Quentin Tarantino to Viewers Upset Over Violence and the N-Word in His Movies: ‘See Something Else’

Ryan Lattanzio
·2 min read
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Quentin Tarantino has been making the rounds promoting his quasi-autobiographical book “Cinema Speculation,” and as usual, the Oscar-winning “Pulp Fiction” and “Django Unchained” director isn’t mincing words about the myriad controversies that follow him.

Namely, he has a few words for any critics or audiences upset over the graphic violence and use of the N-word often deployed in his films: “See something else.” When asked by Chris Wallace on the host’s HBO Max talk show “Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace” about the issue, Tarantino said people should just not watch his movies. (Via Variety.)

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“You talk about being the conductor and the audience being the orchestra,” Wallace said to Tarantino. “So when people say, ‘Well there’s too much violence in his movies. He uses the N-word too often.’ You say what?”

“You should see [something else],” Tarantino responded. “Then see something else. If you have a problem with my movies, then they aren’t the movies to go see. Apparently, I’m not making them for you.”

Samuel L. Jackson, who has starred in Tarantino films from “Pulp Fiction” to “Django Unchained” and “The Hateful Eight,” has long defended his collaborator’s use of the N-word, which is often tied to historical context.

“It needs to be an element of what the story is about. A story is context — but just to elicit a laugh? That’s wrong,” Jackson said earlier this year. “Every time someone wants an example of overuse of the N-word, they go to Quentin — it’s unfair. He’s just telling the story and the characters do talk like that. When Steve McQueen does it [with ’12 Years a Slave’], it’s art. He’s an artiste. Quentin’s just a popcorn filmmaker.”

Jackson added, “While we were rehearsing ‘Django Unchained,’ Leo [DiCaprio] said, ‘I don’t know if I can say ‘n*****’ this many times.’ Me and Quentin said that you have to.” The slavery action thriller “Django” infamously features the slur more than 100 times.

Meanwhile, the “Pulp Fiction” legend told Esquire back in 2019 that it’s “bullshit” Tarantino’s scripts are held to a different standard when it comes to racial epithets. “You can’t just tell a writer he can’t talk, write the words, put the words in the mouths of the people from their ethnicities, the way that they use their words,” Jackson said. “You cannot do that, because then it becomes an untruth; it’s not honest. It’s just not honest.”

At a recent talk touting “Cinema Speculation,” Tarantino revealed he’s planning an eight-episode limited series for a major streamer that will begin production next year.

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