Last Thursday we were thrilled to present a special screening of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, followed by a Q&A with the one and only Quentin Tarantino — moderated by Danny Boyle.
In front of a packed-out audience at the Prince Charles Cinema, Quentin spoke to Danny about casting, improvisation, his writing process and so much more. If you weren’t able to make it on the day, you can catch up with all of our live tweets below.
Our screening of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood has just ended. Follow us now as we live-tweet a very special discussion between Quentin Tarantino and Danny Boyle #DUKtarantino
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 14, 2019
#DUKtarantino pic.twitter.com/ts3qvC7FqO
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 14, 2019
Danny Boyle takes to the stage to introduce Quentin Tarantino. He explains that we’re not just here for a Q&A, but to convince Quentin to make his 10th film in the UK #DUKtarantino
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 14, 2019
Big cheers for Quentin as he joints Danny on stage #DUKtarantino
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 14, 2019
Danny starts by saying that he went back and watched The Hateful Eight before watching Once Upon a Time... again #DUKtarantino
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 14, 2019
How do you move from something so violent and horrible to what is actually a quite sweet buddy movie? #DUKtarantino
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 14, 2019
Quentin: I think every film you do is a response to the last one. I got rid of all the bile in my system with The Hateful Eight, and wanted to do something that conjured up the feeling of my childhood #DUKtarantino
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 14, 2019
Those streets, and even the way I frame certain shots looking up at parts of LA - those are the exact images I remember from being a kid. It’s a memory piece #DUKtarantino
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 14, 2019
And it’s not just cinema - there’s a love of TV in there as well. And not just the shows, but the ads, the TV Guide covers. It’s trying to conjure up the whole thing #DUKtarantino
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 14, 2019
Quentin explains that all the period movie posters and recreation of the locations was done for real - no CGI #DUKtarantino
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 14, 2019
Quentin originally began writing this story as a novel. He’s witnessed the relationship between a particular actor and his stunt double #DUKtarantino
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 14, 2019
It was a very interesting relationship. It was clear that the stunt double was working for the actor, not him as the director! #DUKtarantino
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 14, 2019
So he thought that if he ever got round to telling a story about Hollywood, that would be his way in #DUKtarantino
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 14, 2019
Danny asks if Quentin does a “director’s pass” of his scripts? Does he write it first as a writer and then come to it as a director, or is it all done at once? #DUKtarantino
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 14, 2019
Quentin does both. He often sees the shot in his brain as he’s writing it, and writes to get that image on the page. But then when he comes to shooting he often comes up with another way #DUKtarantino
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 14, 2019
Talking about the Bruce Lee scene, Quentin always wanted it to be a oner, but on set that required a lot of practicing and rehearsing #DUKtarantino
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 14, 2019
Talking about the Bruce Lee scene, Quentin always wanted it to be a oner, but on set that required a lot of practicing and rehearsing #DUKtarantino
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 14, 2019
Luckily he had the budget to experiment with the cranes on set so they could work out exactly how to achieve it #DUKtarantino
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 14, 2019
Quentin explains that he wrote the script for Leonardo diCaprio and Brad Pitt. That didn’t mean they were going to do it! #DUKtarantino
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 14, 2019
He’s worked with them before, so when he comes to them they kind of feel obliged to at least investigate it! #DUKtarantino
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 14, 2019So he had them both come to his house to read the script. But he still wasn’t expecting to get both of them - you don’t go in expecting to get Brad *and* Leo. One would be enough! #DUKtarantino
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 14, 2019They had a two week rehearsal period with the main cast. He rehearses the particularly dramatic scenes, like theatre #DUKtarantino
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 14, 2019For the other cast members, such as the Family members, rather than rehearsals, they all got together and talked about their characters, their histories, the real history #DUKtarantino
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 14, 2019And they became a big group of friends in real life. So a lot of the way they interact with each other wasn’t something he directed - they brought that to it #DUKtarantino
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 14, 2019Talking about improvisation, Quentin says they have to shoot it how he wrote it. Once they’ve done that, they can try some other things. He’s happy for them to bring ideas and funny lines - if they’re good #DUKtarantino
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 14, 2019Improvisation is fine if it’s coming up with new ideas, it’s not okay if it’s just adding in some umms and ahhs because you forgot to learn your lines properly #DUKtarantino
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 14, 2019Quentin’s explaining how important casting is, but you have to be wary of how you approach it. Sometimes you can get blinded by who “wins the scene” rather than who’s giving the best performance #DUKtarantino
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 14, 2019Sometimes it takes desperation to look through the tapes again and see what you really need for the part #DUKtarantino
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 14, 2019Danny tells us that when he’s casting and doesn’t want to send the actual script out, he uses Quentin’s scripts! Actors love speaking his dialogue #DUKtarantino
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 14, 2019Quentin: “Is that really true?! My face is crimson!” #DUKtarantino
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 14, 2019Danny says that the audience here - made of up directors - particularly loved the scene where Rick messes up his lines. Almost like they’d seen actors do that before... #DUKtarantino
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 14, 2019Quentin tells us how much he loved those scenes. It was his chance to do a third western by the backdoor #DUKtarantino
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 14, 2019But it was Leonardo who actually came up with the idea about doing it wrong. Quentin wasn’t convinced and did his usual thing of saying, well we’ll film it both ways and I’ll use the take I want #DUKtarantino
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 14, 2019He did the messed up version though and it was so great. There was no way that couldn’t go in the movie! #DUKtarantino
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 14, 2019Quentin explains how important it was to him to present Sharon Tate as a person, not just a murder victim. That’s how she’s been to most people until now but he hopes that that won’t be the case anymore #DUKtarantino
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 14, 2019That’s a wrap! A huge, huge thank you to Quentin Tarantino and Danny Boyle for that fascinating discussion #DUKtarantino
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 14, 2019Suitable decor at @ThePCCLondon for our event tonight with Quentin Tarantino. Look at the #DUKtarantino hashtag to see all our live-tweets from the Q&A earlier #OnceUponATimeInHollywood pic.twitter.com/acfjq7Ix1v
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 14, 2019
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