Quentin Tarantino explains why he vowed never to give his mom any money. The acclaimed auteur broke through in 1992 with Reservoir Dogs and immediately topped that with Pulp Fiction in 1994. His most recent film, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, which will be the director's penultimate project if he sticks to his plan of only making 10 movies, follows Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt) on an entertaining journey throughout Los Angeles in 1969.
This summer, the filmmaker has been making the rounds promoting his novelization of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and, in typical Tarantino fashion, has caused quite a few controversies while doing it. Appearing on Joe Rogan's podcast, Tarantino defended his depiction of Bruce Lee in his most recent film, which even garnered a response from the late actor's daughter, Shannon Lee. On Marc Maron's podcast, Tarantino revealed how he originally wanted Jennifer Lawrence as Squeaky Fromme, the role that eventually went to Dakota Fanning. Now, Tarantino is again making headlines in his latest podcast appearance.
Appearing on The Moment podcast (via Uproxx), Tarantino opened up about a childhood grudge he's still holding onto, which is why he vowed to never give any of his money to his mother, Connie. Tarantino explains when he was 12 years old, he got into an argument with his mom over how his passion for screenwriting when affecting his performance in school. During the dispute, she sarcastically referred to his "little writing career" and told him, "That sh*t is f*cking over.” From this moment on, Tarantino says he made a vow and has since stuck to it:
"When she said that to me in that sarcastic way, I was in my head and I go: ‘Okay, lady, when I become a successful writer, you will never see penny one from my success. There will be no house for you. There’s no vacation for you, no Elvis Cadillac for mommy. You get nothing. Because you said that.'
“There are consequences for your words as you deal with your children. Remember there are consequences for your sarcastic tone about what’s meaningful to them.”
Tarantino went on to reveal that he did give his mother money one time to help her out of "a jam with the IRS," but has not shared his riches outside of that one time. In the past, the filmmaker has been very open about his relationship with his parents, or lack thereof. He has previously spoken about his biological father, the aspiring actor Tony Tarantino, whom Quentin has never met despite his estranged father reaching out after he became famous for Reservoir Dogs.
Tarantino's films have become larger and larger commercial successes over his career, with Django Unchained raking in $425 million and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood coming close to matching that with a $374 million global gross. Over this time, Tarantino has surely accumulated enough wealth to share with his family, but this seems to be a matter of principle (or some may say pettiness) for him above everything else. Nevertheless, Tarantino has surely taken some lessons from this experience and is applying them to his own as a parent.
Source: The Moment (via Uproxx)