Quentin Tarantino is known for the vast and eclectic range of cinematic influences that seep into his films, ranging from the pulpy and lowbrow to the obscure and avant-garde.
Yet when it comes to the small screen, Tarantino’s tastes are a little more what you might call, um, mainstream middlebrow, as the director revealed in a recent New York Magazine interview with culture editor Lane Brown. “The last two shows I watched all the way were 'Justified' and 'How I Met Your Mother,'” the director explained.
While "Justified" makes sense — both "Justified" and "Jackie Brown" were inspired by Elmore Leonard stories, and Walton Goggins was in "Django Unchained" as well as Tarantino's forthcoming "Hateful Eight" — the shamelessly cheesy multi-cam sitcom “How I Met Your Mother” doesn't exactly seem to fit in with the director's aesthetic. But the surprises don't end there.
After taking some time to rip on "True Detective" (“I thought it was really boring. And season two looks awful”), Tarantino revealed there is an HBO show that is near and dear to his heart.
"Now, the HBO show I loved was Aaron Sorkin’s 'The Newsroom,'" he explained. "That was the only show that I literally watched three times. I would watch it at seven o’clock on Sunday, when the new one would come on. Then after it was over, I’d watch it all over again. Then I would usually end up watching it once during the week, just so I could listen to the dialogue one more time."
When the interviewer pointed out that nobody in the critical establishment really liked "The Newsroom," (and that for many critics, being forced to watch each episode three times would be the televisual equivalent of having their ear hacked off with a straight razor) Tarantino shot back:
"Who the fuck reads TV reviews? Jesus fucking Christ. TV critics review the pilot. Pilots of shows suck. Why would it be surprising that I like the best dialogue writer in the business?"
We hope those rumors about Tarantino doing a TV show are true, because we would love to see how this combo of influences plays out in his hands. A blood-spattered, multi-cam rom-com about a group of six renegade U.S. marshals (who are also BFFs!) starring Walton Goggins and full of frenetic Sorkinesque walk-and-talks? Heck, we’d stream it.
Read the full, wide-ranging interview with Tarantino -- which touches on race, politics and a lot more -- over at New York Magazine.
Shares