Quentin Tarantino decided as a kid to never give his mom any of his fortune, and stuck to it
The Reservoir Dogs director recalls the moment he vowed "no Elvis Cadillac for mommy"
Film News Quentin Tarantino
Today we’ve learned director Quentin Tarantino is a man who can hold onto a grudge, after the 58-year-old revealed that as a child he vowed to never give his mom a “penny” of his future fortune after she belittled his writing.
In an interview with Brian Koppelman for the Billions creator’s podcast The Moment, the Pulp Fiction director recalls the moment his mother, Connie Zastoupil, wound up removing herself from young Tarantino’s list of “people who will get my money when I’m rich and famous.”
The 12-year-old had the tendency to write screenplays in school instead of essays, resulting in some heat from his teachers. In a proper scolding about her child’s academic performance, Tarantino remembers his mom mocking his early writings, saying, “Oh, and by the way, this little ‘writing career’—with the finger quotes and everything—this little ‘writing career’ that you’re doing? That shit is fucking over.”
Memorializing his ultimate moment of spite, he says, “When she said that to me in that sarcastic way, I was in my head and I go: ‘Okay, lady, when I become a successful writer, you will never see penny one from my success. There will be no house for you. There’s no vacation for you, no Elvis Cadillac for mommy. You get nothing. Because you said that.’” That’s right, Connie, you get none of that $425 million Djano Unchained cash, or your share of Once Upon A Time… In Hollywood’s $370 million, or Inglourious Basterds’ $320 million.
A child of his word, Tarantino stuck to his vow, telling Koppelman, “Yeah. Yeah. I helped her out with a jam with the IRS. But no house. No Cadillac, no house.”
Within this story lies a cautionary tale about belittling young children’s passions, especially when those children are Quentin Tarantino.
“There are consequences for your words as you deal with your children. Remember there are consequences for your sarcastic tone about what’s meaningful to them.”
467 Comments
Yeah, well. That’s an immature fucking dick move, isn’t it?
I mean it depends on if it was a one-off or typical of their relationship. If she was indeed a toxic parent, I can understand him not wanting to have anything to do with her (the usual caveats about Tarantino being a Weinstein enabler who puts his actresses in unecessary danger aside)
Not really. If she didn’t support him, why should he support her?Or to put it another (more accurate) way: Why should she get to become rich from something she actively tried to stop?
My mom tried to stop me from becoming a highly successful narcotics and sex trafficker.
Well, she was an FBI agent.
And was she successful?
8 balls and quads ≠ highly successful
Did you succeed and accomplish your goals despite her?
Dammit Todd…
Which is why she’s not entitled to any of the pussy you get.
Well she did support him, fed him, clothed him, etc… probably helped him out a little once he dropped out of school to chase his dream.So he helped her out when she needed it but not much more.
while i guess some could say it’s natural to feel owed something from a child after putting in the work to raise them… you’re not owed. feeding them and clothing them is pretty bare minimum stuff. it’s part of caring for the child you brought into the world, not some checklist to hold over their head later on, for what they need to return or repay you for. people who do this to their kids would be better off not reproducing (really, please).
You don’t get credit for doing things for your kids before they turn 18. You decide to have a kid then it is your responsibility; you are not doing them favors.
Feeding and clothing a child is the bare minimum responsibility you take on when you have one. It’s not something the child has to thank you or owe you for.
He wasn’t born ten years ago. That was a whole different time and a whole different world. Having the child may not have been an option.The fuck is wrong with you? Yes you should be thankful, even to that abusive prick of a father, for sheltering you and taking care of you. Doesn’t mean you have to do shit for them but you probably should if they need help. Like I stated in my response. She took care of him until he left, he then took care of her when she needed help. No one is saying he needed to buy her a house, or make sure she never needs to work, etc… But if they are down on their luck, you help them stand back up.
“Not really. If she didn’t support him, why should he support her?”
Yeah, she should’ve supported him and told his teachers to fuck off, right?
You a stupid.
This “Oh yea? Well screw you!” thing is definitely the mentality we’re embracing more and more as a society this day and age. It’s getting us very far.
…because without her, he’s not even born? But hey, motherhood is easy, right?!
She’s his mom. A life changing amount of money to her is nothing to him. He could be a better person and maybe make her a better person by doing it. Those are good reasons to me.
Bingo! Well put. That little “writing career”. Was 1oo% him doing what she didn’t want him to do and making it work.Mommy is the one with issues in my view. Jesus the kid is writing screen plays and teachers are bitching about what they wanted a descriptive essay.
Describe failure to force a student to fit his report into an fit-able benchmark.
I get it but I think my teachers would have stapled a copy on to the board because it would be so much better than “ A Description of a Blue Pencil”
There’s not nearly enough context in this story to make a determination either way. I’m a dad and I have kids a bit older than that. If my kid ever got a ticket for street racing I could easily see my self saying something like “Your little racing career is over!” It’s all context. If she was a total psychopathic, hateful, mental abuser, then screw her. However if she was just a struggling mom who had a terrible day and he repeatedly did whatever he wanted to do in school, despite her efforts to get him THROUGH school, and on his way to be a successful adult, then screw him.
The hurts that families inflict on each other can be deep to the point that it can be hard to establish the ‘bad guy’. Hopefully his mother doesn’t GAF what Tarantino does with his money. I find it more disturbing that he feels the need to boast about his peevishness.
Wasn’t she the one who allowed him to drop out of high school to attend acting classes instead?
This 100%
She had him at 16! She was a kid herself! And it doesn’t sound like her life was all that great considering she married his father to become emancipated and go to college. He swore to her he was sterile. At least, that’s what I’ve read. Also, the year was 1963! Do you think she could just pick up the phone and call her local Planned Parenthood for birth control? Or the Morning After pill? Give me a break. She did the best she could, it sounds like. Quentin can only hope he does as well with his own. Although raising kids with a partner and having millions of dollars to spare, should not make it all that difficult. Teaching a child morals and values will be much harder and this story of his does not bode well for his offspring.
Nah. And I’m sure there are more instances like that behind the “straw that broke the camel’s back.”Not that you said this, but just a reminder to any who see it: you do not owe toxic people your time or attention, family or otherwise.
“Nah. And I’m sure there are more instances like that behind the “straw that broke the camel’s back.”
It’s nice that you don’t believe HIS QUOTED WORDS.
All I can say in response to your thoughtless comment is that I’m glad for you that you grew up in a stable and loving environment.
he’s the one trolling anonymous chat boards. whos the fuckin winner now?
“All I can say in response to your thoughtless comment”
Yeah, so thoughtless to think a FIFTY-EIGHT-YEAR-OLD is acting like a fucking 12 year old.
You are pathetic.
No.
r/pettyrevenge
Not really – sometimes cutting ties with abusive people is the most mature move available.Tarantino knows what happened between them, and how much he does or doesn’t owe her; we don’t. I’d be loathe to second-guess a child’s relationship with their parent.In general, people don’t just cut their mother out of their life on a whim. Even if they hate their mother, they often feel intense feelings of obligation toward them. If a guy says that he’s decided to cut off his mother, there’s almost certainly a really good reason for it – and yes, if his mother belittled him, alienated him, refused to be interested in or take seriously his interests, and actively tried to prevent him from doing the thing he loves (and that the unshared money now comes from), then that can be a pretty good reason to disengage from them.When someone tells you their childhood was so loveless that they think their only option is to almost totally disengaged from their parent, it’s unhelpful – in fact, it’s a dick move – to reply “well you’re a dick then because it’s your job to support your parent no matter what they did to you”. In that situation, some people maybe do have a right to confront the guy – his mother, for a start, and his therapist, and childhood friends who fully understand the situation. Random strangers extrapolating from a single anecdote? Not in that group.
He didn’t cut her off, either – he says that he helped her out when she had trouble with the IRS, which is frankly a much bigger deal than buying her expensive toys.
“Not really – sometimes cutting ties with abusive people is the most mature move available.”
He didn’t “cut ties”, fuckhole. Learn to fucking read before injecting your ignorance, K?
I can completely validate your thoughts. And someone who had a bad childhood and problems with my mother. She lives at me now and I take care of her because she’s barely able to walk. We will take a lot from them and still take care of them. If we cut them off then it was bad.
Considering the fact that this is the man who keeps saying he’s going to end his career after one more movie because “7 is a nice number” I can absolutely see him doing that.
I guess it comes out of left field to me because I’ve never heard him say anything bad about his mother, much less that she was abusive (he didn’t really even say that here, just mentioned that one comment). The times I’ve heard him talk about her have usually been positive, like his views on race, she raised him in a multicultural environment. I’ve also heard him talk about how she raised him after her father left them, and he definitely has nothing good to say about him. I didn’t hear it from him, but I thought I read somewhere that she let him quit school to follow his dream. I don’t know, this just kind of threw me, but at the end of the day, it’s his money and he can do what he wants with it.
“You have to have a relationship with your mother/father, because they’re your mother/father!”No. Nopie. I look at it like this – if you’re in any other kind of relationship where the other person belittles you constantly, and/or screams at you, and/or physically hurts you, and all for a number of years, nobody would question your decision. But somehow, it’s supposed to be different if…you were a child? Nope-a-nope, nosiree. It doesn’t make sense, even on the face of it.
She’s an asshole who raised an asshole… it’s a fitting end.
Seriously. That’s a pretty vulgar way of crushing a 12 year old’s dream.
Well, how would you do it?
I wouldn’t; I’d just return them for store credit.
Fucuuuuuuckkk Todd….
Yeah, what a cunt, wanting him to DO HIS SCHOOLWORK.
Raising kids is hard. It sounds like she was trying to get him to do better in school. Scolding him for misplaced effort was not a good approach, but it sounds like he was struggling to complete the required work he had to do. Her effort and intentions seem well placed even if her execution sucks. As an adult you should be able to recognize the former and talk through the latter. Maybe she has other toxic baggage too, but this alone is not even a thing to get mad about. This is a human struggling to parent.
Kind of, but belittling your child’s aspirations also is, so *shrug*
Learn to read, fuckhead. SHE. WANTED. HIM. TO. PAY. ATTENTION. IN. SCHOOOL.
Bad parenting, right shithead?
Why?
No. Mocking your child’s developing talents is a dick move.
Yeah, what a dick she was wanting him to pay attention at school.
So, he still thinks and has the emotional intelect of a 12 year old. Can’t wait for the skeletons to roll out of his closet.
So, he still thinks and has the emotional intellect of a 12 year old. Well, we knew that from his films.
Right? Next thing you know we’ll find out he has a foot fetish and says the N-word a lot.
Clearly, you’ve never had a parent try to smash your dreams and hopes. I had an abusive parent, and I doubt what QT experienced was an isolated one-off. Parents that mock and belittle a child’s ambitions don’t do it once. They do it for years. Why should QT reward a parent who actively attacked his childhood ambitions, especially when those ambitions made him successful?
what an odd comment? what will happen if a skeleton should roll out? are you really so fucking small that you derive enjoyment from watching people fall? pathetic.
He could probably spell intellect at 12. He was a writer.
Is it? Treat your kids like shit and see how they respond.
I’d expect nothing less from Quentin Tarantino.
Absolutely. Telling a 12 year old who’s passionate about something that their “career” is fucking over is a very immature, fucking dick move.
Wow I disagree.If someone doesn’t believe in you, why the hell should you owe them anything?Sounds like his mom was a jerk, so why would he feel any compulsion to share the success from the very career she belittled?Totally on Quentin’s side here.
He Helped her with an IRS problem so he was there when it was serious. That tells me he’s not a complete asshole. But why share the fun and perk to something to someone who tried to destroy it
His mother had him at 16 and never wanted to get pregnant in the first place. She wanted to go to college herself, but that was quashed by the pregnancy she carried to term. It wasn’t like she could just call Planned Parenthood up for birth control or an abortion. It was the 1960’s, after all! Then she went on to divorce his dad and raise Q, keeping him fed, clothed, clean, etc. But somehow her unresolved trauma of her pregnancy at 15 or 16 is not allowed to play into this story? And Q, with his hundreds of millions of dollars, couldn’t at least repay her for providing the basics for him after what she’d been through? After all, HER DREAMS were quashed, too!
No. Naturally we don’t know much about their relationship beyond what Tarantino tells us, but if this was typical of it then it’s entirely appropriate.
“Naturally we don’t know much about their relationship beyond what Tarantino tells us, but if this was typical of it then it’s entirely appropriate.”
Good point.
Supporting your child and try to get him to pay attention in school is wrong.
You’re pathetic.
Yeah, his mom was a real jackass. You’d think a grown woman would be a little less childish.
Agreed… telling your young child that their dreams are bullshit is incredibly immature.
not really.
Nah. Belittling your child’s ambitions is pretty shitty, though.
It’s amazing how many of you fucking retards are AGAINST a mother trying to get her PREPUBESCENT CHILD to pay attention at school.
his mom sounds like the worst kind of mid level manager. like the redheaded woman in Wanted who antagonizes everyone in the office and is generally a garbage monster
his mother got what she deserved. If she kept her fucking mouth shut with petty bullshit being hurled at a kid, then maybe she’d be getting the mommy cadillac.Fuck her. I feel the same way about my own mother. Good for you that you had a positive home life and that your mother was supportive?
Right? Like… you can have a talk about and be like ‘Man, if you wanna write screenplays, that’s all well and good, but that’s not the assignment here. You gotta do the work that you’re given. You can write all the screenplays you want on your own time, or after you finish the work you need to do for the class.’
He was 12, which is old enough to understand and comprehend that. Especially someone like Tarantino who, I’d imagine, was pretty intelligent.
If his version of events is accurate, and it’s all we have to go on for now, then she’s a dick.At the same time, maybe she doesn’t care. Maybe she doesn’t want the house or the cadillac. I don’t think I’d ever belittle my child’s ambitions, but I also don’t think she owes me a thing if she is an immense success as an adult. I can hope that we have a close relationship emotionally but beyond that she’s not obligated to provide me with anything.
Classic Paul popping up pretending he’s from NYC.
Belittling your child’s hopes and dreams? Yes I agree, very immature.
Not as immature as belittling the dreams of a 12 year old.
Is it? parents are also people and people sometimes need to be taught hard lessons.
Yeah, well. That’s an immature fucking dick move, isn’t it?
No.
Dude, he was twelve.
Ain’t a crime to be a bastard.
Yes, that indeed was an immature dick move… by HIS MOM!!
It is pretty immature to mock your child’s dreams and tell them they can’t do it anymore
He was 12 and fucking up at school. I have to assume there’s more to the story than that or otherwise Tarantino is a narcissistic asshole. Which he definitely comes across as in every interview he gives.
Fucking up at school isn’t a pass for parents to be emotionally abusive to their children
Yes what his mother did was a very immature fucking dick move.
Two of them by my count. Hers and his. Assholes beget assholes
Nah. Good for him. Abusive parents suck.
Not at all. You’d be amazed at how many parents think they’re entitled to every dime their kids earn, both before AND after the age of majority is reached. I had the same problem with my mother. I helped out with medical expenses at the end as well as initial funeral costs, but before that she didn’t see a dime. Really shut her up when she was all like “I brought you into this world and you owe me everything” and I responded with “Well, I guess you should have had an abortion then.”
Why should he help her after she did everything she could to crush his spirit? Fuck Mother Tarantino! You want the benefits of a creative child, you nourish that creativity or you get nothing.
It checks out 1000% on his entire personality.
By his mom you mean?
You talking about the mom, or the kid?
He did buy her way out of an IRS audit, so he’s not completely committed.
Yeah… fuck that. You’re the 99% of people in my childhood life who dismissed me when I expressed what a horror show my life was under my Narcissistic Personality Disorder of a father. (Think Trump with just one wife.) Everyone thinks they know what’s going on behind closed doors but it’s just virtue signaling. A convenience so they can judge others and feel better about themselves. Sort or what I like to call, “an immature fucking dick move,” NYCPaul.
Huh. How old were you when your Mom cursed you out? I’m pretty sure those scripts went from PG to R real quick when learned the word “fuck.”
No, why? You don’t think his mom was maybe immature, or just shitty?
Hey give him a break, he’s just a 13-year-old boy with a lot of practice.
No. It’s fair. She was the adult and had the temerity to emotionally abuse her child instead of encourage his talents. She didn’t lose anything – he just didn’t give her anything.
+1 for temerity.
No.
No, it fucking isn’t actually. Especially if your a talented little kid who’s parent’s tried to stifle your talent every way they could. I’ll make sure mom and dad have clothes on their back, food in their belly and a roof over their head because that’s all that a lot of parents do for their kids. If you were only merely a provider than I owe you the same when YOU can’t do it for yourself. If you helped me become who I am by nurturing my talent and success you’ll get a check.
Ya, attacking his writing as an aspiring youth was an immature fucking dick move.
not remotely, you dumb fuck
Yeah, what kinda bitch would say that to their kid?
He should have put the ball gag in her mouth from Pulp Fiction.
Forgiveness, it’s powerful. Moreso for what it does for the forgiver.But this is a “cautionary tale about belittling” your children.” Apparently your future comfort depends on them!LOL
Explains a lot about his movies.
Shut up, NYC Paul.
A “dick move” is the right move for a shit mother… or anyone else for that matter.
If you’re talking about what his mom said to her kid, yeah.
let’s hope you never have kids.
with an unsupportive asshole of a parent? not at all.
I have a lot of reasons to hate QT, but this ain’t one of them. If your parents were shitty to you growing up, then you don’t “owe” them anything in adulthood.
Nope, that is fucking brilliant. You set out to intentionally hurt your kid, you get what you deserve.
If you have not understood his motivation, it means that you are not able to make your children enthusiastic, the dreams of every child must always be supported by their parents. A dream today can become a success tomorrow
No, not really. Many parents should never, ever be parents. An asshole is an asshole is an asshole no matter what their role in life.
Nah.
You mean by his mom? Yeah, it is.
No, not at all.
Nope. Not at all. Fuck I would not have even helped her out of the jam he mentioned.
Yeah well, some of us have parents and siblings that treat us like garbage and think that they should just be instantly be forgiven on a regular basis and it gets old. My friend’s brother embezzled from his company and then his mom is like oh just from giving him he’s your brother. F that noise, some people refuse to grow up and rationalize anything that they do, unless you cut them off.
As opposed to belittling the interests of a twelve year old?
I think it’s more sad than anything. I mean, clearly his mom was/is a POS, I mean, who talks to their child like that? Who belittles their passion? But, holding on to that kind of childhood grudges, just show that no matter how much money you have, even if you made it doing what you love, is nothing without mental health, and peace of mind.
Fuck you.His writing wasn’t valued when he was starting by someone, why the fuck would he pretend that the value they placed on it has increased? If his writing is so unimportant, a “little writing thing,” then she doesn’t need anything he’s received as an artist in film. What changed? People gave him a ton of money because of that skill? Well, to her, it’s still value-less, so what’s the loss?Jesus Christ. If someone demeaned or belittled your singing and then wanted you to give them money you made–millions of dollars–because of your singing voice, you’d tell them to eat shit, wouldn’t you? This is his mom. She did not value his writing. Others did. He made money doing it. She has what stake in that? The gall of fucking people that are happy to spend someone else’s money without bothering to try and contextualize the reasons they WON’T spend that money is so pathetic it’d be funny if it weren’t so sad.
On the part of his mom, yes, absolutely.
on his mom’s part? yeah.
It just hit me. Elvis, Cadillac. In a well-regarded movie from 1979, Elvis was played by… Kurt Russell.
True, but what about Quentin?
On the mom’s part to belittle her son and his passion as a child? Totally dick move on her part. Completely agree.
I would’ve never have guessed Tarantino had mommy issues…said no one, ever.
Has anyone thought to investigate the size of this woman’s feet?
Bwahahaahhahaa!
That’s GOOD kijna…
I just had a real belly laugh at that one.
Daddy issues too form what I hear
I’m starting to think that Tarantino just hates everyone (except for a core group of male actors. And Weinstein).
And Zoe Bell…he wrote her a whole movie, and has hired her for every movie since.
He even has uncle issues, which is very uncommon.
Don’t even get him started about his father…
I regret I have but one star to give you for that comment! [clapping]
Yeach Quentin have major mom issues… but most celebrities don’t come from stable home though….
Betcha $10,000 mommy was painting her toenails when the quoted exchange took place.
As if there’s not enough evidence of what a truly shitty person Tarantino is, here’s a 58-year-old man who held a grudge because his mom wanted him to pay attention in school.
Fuck him.
An important lesson. Learn to keep your goddamn mouth shut sometimes.
You talking about him or his mom?
I think we’re feeling generous enough for both.
The apple and the tree seem to be very close here.
Yeah, “don’ parent your 12-year-old” is a great fucking lesson, isn’t it?
Tarantino’s mother issues really add context to some of the his movies…
I wonder how obsessed he was with his mom’s feet.
As a proud fellow lover of long toes and wide soles – I highly doubt his fetish has anything to do with his clear and present hatred for his mother. Foot fetish is just that- a fetish. Not an obsession or addiction.
And I fu¢kin’ hate Tarantino. Lol! But there is no need to perverse his sexual desires. Just because a person likes something doesn’t mean everything they see involving that anything is gonna warrant an immediate squirt.
It’s that kinda of unhealthy perspective and lack of education on sexuality that has villainized homosexuals as deviants for generations. You know, that ol’ “if they’re gay, they’re pedophiles” kinda uneducated thought-processing.
You know what’s perverse? Using perverse as a verb is perverse.
Let’s just hope perversing isn’t pervasive.
Feet are amazing, as are people who happen to love feet. I am with you 100%; Ten toes down, if you will.
You are correct. It was a bad joke.
In what way?
She told him to tip the waitress, didn’t she?
In worrying about their children, parents say stupid things sometimes. She might also have been a bad peson, but the best thing to do is forgive and share your wealth rather than sound like a petulant toddler who enjoys having power over people.
But if she’s bad, why should he share with her? I mean, I’d risk looking like a petulant toddler to avoid giving millions of dollars to a bad person, personally.
But would you brag about it years and years later?
Maybe, if I thought it might inspire some other homework-shirking kid out there to use his spiteful rage as the impetus to become a successful and respected filmmaker. That’s just plain paying it forward.
I’m starting to think you’re Quentin Tarantino.
Then for god’s sake mom, stop the cycle of abuse and apologize! Plus a little thanks for me bailing you out of your jam with the IRS wouldn’t hurt.
She should absolutely apologize for the comment. You have no idea if she thanked him for the IRS money. I wonder if he ever thanked her for raising his ass.
Congrats.
But is that what he said? That she’s a bad person? Or did he just get his feelings hurt because you know… he’s 12? He doesn’t owe her anything, but at the same token, imagine if the public held a grudge against Tarantino for something hurtful he said years ago. And holding that grudge forever. Where would his career even be?
Yeah, it’s the twelve year old’s fault for being hurt when his mom cruelly mocked his dreams
It’s the cheap old man’s fault for not getting over it. After all these years he still doesn’t understand why his mother was upset he was screwing up in school.
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this doesn’t sound like “worrying” to me, it’s exactly what it was labeled in the article: mocking. really disgusting that so many people here don’t see a problem with a parent addressing their child this way, and even worse, believe that the mocked child owes part of their fortune to the mocking parent.
adding on here, since it disappeared elsewhere:
while i guess some could say it’s natural to feel owed something from a child after putting in the work to raise them… you’re not. feeding them and clothing them is pretty bare minimum stuff. it’s part of caring for the child you brought into the world (that did not ask to be born). it’s not some checklist to hold over their head later on, or use against them to demand money, time, or anything else. if that’s how you view parenting, don’t reproduce. don’t even get a pet, honestly.
It’s because leftist authoritarians will always get hard over parental superiority.
It’s so disturbing
honestly, reminiscent of the comment sections whenever spanking comes up. people (and parents) that are cool with hitting kids show up in droves :/ .
Telling a 12 year old who isn’t doing their schoolwork to cut the shit isn’t abusive. Maybe she was in other ways, but he doesn’t mention it. Bringing it up in an interview when he’s almost 60 makes him look like a petulant, immature, man-child. Which his work certainly implies.
what she said was awful, and i doubt it was the first or only time. plus, growing up in that kind of environment is not the kind of thing that just leaves you. most people remember their school bullies and how those bullies made them feel; with a bully parent, the impact is that much more. people mistreated by parents are allowed to feel good about not being under their thumb anymore. what’s truly sad is how many people here either don’t recognize how inappropriate her comments were, or can’t accept the revelation that people don’t have to tolerate this treatment from their parents or anyone else.
I hope you never have children. You literally think emotional abuse is okay
Unnecessarily personal. Take a breath here.
No, I’ll continue to be mortified and disgusted at anyone that thinks emotional abuse is okay. Thanks for all your concern, though.
Yep yep yep yep yep
The anecdote is that she was mocking him because he was pursuing writing at the expense of his grades in school. She was actually parenting him to meet some academic standards so that he would be a successful human being. She had no crystal ball back then to know that he would become Quentin Fucking Tarantino, the self-promoting auteur beloved by millions for his derivative entertainment output.
it doesn’t matter why she was mocking her child, but that aside, the education system is a bit of a joke; there’s no guarantee that “following the rules” would somehow produce a successful human being anyway. it’s designed to churn out average people at best; it’s not like he was spitting in the face of some wonderful opportunity to begin with. just look at what Texas and other southern states are doing! this is not a system you want to defend.
THERE IS NO GOOD REASON TO EVER MOCK YOUR CHILD’S DREAMS. Jesus Christ. What the fuck is wrong with you
She gambled and lost.
Parenting: “Hey Quentin, I understand it’s your dream to write screenplays, and I support that, but there has to be a balance. It’s important to me that you do well in school and develop other skills that you may need someday. How about we concentrate on completing your school work while leaving you time to write scripts once it’s done?”Mocking a child: “Oh, and by the way, this little ‘writing career’ that you’re doing? That shit is fucking over.”There’s a difference.
I wouldn’t put it past Quentin to have made what she said sound worse. You’re only hearing his side and for all we know, she wanted him to have a rounded education. To be honest, he sounds like he could have benefited from one.
“The best thing” for whom?
Yah, nah.Nobody is under any obligation to “share their wealth” to anyone. Family or not. It’s the same way a rich granpa is under zero obligation to give his billions to his snotty grandkids who only visit at xmas.
I’m pretty certain that my father would have rejected any attempt by me to give him money. I know my mother would have. A nice, thoughtful (and perhaps incidentally expensive) gift, maybe. But nothing like a car or a house. A vacation somewhere they’d never been, sure,but they would have wanted to chip in.
Actually people are under that obligation because all surplus value is stolen, but no one is under any personal obligation to an abusive parent.
At the time this happened, his mom had power over him, and should have been a base of support and encouragement. He was 12! I don’t think “worrying about” him is enough to justify poking the air out of their child’s ambitions.
And he doesn’t even have to share his wealth, but bragging about holding this kind of grudge against your mom is just so pitiful. He’s a piece of work. A piece of shitty work.
He was asked, and he answered the question. He’s not exactly shouting from the rooftops.
Why does that bother you more than an emotionally abusive parent?
What disturbs me is how people like ElectricSheep seem to be fine with the possibility of parental abuse, and relatively fine with the child cutting the parent off (partially) in revenge… but get furious at the thought of a total stranger having the temerity to TALK about (sorry, ‘brag’ about) their feelings and their private lives. A lot of people seem to have grudingly accepted that people (particularly men) are now allowed to HAVE feelings, but still get angry when people fail to “leave that shit in therapy” and publically ‘brag’ about how hurt they are. It’s disturbing, and profoundly unhealthy!
Quentin Tarantino’s entire personality and history of behavior bothers me. I’m not willing to call her “an emotionally abusive parent” based on one lone comment made in a moment of stress. But I can call Quentin Tarantino one of the world’s biggest assholes based on years of his behavior.
I totally loathe him as a person and feel weird standing up for him but that kind of abuse is extremely common and extremely harmful and most people in here seem to think it’s not really a big deal, which I find upsetting
I agree that the comment was harmful. I’ve never said it wasn’t a big deal and I agree that it is a big deal and that she should have immediately apologized. That said, I’m still not willing to say that the one comment that we know about and the circumstances surrounding it necessarily indicates a pattern of abuse, or that it necessitates this level of grudge-holding, and only someone as absolutely, 100%, known-to-be completely shitty as Quentin Tarantino would think this was a reasonable thing to say out loud. We know for a fact that he’s an enormous piece of shit, so I’m not willing to give him the benefit of the doubt that he hasn’t blown something way out of proportion because he’s a huge narcissist who thinks the world is out to get him.
How’s it bragging? I don’t think you know what that word means.
with weird neck rolls
Screw that. You want to be an unsupportive parent? Fine, you get nothing. Children don’t owe their parents the money they earn.
You’re not going to get supportive replies because internet culture is to be vengeful and intolerant, unforgiving, and drag people through the mud until they’re dead. No one is going to suggest that forgiveness might be a better route and rising above your lower nature is might be better for yourself and everyone. Sorry.
Yeah! Everyone give your money to your abusers! They may be bad for abusing you but you’re worse for being mad about it!
I mean, if he had a list of people he was going to share his wealth with, he doesn’t sound like a greedy prick. She just worked her way off that list and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that.
My mom is a piece of work who has always caused issues. Over the weekend, at my wife’s funeral, she did nothing but badmouth my wife. She arranged to have people beat me up when I got married. It benefits no one but my mother to support her, so I have as little to do with her as possible. She has no one to blame but herself, but according to her she is the victim. I say let her play the victim by herself.
She could have been absolute Angel Mother Of The Century, and he’d still be under no obligation whatsoever to hand over a dime to her.
My point was that any decent person would help out someone financially if they could. She was having problems, he knew about them, why not toss her a million and be done. That is the honorable thing to do.
I’m resisting judgment, as maybe his mother was legitimately abusive and this is all Tarantino feels comfortable in sharing, but in this exchange he sure comes across as spiteful and emotionally stunted.
His mother was supposedly a piece of work.
I’d want several alternate sources other than QT on who or who isn’t a piece of work…
Well, on the one hand, she raised Quentin Tarantino, which isn’t exactly something to boast about. And on the other hand, she managed to alienate him so thoroughly in the process that he’s held a lifelong grudge to the point of refusing to buy her a car despite being a multi-multi-multi-millionaire who never has to see her anymore. That seems like two good reasons to have doubts about her parenting skills.
He had some harsh words about you in the AOL chatrooms.
Damn! Now I have to time-travel back to 1991 so I can log on and totally take him down!
God’s speed, etc., [FARTS]
I suppose it’s possible she was a splendid mother and it’s his father’s influence that made him this way.
The mother that made fun of his writing when he was twelve and told him he couldn’t do it anymore? Sounds totally splendid
Calling that woman “splendid” to make the point that she raised him this way? Sounds totally sarcastic.
You’re not really entitled to any of that.
Yeah, she was. I heard that she tried to get him to pay attention in school when he was prepubescent and the internet really hates her for it right now.
Yeah, again, if this is an isolated instance—he was refusing to do his schoolwork and in reprimanding him his mother said something she shouldn’t have—then he comes across as a dick here. But if it’s a pattern of abuse, then his response makes more sense. Regardless, I don’t think he’s obligated to share his wealth with anyone; it’s just kind of sad that he’s still crowing about this as a 58-year-old man.
She was one of Wilt Chamberlain’s twenty thousand conquests.
Quentin Chamberlain sounded too bourgie.
I mean, it can be two things.
Yeah, really, I don’t get how anybody reads that as anything but bitter and pointlessly confrontational.He wrote screenplays instead of essays. That isn’t the worst thing a kid could do. But his childhood is pretty tragic from what I can recall learning of him. Still, he didn’t leave her out to dry over back taxes which is still better than what he could have done.
Spiteful and emotionally stunted is how I’d describe a chunk of his body of work.
gosh, wonder if … a spiteful, emotionally underdeveloped mother contributed to that?
Many of us had shitty upbringings but manage not to strangle the women who work with/for us.
True
I don’t think successful people owe their parents extravagant presents? He said he helped her out when she really needed it, how is it spiteful?
They don’t, but bringing it up and making a big deal about it and painting yourself as a hero in interviews is…kinda sad.
I’m pretty sure it crosses in to spite when you’re on a podcast telling people “yeah I’d be showering her with gifts if she didn’t say something shitty when I was 12″
“in this exchange he sure comes across as spiteful and emotionally stunted.”I mean… not just in this exchange, but in literally everything he’s ever written.
Exactly this. I would never in a million years say such a thing to my kids, and I think what she said was cruel and mean and wrong. But that said, if that’s the only mean thing she did to him, all parents slip up, and the fact that he’s out here bragging about it just makes him look like a big old petty asshole, which is par for the course with him. Work that shit out in therapy.
It really is possible for him both to be a spiteful, immature asshole, and for him to be 100% truthful about this anecdote.And yes, parents slip up, but there are slip ups, and there are things that are so awful once is all it takes, just like in any other human relationship – especially when that “slip up” means someone pulling back the mask on their real feelings.
“Exactly this. I would never in a million years say such a thing to my kids, and I think what she said was cruel and mean and wrong.”
Yeah, instead of trying to get him to pay attention in primary school she should’ve told off all the teachers and driven his WRITTEN-BY-A-TWELVE-YEAR-OLD scripts down to the studios so he could’ve jumpstarted his career a decade and a half earlier.
You really think that is the only mean thing she did to him? I think he highlighted that particular point because it was something he enjoyed and something she could have encouraged in a more constructive way as to not affects his school work. But to say that to a kid is beyond shitty, and more so because of how successful he became.
I don’t know if it was or wasn’t. I’m basing my comment on the story he told. He said she said this thing, and that is the thing that caused him to hold this grudge against her for life. He didn’t say there was a history of things. He said there was this thing that caused this consequence.She certainly could have encouraged his writing (such as it is, which I think is awful anyway) in a more constructive way for sure, but it also sounds like she was worried about his future and his not doing well in school and she responded poorly in the moment. I’m not defending it. If I said something like that to my kid once I realized what I said I’d immediately apologize (and hopefully I’d never say something like that in the first place), but I’m saying I can understand where she might have been coming from and the fact that he can’t grant her that bit of perspective or bit of grace after all she did (presumably) to take care of him through his childhood is indicative of the assholishness that has pretty much defined his career anyway.
I’m sure that’s probably the only time she was emotionally abusive to her young child! Everyone has those days where they want to cruelly tear their child’s dreams apart, ya know?
Okay.
There’s a lot of context missing. She raised him by herself, and could be she was scared for him academically speaking. I mean getting notes from his teachers, etc.She simply was out of her depth and couldn’t comprehend his obsession or what it meant to him, and how he could indeed make a career.But I see there are a lot ninnies around here with the wow is me complex.
he sure comes across as spiteful and emotionally stunted.And where do you think he got that from?
is it? I hold grudges when people say shit like that. Your words have weight. Fucking think before you open your mouth like that to a child.This kind of behavior is why I am shoving all late-life care of my mother on my shitbag little sister. I want no part of it; she earned it
You damn right they hold weight, and I am in the grudge holder category. I don’t actively hate anyone, and wouldn’t go out of my way to get revenge. But I will also never talk to or associate with someone again who does something fucked up to me and there is zero apologies or remorse.
Sounds like you have a rather dramatic and stressful relationship with your family. Letting go of those grudges will make you feel better in the long run and holding on to those grudges will never make you feel happy.
Yup.
Amusing that you are “resisting judgment” but then almost immediately render judgment. lol…For the record, and I’m happy to render judgment, attempting to destroy your child’s dreams and their creative spirit deserves spite and isn’t an “emotionally stunted” response.
Spiteful is a parent belittling a child’s dreams.
As spiteful and emotionally stunted as the mom that mocked his dreams when he was twelve?
Again, is this something she constantly berated him with, or is this something she said in the heat of the moment because he was submitting screenplays instead of essays in school?
No, I’m sure she was only emotionally abusive and cruel this one time
I mean…people say shitty things to each other when they’re angry. As I’ve acknowledged multiple times this could be part of a pattern of ongoing emotional abuse, or it could be an isolated incident where a parent was angry with their child for tanking their grades and they said something deliberately hurtful in the heat of the moment. Or it’s somewhere in between! We don’t know!
I just think if your temper is bad enough to try to crush your child’s dreams because of something like them not doing well in school, you probably were an asshole a lot more than just once
Same for me. But I feel like if she was legitimately abusive, he could have easily let the IRS take her down when she was in trouble, and that would have been payback enough. He helped her out, so it’s obviously not that big of a grudge, and he probably knows it. Like he did her a favor. But it does put him in the position of controlling her fate, while she is basically indebted to that. I’m not saying this is what he’s doing, but it sounds like he actively wants to lord power over her, for a comment she made that, by his own admission was sarcastic.This feels like the kind of toxicity people are always complaining that folks in high positions do.
That’s an interesting way to spin emotional abuse
Resisting judgement is definitely the thing to do here. We don’t know the full extent of the relationship, we’re getting a small window to peek through here.On its own, yeah, it doesn’t seem like something that would extend to the level of “cut them out of my life” toxicity, particularly when viewed through the lens of “…this is Quentin Tarantino’s childhood recollection”, but we don’t know what else happened, and there’s no real need to place judgement on him for this alone.I mean, even with the most cynical possible read on his actions here, it’d still rank… what, 10th on the “reasons to hate Quentin Tarantino” list?
Reserving judgement is not something people on the internet are capable of
Doesn’t have to abusive. Just a toxic individual is enough to earn a spot on any rational person’s shit list.But then again, the people on this joke of a site looooove to shit on Tarantino for fucking anything, so you know, have it dipshits? I guess?
It sounds like his mom was an abused kid when she had him at 16.
look who’s subconsciously still defending their own shitty mother here, lol
Why would you conclude that?
Yeah I’m gonna guess there’s more to it than that.
Telling a 12 year old that his “little shit, is over” is the one who doesn’t look bad?You must be a really great person, you piece of shit.
And all we have here is two statements from a Tarantino interview 40 years after the fact: she said this, I said that. Yet the general tenor of comments here seems to be debating the degree of maternal oppression he suffered.
I mean, the thing she said is…I’m trying to think of something that says “The things you like and want aren’t important” more cruelly and contemptuously. It was a very cruel thing to say. I think it’s probably healthier to forgive these things if even just for your own sake; the weight of hauling it around. And it seems like showering her with gifts would be a kinder way of saying “you were WRONG, weren’t ya?” but, fair enough, not everyone’s like that and some things you can’t take back once you say them.
Spending a bunch of money on your abuser doesn’t sound like the healthiest option
Well, it is pretty lousy to belittle a 12 year old kid for being creative.
Even if his mother had been terrible, lots of us had terrible upbringings yet don’t take it out on the women we work with.
When I was a kid, I vowed to eat all the candy ever made and be the president of the world and to live in a house made of trampolines.
Well, two out of three ain’t bad.
…says the person with three heads…
Do we really know that Mar-a-Lago is NOT made out of trampolines?
There’s still time!
can’t hate on Tarantino becuase he wanted his silly dream more.
Sir, I’m sorry, but the candy makers are working as fast as they—would you stop bouncing for one minute
Well, George Bush vowed to become President of the United States… so that nobody could make him eat broccoli ever again. And that worked out for him, so dream big!
Never figured him to miss the opportunity to foot a bill.
Hmmm… it’s almost like QT is an incredible douchebag and narcissistic garbage person…
It’s amazing how often people will spout out some dumb comments without reading the article.
Tarantino’s narcissistic douchebaggery was well established before this story came out.
“Reading the article”!
You hear this fuckin’ guy?!
That or their takeaway was “moms deserve money, even if they’re shitty,” apparently.
Yeah, moms who always try to get their prepubescent kids to do their schoolwork instead of dicking around? They’re “shitty”.
Yes they do. The Bible says you should provide for your relatives. And if you bad mouth your parents you should stoned to death.
Yeah, if you’d READ the article then you’d know that his mother did the worst thing ever, which was attempt to get her twelve-year-old son to pay attention in school.
TWELVE. YEARS. OLD.
ANY parent who would take the kid’s side over the school’s would be a true asshole who hates her kid and doesn’t want him to grow into a well-rounded adult.
And anyone defending him is an emotionally stunted child.
Hey, everyone! Check out the literate guy over here who doesn’t live in a drainage ditch with a tarp over it!
https://imgflip.com/i/5j2n9i
He’s not wrong though.
Hmmm… it’s almost like QT is an incredible douchebag and narcissistic garbage person…
Sounds like you’re describing his mother.
How?
Well, anyway “Elvis Cadillac For Mommy” is the band name of the day.
Seems a little derivative of Death Cab for Cutie.
A mediocre Morrissey b-side at best 😉
A friend of a friend has a 12 year-old who every time I interact with this kid I want to strangle them. I can’t believe the fortitude of the parents to keep this kid in the world and breathing. I can forgive literally ANYTHING they say to this kid and every time I am around them I come inches away from saying something that gets me excommunicated. Kids are the worst. The fact that Quentin Tarantino’s mother raised that dick without bashing his head in, she should start a GoFundMe for her reward.
What the heck does this 12-year-old do?
Yeah, c’mon, now we’re all waiting for it!
Acting like a pretty typical 12-year-old is my guess. At that age they’re awash in hormones and they haven’t figured out what to do with them, plus they’re usually in middle school, which is a fucking snakepit by design, so it’s unsurprising a lot of them are giant pains in the ass at that age.That said, mocking something a kid loves and pours their heart into because you’re mad that they blew off taking out the garbage or doing their homework? Let’s please congratulate ANathanofFillions for not having children if they think this is justifiable.
What did the kid do?
“I can’t believe the fortitude of the parents”I mean, they’re the ones raising the kid shitty, of course they have fortitude. Can’t do it otherwise.
I’m guessing this kid is mocking his screenplays.
I think what she said was wrong and it would make me really sad if I heard a parent say that to her kid, but I absolutely could not agree more with “The fact that Quentin Tarantino’s mother raised that dick without bashing his head in, she should start a GoFundMe for her reward.?
I’m starting to think you’re Quentin Tarantino’s mom.
Okay, that makes a lot of sense.
You don’t maybe think her emotional abusive was a big factor in his dickishness?
I’m not willing to call her an emotionally abusive parent based on one comment (a comment which I have repeatedly acknowledged was wrong and cruel), but yes, I agree his dickishness didn’t come out of nowhere.
Kids are the worst.
As a children’s librarian, #notallkids
A friend of a friend has a 12 year-old who every time I interact with
this kid I want to strangle them. I can’t believe the fortitude of the
parents to keep this kid in the world and breathing.
The parents raising the little shit bear none of the blame?
We can’t blame the parents. If we start that we won’t get our chances to hate on younger people.
You sounds well-adjusted.
Seek therapy
I (don’t really) hate to tell you this, but it sounds like you should be excommunicated from this family’s life, because you sound like a pretty wretched friend if you hate your friend’s kid. And frankly, if they’re saying a lot of stuff that needs to be forgiven and keeping you, a person who hates their child around their child, your friends might be shitty parents, which would explain why the kid is acting out.
You’re scary and should seek help and stay away from children
Wow you sound toxic
the thing about having kids (whether you wanted them or not) is that you still have to raise them. And if you do something that resonates with the child as much as this did, you are as much to blame for it.
Sounds like this song might have been written with their kid in mind?
How did you survive being a kid then? You must have bee awful.
Yes. I can attest, there are kids who try your soul … for years. Consistently not saying the wrong thing is not always so goddamn easy.
I mean, if that is a legit quote of what she told her 12 year old I can totally see there being a lot wrong with their relationship.
…because he was failing in school specifically and getting in trouble with his teachers, she should mind her own business? Good luck heading out on your own at age 12!
Show me where I said she should mind her own business. I’ll wait. There are ways to handle a troubled 12 year old, and they don’t involve profanities and shooting down what they are passionate about.
Right, she should instead support the child who refuses to follow his teachers’ instructions, pull him out of school because they obviously have no idea he’s about to write fucking “Reservoir Dogs” SIXTEEN YEARS LATER!Oh no, Mommy said the f-word to her fucked up kid who refuses to follow instructions at school, call social services!!
You very much like to write both sides of a conversation. You’re incorrect in what I would say, and what I have said, but don’t let that stop you.
…because your point was vague and idiotic. Secondly, you’re blindly taking the word of a guy who’s openly lied to the media in the past, and is a known jerk in the industry. But hey, you do you!
Do you really not understand that parents can discipline their children without being abusive bullies about it? Your parents must be REAL fucked up
Yep because she either had to be emotionally abusive at him or just mind her own business and not say anything. No way she could’ve done it without mocking him. Please don’t have children
…except he was twelve, fucking up in school and not following instructions of the very people tasked with teaching him! But hey, the fact that he’s an almost sixty year-old manchild is probably because Mommy told him to get his shit together! But hey, you instead can watch them get expelled because you’d rather be their goddamn friend instead. Tough love is vastly overrated, so many kids are better off moving to the Valley in a van, because we know how well that always turns out!
You’re a complete and total piece of shit
Have you hit your 150th post here dumbass? Keep blindly defending a known jerk simply because he said so. The same clown that said he went to jail but there are no records whatsoever on file!
In other words, he’s a selfish, grudge-holding boor.
Found the entitled parent.
BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, they’re an entitled parent because they think a mother should try to get her kid to do his schoolwork?
…without the parent there is no child to be raised.
So she’s allowed to be shitty to him because he owes her for the privilege of being born?
Shitty?? He was fucking TWELVE YEARS OLD and his teachers needed to notify her that he wasn’t following instructions!! He wasn’t in film school at UCLA and she’s telling him to give up on his dream! Jesus Christ, how many kids at twelve end up even doing the same thing they dreamed of as a kid??! I mean, he’s in his FIFTIES and an asshole with power and money, you think this just started recently?
Yep. It’s absolutely shitty to make fun of your twelve year old child’s dreams and tell them they can’t ever do it again in the cruelest way. The fact that you think it’s more okay because he was so young is deeply disturbing
…or that fact that you’ve been defending him nonstop in this fucking thread despite his known instances of LYING on record is a bigger joke. “Oh no, 60 year-old manchild who fucked off in school was ‘emotionally abused’”!Jesus Christ, you’re a fucking mess.
You’re the one that seems genuinely shocked someone would think it’s shitty to mock their little. kid, so
Yes, raising children isn’t easy, esp. a 12 y.o. who won’t follow teachers’ orders nor the fact that you just take his version wholesale despite his history of lying (see: time in jail and Bruce Lee controversy).
So what? That’s a valid choice.
I honestly don’t have an opinion for whether he supports his mom or not, but I find it baffling and tasteless that he made his decision public knowledge.
This…..honestly explains a lot.
Now I think we can answer the question, why is Quentin Tarrantino such a dick ? Next thing you know we’ll find out that Joe Rogan’s mother read the enquirer all day and smelled like shit
QT’s really on an “I’m an even bigger dick than you thought” tour lately.
Really, I blame ourselves and lack of imagination. Because anyone that didn’t think this man had the propensity to even idle at being such an abhorrent human being really never understood his work that they “love” in the first place.
Who would want to drive a fucking Cadillac anyway?
I think he and James Cameron are battling for the title of the movie director with the most stylish shirts.
I’m tired of people who say it’s “healthy” to let go of grudges or “why spend so much energy hating someone?” You can’t force people to forgive or make peace if they feel wronged. Or that you have to forgive because a person is family. Perfectly fine with Tarantino’s decision here. He also mentioned he helped his mom out with the IRS, so it’s not like he’s hung her out to dry completely, she just doesn’t get the luxury benefits. And why should she?
honestly; it’s really not even that hard to understand. he was belittled and mocked by a parent, which he’s freed himself from owing any fortune to. people in other scenarios express this all the time, from escaping bad bosses to ditching toxic friends to leaving crappy (or even abusive) relationships, and even other bad parent/child dynamics. whether or not it’s something to be proud of, it does feel good to have some power in the face of people that wronged or hurt you, people who tried to take your power away.
QT =DICK
Reading this reminds me of that old adage: Ugly lure in, ugly fish out.
Of course his mother was an odious human being. Tarantino is, too, lest we forget.
And, I’d have to read the piece that she ended up air quoting and saying that to. If it was, say, an early rendition of Pulp Fiction involving a ballgag but nothing else, or the groundwork for Kill Bill where someone was sexually assaulting comatose patients, or any number of characters running around saying “nigga” or “nigger” every other parse (Tarantino is an aficionado of both terminologies) – then yea, I’d tell that sick little fuck “shits fucking over”, too.I highly doubt what Babytino was writing that his mother abhorred was any better than the stuff he actually gets greenlit as a grown-ass manbaby.
The only Tarantino film I like is Jackie Brown. It’s my favorite movie of all time, actually. But that’s more the cast and their performances. And the bulk was lifted from Elmore Leonard’s novel, so don’t really consider it a Tarantino thing – other than him having the -immense vision- to rewrite the character for Pam Grier.
His other works are pure drek to me – always seems like “heady” crime drama diluted by the filter of a child’s imagination and their yearn for ultra hyper-violence, foulest language and da b∞bs, so I imagine Babytino’s works were much worse, and probably more vulgar for the sake of vulgarity.Lastly – helping someone out of an “IRS jam” (hey, Sammy Davis JR is on line 2!) is still … helping someone out financially. In fact, that might be the very definition of financial assistance, when the IR.S.S. is involved. So, no Cadillac, but no Big House, either. It’s cute when you get a glimpse to the heart of an asshole. But still kinds smells bad, too.
Man that Quentin sure is a dick for not helping his mom. I wonder who raised that selfish piece of…
Yeah, she clearly taught him to be selfish when she was trying to teach him to do his schoolwork.
Tree (very little space) Apple
He’s having a tough time lately knowing when to STFU. Regardless of what the situation is with his mother, what is the possible upside from sharing this with the world? Time and again, writers, actors, athletes, celebs in general show the problem with living a life surrounded by yes-men. Nobody has the guts to tell you literally to quit talking, back away from the mic. They’re afraid of being cut off so your life is spent being told everything you say and do is great and you lose perspective. Tarantino proved long ago that he’s a generational talent, but over the last few years he’s also proven he’s sorely in need of someone to check him.
Apple not falling far from the tree and all that.
It sounds from other posters that his mom was just generally awful so he probably had a lot more understandable reasons to cut her off. But implying that you cut off your mother like that because she was mockingly sarcastic to you once when you were 12 years old seems remarkably petty. Which doesn’t seem out of character for him, honestly.
I mean, if she was right and he was wrong, and after washing out of Hollywood he had to become a plumber, he surely would’ve shared his plumbing income. Unfortunately, she was wrong and he made a shit ton of money.How should you treat somebody who tries to end a billion dollar career before it begins?
Yeah, that shit didn’t sound “mockingly sarcastic” at all despite how the AV Club characterized it as such. “Oh, and by the way, this little ‘writing career’—with the finger quotes and everything—this little ‘writing career’ that you’re doing? That shit is fucking over.” That isn’t “mockingly sarcastic”, that’s straight-up abusive.
If by sarcastic, you mean cruel, mock and threatening, totally!
Mom “Your teacher said that you aren’t doing your work, that you’re writing other stuff. What’re you doing?”
QT, 12 “I’m writing screenplays for my writing career.”
Mom, realizing that he’s exhibiting behavior that could torpedo him in school leaving him in a poor position in the long run considering ‘writing screenplays’ is one of those careers that requires connections which he likely didn’t have or talent compounded with the luck of getting it into the right person’s hands and just as importantly them reading it.
I mean, could she have phrased it better? Sure, but I know a lot of peoples’ parents who would say “cut that shit out and do your schoolwork.” Who is to say this is his first rebelling against either home or school? She may have felt that his strong-willed nature (and let’s face it, adult QT has proven to be a “my way or the highway” character) would be to his detriment and she needed to do something drastic to force him to do what was required of him? Everyone seems to be making a character decision based entirely on QT’s quip like it is gospel and that she is Mommy Dearest. This seems more of a case of “fuck you, non-believer. I’ll fucking show you and you won’t get shit” than a case of “this person abused me through my youth.”
He’s talented, obviously, but I’m sure there are a lot of talented people “writing screenplays” that never get into the hands of someone who can get it done so that they can make a career out of it. Looking at that situation through the lens of the future is a bit much.
And if he doesn’t want to give money to his parents, whatever, fine. I don’t care, nor should anyone. Why he felt the need to share the story, I don’t know.
Nobody’s going to cut off their mother because they said one shitty thing, once, when they were 12. This was obviously not an isolated incident, and she was probably some shade of this with him constantly.I believe that this particular incident led to this thought; “I’m not giving you shit.” But there’s no way he’d stick to it 45 years later unless his mother being unsupportive and cruel was a common state of affairs.
Nobody’s going to cut off their mother because they said one shitty thing, once, when they were 12.
The one skill QT has is self-mythologizing. Maybe his mom wasn’t award-worthy, but a lot of people hate their parents. There doesn’t seem to be any indication of anything approaching abuse in Tarantino’s childhood, and don’t you think, of anyone, he would have said something about it? Apparently, his mother even encouraged his love of comics and movies.
I fully believe Tarintino is the kind of person who would have come up with this idea as a snotty kid and stuck to it solely because it seemed like a good story, and because he’s a narcissist who is able to live in a fantasy world of his own making, interpreting his mother’s concern about his failing academics (he did drop out of school, and didn’t becomes a success for another decade) as an unforgivable crime.
He did.
You say nobody would, but I truly believe Quentin Tarantino would. He’s a dick. Everyone knows he’s a dick.
Reading the article makes it clear that this happened regularly.
Um…. Okay..So did the cool black stepdads ever get anything? Never mind…
Successful people’s view of the world is extremely skewed. Survivorship bias is a hell of a drug. To anyone reading this: please write the essays the teacher asks of you instead of screenplays. Do that in your own time.
Nah. Don’t ever be a good drone, kids.To anyone reading this: please write the essays the teacher asks of you instead of screenplays.
What
Screw that. Color outside the lines. Think for yourself.
Goddamn right. Good. Belittle someone, don’t expect shit ever from them.
Did he also promise to use the N-word thousands of times and enable sexual predators? Seriously fuck him, no one wants to hear what he has to say.
“I helped her out with a jam with the IRS.”Pretty sure that’s only because he misheard when she asked him to help foot the bill.
“She also told me to stop using the n-word in every other line of dialogue, okay, so I stabbed her in the fucking heart.”
Totally apart from whether QT’s mom earned his ire for this and other misdeeds, I don’t buy the general rule that successful kids (or unsuccessful kids for that matter) owe their parents much of anything, let alone extravagant gifts. I think obligation in the parent child relationship is pretty much a one way street. A lot of people do take a lot of pleasure in sharing wealth with their folks and that’s great if it works for them, but different people are different.
Depends I guess, usually they are the primary support system. They’re the ones who got up at dawn to take them to sports practice, attended every game, recital or show, etc. That’s the reason that most often they’re the first ones thanked when winning or doing something of achievement.
Yeah, but the kid only exists to need and want food and care and sports practices and recitals because of a choice the parents made. I don’t think it makes sense that if you call someone into existence you get to demand gratitude of them.
I’ll concede that their is perhaps a gray area for stage/sport/whatever parents who really put themselves out in supporting a child’s outsized ambition; maybe in some of those cases the child does start to accrue a karmic debt. But I still think that’s really on the margins. By in large I think that people who aren’t willing to accept having children as its own reward shouldn’t have children.
I don’t think kids owe their parents anything. But I do think that “punishing” your parents for little mistakes decades later is petty. Parents make mistakes. As you grow up you develop some sense of perspective that they were doing their best. Obviously not applicable to truly toxic or abusive parents, but this story is not that.
But if QT doesn’t owe his mom anything, how can not giving her a car or a house be seen as a punishment? He has also not given me a car; I don’t take it personally. Now if you’re argument is that the punishment is embarrassing his mom by complaining to the press about something she did when he was 12, then I can see that.
I see it as a punishment because he specifically said he’s using it as a punishment. He said he’s done it to show her a consequence to what she said. That’s a punishment. He hasn’t given you a car because he doesn’t know who the fuck you are. He hasn’t give his mom a car because he wants her to feel sorry about something she said to him 40 years ago.
Many people who achieve great things usually have something burning in their craw that drives them forward in ways that most of us don’t. He should thank his mother for giving him that drive of spite.
Why would she even need a monetary reward? You already gave her the gift of a destroyed vagina, and let’s not forget the years and years of back-sass.But go ahead, you be a big man on the radio show or whatever it is. I’m sure all your friends will think you’re “cool.”
I bet she at least had nice feet.
He’s nicer than I am. I wouldn’t have helped her with the IRS. You want to crush your child’s creativity, you should suffer when that creativity gets them fame. I am not a fan of his, but I’m with him on this.
This sounds like exactly no one else’s business.
Yea, I know it was an interview, but I don’t know why he would share this. Unless he thinks it makes him look awesome (which is what he’s always thinking).
This public interview on the internet is no ones business? Then why did you read it?
He’s a public figure and he put that shit out there himself, therefore inviting public speculation and comment.
K. Have fun.
Damn. I have also talked shit about his writing. No wonder he hasn’t given me any money.
I only wish this news dropped on Mother’s Day.
He could have chosen to be a better person than his mother, but he decided to be even worse than her, instead.
Haven’t had a chance to listen to the interview, but it seems like an odd way for him to frame it since it only circles around one event and if it is 100% true that means he hasn’t grown at all since he was 12 (which actually explains a lot). If there were more examples of he and his mother clashing, or that she was already well off, or something that would signify that him not having anything to do with her, then he wouldn’t come across as more of a dick than usual.
Chances are pretty good she was emotionally abusive more than just this once
Yep, which probably would make him look like less of a dick if he would have said something to the tone of “similar actions from her persisted over the years”.
This sounds like a major dick move, but I wonder if maybe there’s more to his reasoning than a single unsupportive thing his mom said when he was little.
The question really is whether his home life turned him into the insufferable prick he seems to be of it he was born that way. I love Tarantino movies but he is not on my list of Hollywood celebs I’d want to go out for drinks with.
“The question really is whether his home life turned him into the insufferable prick he seems to be of it he was born that way.”Which can be said about 99% of anyone in a creative field.
OTOH, this particular moment in QT’s life might actually have made him the financially successful writer that he eventually became, and thus has his mother to thank for it.
Did his mom also forbid him from saying the n-word? Because he’s really rebelling on that.
Does that still track? The most recent of his films I saw were Once Upon A Time In Hollywood and Inglorious Basterds and don’t recall a single usage of it, but maybe I’ve forgotten.
The Hateful Eight, also.
Django used it plenty, as I recall. In 2012.
Ahh, didn’t see it so wasn’t sure. That one was set during the time of slavery so I guess it shouldn’t come as a surprise that it would pop up there, where it seems at least historically accurate. Unlike Pulp Fiction where it just felt weird as hell.
Not surprised that everyone in a Tarantino family drama is The Asshole.
I’m guessing the two have more issues between them than this one exchange during childhood.
I don’t know why, but I can’t help but find this really fucking funny. Like, yeah, man, that tracks.
She provided no support, so she’s suffering the consequences of her own actions–sucks to be her.
What an asshole.
Toxic femininity. Well, it gave us some fukked up but entertaining movies at least.
BREAKING NEWS!Quentin Tarantino goes back on pledge to never financially support his mother and agrees to pay for a lifetime subscription of filmed foot massages!
Does AVClub report film news or is it a gossip rag? This is not content I am interested in reading.
… and by saying that, she sparked even more motivation in Tarantino to show everybody what he’s got. I think for some people that is the exact way to motivate them – even unwillingly. Somebody once told me I should stop learning Chinese, I am no good at it. I went to China for 1,5 years to show this Mofo. Some people are just wired that way. If they really want to do sth. naysayers will be additional motivation for them. It’s mad, but it works for them. So whoever else told Tarantino he would not make it: thank you very much, he did quite well for himself. 🙂
I guess positive reinforcement would work as well, but nothing gets the creative juices flowing as well as a struggle with the world. Them coping result in our entertainment.
I think the bigger story is that apparently Tarantino made over a billion dollars off of three movies.
Who’s got the power now, bitch?! Fuck you, mommy!!
I bet his mom had nice feet. Or the babysitter did.
Sorry but that didn’t give me a lot of great feelings reading that
While I’m sure that was a traumatic moment in his life, obviously, he made the vow to prove her wrong. This had to play a large role in his perseverance to succeed. His life’s experiences including his mom’s lack of support made him who he is today. Parenting is hard, frustrating, rewarding and definitely not easy.
Gratitude really is a gift that keeps giving. I don’t see much of it lately.
Obviously none of us knows the full story, but the fact that everyone here is defending the mother is a sign of the sad culture we live in. One where you can treat your kid like shit, but society still expects the child to conform to the cozy little vision everyone has of children taking care of their parents as time goes on and “unconditional love”. Parents can deny and vilify their child’s sexual orientation for years, but then if they show the smallest signal of tolerance, the children have to go running back to repair the relationship and be grateful they’re finally accepted.
I loved this guy on Stargate Atlantis. He played an asshole in that one too.
I think folks confuse ‘no mommy Cadillac’ for ‘no love or support at all for this woman’. I remember getting my very first paycheck from my very first adult job and being really happy about it and wanted to take my mom out as a celebration/general ‘thank you’/low wage Caddy. Heard her quite loudly and obviously talking about how that dinner invite was only because I wanted to go and I sucked (or something to that end). So: no dinner for her. Did not mean I did nothing for her ever after that, she just wasn’t going to get my joy over subsequent career good fortunes. Basically a decision was made at 12 that stuck that if he made it there wasn’t going to be the expected grand gestures.
I figured it was because mommy made him rub her feet.That would explain the foot fetish.
A whole bunch of cats feeling a little superior about themselves. Say a lot about cats that write long blathering judgmental essays in the comment section.
There are a lot of people here who are coming out in support of child abuse because a director they don’t like said something that makes him sound like a jerk.He was a child who didn’t deserve or ask for what he got (and if you think it was just “one mean comment” you should pull your head out of your ass), and his decision is informed from that. That’s it. End of conversation.
A lot of interesting comments going on here.Admittedly I’m not a huge QT fan, but I have enjoyed a few of his movies. That being said, he is quite publicly well-known for being a grade-A asshole. There’s no way anyone can argue that (I doubt he would even argue against that). Now a lot of people here have commented, “well his mom is also well-known for being a piece of work herself”, to which I would ask, how exactly do we know that? Is our knowledge that she was an awful mother come from QT himself? That seems incredibly one-sided and it would not surprise me one bit that, sure, maybe she was not a great mother to him, but there’s a pretty good chance his version of the story is wildly exaggerated.If she did say those things, yeah, of course she loses some mother-of-the-year points. But we have no idea what she’s like now, if she’s attempted to mend their relationship or apologize for the things she may have done in the past. My point is, we really shouldn’t be so quick to judge people for their past mistakes, especially if we don’t know them personally or have first-hand knowledge of the events.
I see where he inherited his dialogue from.
I get it. I have a friend who’s parents treated him like shit, growing up. Today he’s a very successful cardio-thoracic surgeon and his wife is a lawyer. He gives to charity, he and wife support their children’s school with generous donations, they give their time freely (him with mobile medical clinics and her with free legal help to those in need). They are two of the loveliest people you’ll ever meet.His parents will never see a dime of their financial success. They did nothing productive in his childhood except foster in him, a deep desire to get the fuck away.
Every artist in history has gotten a more-hurtful-than-they-intended comment like this from their mother.
It’s disheartening to see how someone is being judged for processing trauma. It is traumatic to have a parent express not only lack of confidence in your dream, but to show an active desire to end that dream. I really should have stayed away from this comment section.
It’s also a cautionary tale about a full growed man acting like a twelve-year-old.
I enjoyed all his movies, but I am liking Quentin Tarantino less and less every time he opens his mouth.
Tarantino, your mother was right. You can’t write for shit.
Here’s a couple more stars *********.
Its good to know, at least, that Tarantino was a very talented, insufferable jackass from the very beginning. Consistency is an oft overlooked virtue.
How did being mocked by his mom at twelve make him an insufferable jackals exactly?
I think you answered your own question. Do you mean, perhaps, ‘how did his response to being mocked by his mother make him seem like an insufferable jackass of a child?”My response to my better question is that he is an insufferable jackass and that it’s a joke, not a value judgement. Now why did I make it? Well, to quote a man who’s work I love: ‘Because it’s so much fun, Jan’
Like the man says: You can’t punish a person for dreaming his dream and expect him to thank or forgive you / That kid you belittled and tried to ashame might just grow up to be Tarantino / Hail Quentin!
(Sincere apologies to everyone for this)
Why you gotta do JD dirty like this?
I can only presume this is one in a long line of similar incidents and she was a lousy mother. If she was a good mother and had this one really kind of bad day, sure. He’s being ridiculous. But I find it unlikely this was a one-off. I’m surprised by the amount of people in the comments who can’t fathom having a toxic-ass parent. I don’t speak to my father. When I bought my first guitar he asked why I “wasted my money.” This from a guy who collected limited edition cereal boxes. Hell, I’m no big star, but frankly, if I was rich, I wouldn’t be sharing it with him either.The myth that you owe your family everything just because “family” is harmful. You don’t owe toxic, shitty, abusive people anything.
It’s amazing how generous people are with someone else’s money.
This is wholly unsurprising.
Does he know how hard it is to push your child away like that? It was with her criticism that he challenged himself to get better. With out her pushing and pushing he would have grown up not trying. Sometimes you need the gasoline to make the fire rage. Thank You Mom Tarantino.
As shitty as a thing it was for her to say, if there’s a more inglorious bastard than Quentin Tarantino, I’ll be waiting right here. Brilliant movies, absolute dogshit personality.
I get it, Quentin. My biological mother will never see a fucking thing from me.
Yeah, he might be sounding like a dick, but don’t let the mom off the hook either. I mean, way to encourage your kid to do what he loves.
I listened to an interview between Marc Maron and Matt Damon recently where the latter talked about in COLLEGE, he took a writing/acting class and wrote the first 40 pages of a screenplay (the early bones of what would become Good Will Hunting) instead of the short story he was asked to do, and he was convinced he was going to fail his final. His teacher told him instead to keep writing it, because he could see something in it, and Damon took that to heart. He would have believed anything that teacher told him, including quitting if he was told it sucked. This was when he was an adult.12 years old is an impressionable, formative age. To not only be discouraged from working on his passions (maybe at a different time than when he should be doing the work asked of him, sure), but to be treated so harshly about them by his own mother could have stifled his talents entirely, and I can imagine that was a really traumatic thing to have to listen to and know your mother had no belief in you. That’s a toxic relationship.Tarantino doesn’t owe her shit, and you’re out of your mind if you think him not giving her anything is a dick move just because she gave birth to him.
…except you’re taking his words as fact, when he’s so full of bullshit that it’s industry legend.https://nypost.com/2015/11/29/quentin-tarantino-lied-about-going-to-jail-la-cops/https://ew.com/movies/quentin-tarantino-bruce-lee-once-upon-a-time-in-hollywood-joe-rogan-video/
But he seems like such a warm and nice person!
What an ass. His Mom should have not let him suck her tits. I really hate Tarrentino now.
Is that picture of QT or his Mum?
Adults underestimate how much kids listen and understand what adults say to and around them.
within this tale lies the very obvious fact that Tarentino is an asshole. i’ve always thought so.
As others have noted, Tarantino’s mom could have been a bad parent. Having read and heard a lot about Taratino’s life, that’s possible. That said, in Tarantino’s recent WTF interview, he’s weirdly compassionate about his dad who wasn’t around when QT was growing up. So, I don’t know.If we’re going strictly off of Tarantino’s words here, it really makes him sound like a petty asshole—which, also not outside the realm of possibility. If it’s a one-time thing, well, raising a 12-year-old is hard. Sometimes you just want your kid to do their homework and not have to be bothered by their teachers. Maybe his mom should have said something less discouraging, but also, maybe it’s not a good idea to hold onto anger from when you were 12–again, provided it’s an isolated incident.
I had an English teacher, for two years due to a shift in the curriculum, who gave out the usual assignments and let me hand in whatever I felt like as long as I put effort into it, the topic was somewhere in the ballpark, and it hit the page count, and he graded it on its own merit. It sounds like QT was not that fortunate.
Why would you mock someone for cutting an extremely toxic person out of their life? A toxic possibly abusive parent to be more specific. You know what, don’t bother, I already know the answer.
this is a cautionary tale to any pregnant 16-y.o. you don’t sleep, you don’t get a decent education — and for what, this? also, abortion should be available to girls and women.
A petty douchebag who will now make the rounds on the enabling talk show circuit, Joe Rogan…check, Bill Maher…check, Piers Morgan…..
Honestly? I kind of respect this. My mother said some truly mean and hurtful things to me as a child and adolescent, but I’m too lazy to hold a grudge. I’m also too lazy to make millions with any endeavor, so it’s kind of a non-issue.
I don’t think I would have gone as far as Quentin, but a parent shitting on your dreams or hobbies is pretty awful. I had a parent who was verbally abusive and once told me in anger to “write another song about how fucked up your life is.” It was crushing, because he would have had to be going through notebooks to even know about it. I played in bands, put out a couple small albums, toured a little, obviously never had the success Tarantino had. I should have given the people what they wanted, which was obviously more focus on feet. Seems like a no-brainer in retrospect.
Oh you’re telling me the dude who nearly killed Uma Thurman doing unsafe stunts and makes a point of personally strangling his actresses during fight scenes has mommy issues?I DON’T BELIEVE YOU!
I’m truly baffled by so many of the comments on this story in various places. He was 12 and skipping school or at least schoolwork to watch movies and write them, among other things. He was a classic slacker and troublemaker. Clearly it wasn’t like one time he did something wrong and his mom went off on him. Clearly this was a frustration borne out over years, and she probably snapped at one point. Heck, we don’t even know exactly what she said. All we have is his word 45 years later.No one can know for sure, but I’m inclined to think he’s making what she said out to be worse than it was, and she was likely just yelling at her son who refused to take his education seriously. Maybe she was a bit harsh, who knows? But it’s likely she wasn’t abusive or that out of line. (He did drop out of high school to then become an usher at an adult film theater.)From what we know of him, it makes much more sense that he’s just being extremely petty.
C’mon man its your mother. Unless she did as lot worse than any of that she deserves a bit of respect. Tarantino always has sounded like a bit of a dick, this does not help him in any way.
Yeah, see, I kinda want to know what other shit she did outside of that one episode before I judge the guy. But if that is truly the extent of Mrs. Tarantino’s emotional abuse record…meh, give her the Cadillac you douche.