Tarantino on Black Hawk Down
Several months ago, as director Quentin Tarantino was making headlines for his controversial thoughts on actor Paul Dano, he had also labeled Ridley Scott’s Black Hawk Down as the best movie of the 21st century. Tarantino previously stated, “I think it’s a masterwork, and one of the things I love so much about it is […] this is the only movie that actually goes completely for an ‘Apocalypse Now’ sense of purpose and visual effect and feeling, and I think it achieves it. It keeps up the intensity for 2 hours 45 minutes, or whatever it is, and I watched it again recently, my heart was going through the entire runtime of the movie; it had me and never let me go, and I hadn’t seen it in a while. The feat of direction is beyond extraordinary.”
Ridley Scott responds
Getting a compliment like that from Quentin Tarantino would make any young director’s day. However, Scott has shown in the past that he’s of a different breed. According to The Playlist, Scott was promoting his new film, The Dog Stars, with an interview for The Sunday Times when he responded to Tarantino’s claim. Scott’s reaction was,
I wonder what he was on, because whatever it is, I want some.”sponsored content
Then, when Scott was asked if he agreed with Tarantino that his film deserved that title, he simply replied, “No.” Scott has not spoken with Tarantino about his statement, but he did reveal that his brother, the late Tony Scott, and Tarantino were mutual fans. Scott revealed, “Tony adored Quentin and, I think, Quentin adored Tony.”
The Dog Stars
While Scott does not agree with Tarantino, he does think The Dog Stars might be his best movie. He said during promotion of Gladiator II, “The one I just finished, The Dog Stars, [shot for just 34 days]. It’s the speed of a TV show, but maybe my best movie. Every movie is a discovery of who you are, and making choices about actors. Before I speak to anybody, I look at everything they’ve done. I cast Jacob Elordi, Margaret Qualley, Guy Pearce, and Josh Brolin. Frequently, the biggest thing I’m good at is casting. If they’re available, normally I get them.“
Scott had also found himself ranting about modern cinema in the same interview with The Sunday Times. The director would complain about the limited amount of stories being told on film and TV as he stated, “Look, everything now is about a murdered girl in the woods, or an FBI agent who is better than anyone else or a superhero. F*ck me! There have to be other stories to tell.”
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