Tarantino had shared a movie.

### *Once Upon A Time In Hollywood*

Rick, a washed-out actor, and Cliff, his stunt double, struggle to recapture fame and success in 1960s Los Angeles. Meanwhile, next door to Rick, lives Sharon Tate and her husband Roman Polanski. This marks the second time that Tarantino worked with Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio, and the first time working with actress Margot Robbie, who portrays the late Sharon Tate.