Amber Tamblyn Explains How She Convinced Quentin Tarantino to Speak Out Against Harvey Weinstein
Before Quentin Tarantino went public with his knowledge of Harvey Weinstein’s sexual harassment, he released a statement on October 13 through his friend Amber Tamblyn. The actress posted Tarantino’s statement on her Twitter page on his behalf and mentioned they had a “long dinner” together the night before. The logistics of that dinner have remained a mystery until now. In an interview with Vulture, Tamblyn spoke about her chat with Tarantino and how she convinced him to speak to The New York Times about his knowledge of Weinstein.
Tamblyn said that over “a very long conversation and dinner” with Tarantino, he revealed just how damaging the news of Weinstein’s predatory behavior was to him. Weinstein had either released and/or produced every Tarantino movie dating back to the director’s feature debut “Reservoir Dogs,” but their relationship extended way behind moviemaking. Tamblyn said Weinstein was a father figure to Tarantino, which only made the news cycle tougher for the filmmaker to process.
“Quentin has a very — I won’t go into it because it’s his personal life — unhealthy past relationship with his own father,” Tamblyn said. “And so Harvey filled in a lot of those areas for him. So this, for him, was a larger psychological reckoning than just the guy who financed his movies. And he had to own that.”
Tamblyn explained that after a couple of bourbons she finally convinced him that he had to talk to The Times about what he knew. Tamblyn told Tarantino to put his ego aside and come forward in order to speak up and support all the women in his life that he respects, from Tamblyn herself to Uma Thurman and Mira Sorvino.
“Don’t not do this because of your ego,” Tamblyn said she told Tarantino. “If you care enough, not only about your legacy, but about the women that he harmed directly that you love, do it for them. Do it for me. If you care about me, do it for me. He knew about Uma [Thurman] and Mira Sorvino, and he talked a lot about that. And that’s when he really said, ‘You’re right.’”
Tarantino went on to admit to The Times that he “knew enough to do more than [he] did. The interview was published on October 19.
“There was more to it than just the normal rumors, the normal gossip,” Tarantino told The Times.” It wasn’t secondhand. I knew he did a couple of these things. I wish I had taken responsibility for what I heard. If I had done the work I should have done then, I would have had to not work with him.”
To read more from Tamblyn’s interview, head over to Vulture here.
Related stories
Harvey Weinstein's New Charges Could Send Him to Prison for Life
Luca Guadagnino Shares Quentin Tarantino's 'Suspiria' Rave Reaction: 'He Was Crying and Hugged Me'
