Quentin Tarantino, for one, finds sex scenes unnecessary in his own work
Quentin Tarantino thinks filming sex scenes is only getting more problematic
Aux News Quentin Tarantino
Depictions of sex on screen are still a hot-button issue decades after the dissolution of the Hays Code. It can be a difficult line to walk between prudishness and objectification. Does physical intimacy cheapen visual media, or can it enhance what’s being seen? Does a sex scene elucidate something about a character, or does it reduce them? Is a sex scene ever really “necessary” to the plot, or does that even matter? For Quentin Tarantino, at least, it does matter.
“It’s true, sex is not part of my vision of cinema,” the filmmaker told Spain’s Diari ARA (via Variety). “And the truth is that, in real life, it’s a pain to shoot sex scenes, everyone is very tense. And if it was already a bit problematic to do it before, now it is even more so. If there had ever been a sex scene that was essential to the story, I would have, but so far it hasn’t been necessary.”
It’s a treacherous time to wade into sex scene discourse, but let’s highlight the most salient point first: It is absolutely the right of the auteur who is writing and directing the film to decide what’s essential to the story, sex scene or otherwise. If, as a director, he feels shooting intimate scenes are more trouble than they’re worth, that’s his prerogative.
As for sex scenes being “problematic” to shoot, it’s true that some actors have spoken up about unsafe work environments surrounding intimate scenes. A new rise of intimacy coordinators on set will hopefully improve upon this issue, rather than make it “even more so” problematic. Tarantino has been criticized in the past for his handling of stunts, particularly with Uma Thurman on Kill Bill, so a hesitance to tread into that territory might be expected.
That said, Tarantino’s films are not devoid of sexuality, or sexualized violence. Then there’s the whole foot fetish thing, which has been noted by everyone ranging from the audience to his own stars. The Oscar winner himself alleges that the prevalence of bare feet in his oeuvre is not a sexual quirk, however. “There’s a lot of feet in a lot of good directors’ movies,” he argued to GQ. “That’s just good direction. Like, before me, the person foot fetishism was defined by was Luis Buñuel, another film director. And Hitchcock was accused of it, and Sofia Coppola has been accused of it.” If you say so!
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“Tarantino has been criticized in the past for his handling of stunts, particularly with Uma Thurman on Kill Bill, so a hesitance to tread into that territory might be expected.”
He has “ONLY” been criticized with regards to Uma and Kill Bill.
And what does that have to do with anything? He was criticized, a decade and a half after filming Kill Bill, therefore it makes sense that he didn’t put in sex scenes even BEFORE Kill Bill?
Also, he was criticized about the way he handled Kill Bill, but that didn’t stop him from continuing to put violence in his movies.
Honestly, why the fuck is the Uma/KB stuff even in this article? It has *literally* nothing to do with the topic at hand.
Strange. With Tarantino’s movies being so synonymous with violence, it just feels like there would have been sex in some of them too. But briefly thinking back on his movies (I haven’t seen Hateful Eight or Deathproof), the only one that comes to mind is the brief, almost fully-clothed encounter against the bar with DeNiro and Bridget Fonda in Jackie Brown.
There are at least two rape/attempted rape scenes (Marsellus in Pulp Fiction and the comatose Bride in Kill Bill) though. Not sure how much we want to read into that.There’s also some sex in Natural Born Killers and True Romance. The former was heavily rewritten, but I think True Romance stuck pretty close to Tarantino’s script.
I think True Romance stuck pretty close to Tarantino’s script.Other than not originally being in chronological order, I think you’re right.
There is rape in Kill Bill but it isn’t shown on screen.
sex and rape aren’t the same thing
Anytime I see someone use the words “sex” and “rape” synonymously I uncontrollably vomit everywhere sorry my bad.
Bring out the gimp!
I mean Zeb had his fun now didn’t he! Or was it Zed? Either way what twist in a movie, everyone in the theater groaned in discomfort.
Zed’s dead.
Definitely Zed.
Thanks, I don’t know why I typed Zeb because right after I hit submit I thought to myself its Zed!
It doesn’t really matter.Zed’s dead, baby. Zed’s dead.
Zed’s dead, baby.
Definitely no sex in Hateful 8, no sex in Death Proof, but Vanessa Fertilo gives one heck of a lap dance to Kurt Russell.
In Inglourious Basterds, there’s a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it flash of a mostly-clothed Julie Dreyfus (Sofie from the Kill Bill films) getting rawdogged by Joseph Goebbels.
Of course he finds sex scenes unnecessary, as long as he gets to lovingly shoot his female stars’ bare feet as much as he wants to.
Hey that’s just good directing! What a weirdo
His attention to detail is well known
“Wiggle your big toe.”
Hey, don’t knock the role of weird fetishes (although, is a foot fetish even weird, all things considered?) in the creative process. We wouldn’t have Wonder Woman if Charles Moulton hadn’t had an uncontrollable BDSM fetish. Also whatever name you would give to an obsession with forcing/coercing people to tell the truth—let’s not forget he also invented the polygraph!
Or maybe we should about that last part. Polygraphs are pseudoscience and shouldn’t be used in any criminal investigation.
Years ago while working on their building I found out that the military has a polygraph division to check people with security clearances and such. Turns out that if you mention how polygraphs are meaningless in their hearing they’ll launch into a whole thing to convince you they’re actually useful. Got to defend your weird, pointless job somehow I guess. If someone is suspected of being a spy for all its faults sodium pentothal would be more likely to get usable information out of them than a polygraph.
It’s too bad he didn’t direct that recent movie with Ray Liotta and Keri Russell. There was a female in that with four bear feet!
Every reel has a thousand feet
I assumed he considered a bare foot close up shot a sex scene. He can deny it all he wants, I still believe it.
So, you think he simply doesn’t understand what sex is?
I’ve been reading the book for which he’s been touring/interviewing lately, and it’s fucking great. It’s like you’re getting a beer with someone, and you ask them about some hobby of theirs, and they just go off because it’s the defining passion of their life. In a situation like that, you’re just content to listen.It’s also got a ton of solid movie recommendations. A 1974 ABC made-for-TV movie with Robert Forster is a better version of the second Dirty Harry movie, etc, things like that. All sorts of stuff here I’ve never heard of or been exposed to, just a wonderful time hearing about cool movies from someone obsessed with them.The novelization of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood also had pieces like that, but presented in-story as one character telling another character or musing about an old studio boss. It’s like with this book he’s just given himself permission to geek out with no pretense.
Or just buy a pile of Steve Puchalski’s Shock Cinema and get way more suggestions and much better writing.
Well, maybe I’ll do that too. In the meantime, hey, fun read.
So, you’re saying that the Pussy Wagon was actually a mobile cat groomer business?
Important to note that the original owner of the Pussy Wagon was murdered by The Bride because of rape.
Well, realistically speaking, you can’t solely make your money pimping-out comatose women out of the hospital wing where you nurse. Clearly this is a man who enterprises.
You’re saying there were sex scenes set in the Pussy Wagon?
No?
Then what’s your fucking point?
there’s a sex scene in jackie brown with bridget fonda and robert deniro
I don’t remember that scene at all.Just kidding.
Yeah, I was gonna say, did he forget Jackie Brown like everyone else?(BTW this is not a knock on JB; it’s minimum top 5 Tarantino for me, more like top 3 when I’m in certain moods. Just commenting on the public’s attitude toward it.)
I think Jackie Brown may be a perfect movie. Its just fabulous.
But it’s not remotely erotic.
But it did “hit the spot”Honestly one of his funniest lines
And DeNiro’s funniest performance in general.
King of Comedy.
That movie is like cringe comedy without the funny.
LouuuuuuuuuuuuuuISSSSSSS!
So?
let’s not tip-toe around this: I’m sure scenes like the “backseat wiggle” in Kill Bill exhausted him. He gives a LOT to getting footage like that, so of course something else would have to lose.
As an avid just pay me person. Actors who feel bad about things should get what they want. They should get millions to just sit at home their good looking enough…we fans understand. All action scenes are pointless too so skip them and move the fight along with tell don’t show. I know a good fight happens so just tell me, and save the actors who feel offended or stressed about action that may hurt them. Intimate scenes are too much for the poor actors and most feel grossed out by realizing that humans reproduce i mean ive seen me naked…that how half the world looks generally…ugh no way can i see that on screen. Also get rid of the rigid idea that movies need their actors to act out dialogue…it’s hard on them as actors to do their job and say things that ruin their vocal cords…just cgi them. Im offended they even use makeup that damages their skin…fix it all in post. Also stop being ageist and let actors use filters like iPhones so they don’t have to be forced (correction seems no one forces them but society and their own need to look 30 in their 60s) to make plastic surgery…Ok last but not least, i read online that sequels and movies about superheroes fatigue some of the masses…get them something to eat their tired by watch about 10 hours of film a year…poor things…cancel all superhero and whatever movies…seems directors dont like em either. Also, let’s make all movies more deep and thought-provoking, no more fun for fun’s sake. So all movies must be indie and shot in an oner and talk about the meaning of life or human struggle against society. Ahh, what a great idea my crazy joke came up with. What’s this…all these ideas are overboard, and I’m missing the forest for t he trees…argh. Jokes aside, yeah happy there are more avenues for actors to speak up if they can’t do a scene and plenty of ways to work over that…still enjoy that movies can tackle taboo subjects, wouldn’t like if we eliminated all scenes that make people uncomfortable, nudity being a big one for puritan societies, since some clever ideas can be brought from that, including loving your own body and accepting it.
Bunuel, seriously – but of course it’s gotta be Tarantino that’s the one with the foot fetish..
What about 15 minute scenes of boring dialogue?
I think it really would have elucidated the story if some of those Basterds got it on. Tenderly, of course.
We all know they had the “Bear Jew” but they never went into the fact they called BJ Novak the “Twink Jew”
Not featured: the Otter Jew.
“Problematic” of course just means scrutiny, which in theory means accountability, so the view is characteristically backward. On the other hand, if Tarantino knows he probably shouldn’t go there given who he is, good on him for leaving it alone.
““Problematic” of course just means scrutiny”
No, it doesn’t. Not at all, in any way.
But thanks for spreading stupidity.
Eh, that’s a trap, and it reminds me a lot of mafia logic. If I see something as problematic, does that automatically mean I’m immoral at my core? The nuns used to tell me that. I think he’s being smart. He knows that he can’t do it his way, so he’s opting not to. It’s all very Catholic Church to condemn a man when he doesn’t, in addition to when he does. This is called Original Sin and it’s how we were kept repressed as children in church.
The feet are the sex scenes lol
I’m fine with not seeing too much of Quentin Tarantino’s sexual tastes on screen.
I don’t even want to dip a toe in those waters, much less set one foot in that space.
Well done.
I’m guessing his tastes are a little arch.
NGL it would be the sole reason for me not to watch
Still the sexiest scene I’ve ever seen in a movie and nobody loses a stitch of clothing:
This scene is sexy until you see Cary Grant run.
This maybe even sexier. Same director, same actor.
Ring a ding ding
“Okay, now zoom in real, real close on her feet, I want to get every last detail of—what? No, obviously sex is not part of my vision of cinema.”
I’m not an expert on those other directors’ filmographies, but I’ve never heard any of them accused of foot fetishism.
Accused?? Foot fetishism is a crime now?
I can accuse someone (or even a pet) of farting, even though that’s not usually a crime.
“The Oscar winner himself alleges that the prevalence of bare feet in his oeuvre is not a sexual quirk, however.”
He absolutely does not. He fucking ACKNOWLEDGES the fetish in the bit you QUOTED!
Sex scenes, no.Foot fetish adjacent scenes? Ohhh hell yes.-Quentin Tarantino….probably
I think we’re a messed up society in a messed up time. On the one hand, we’re so awash with pornography that a lot of nice, normal, suburban kids have seen more porn (and more extreme porn) than even the most dedicated perverts of the past, and we’ve pretty much just accepted that to the point that you hear way more people saying that porn is great than advocating against it. And on the other hand, when it comes to sex in “mainstream” entertainment, the general consensus seems to be that it’s suspect, dangerous, exploitative, unnecessary, perverse, and so on and so forth.Few things in entertainment are “necessary.” Is violence necessary? Is cursing necessary? It’s like people think that movies exist to model good behavior and to deliver the plot, and anything that isn’t obviously furthering that goal is at best in the way and monstrous at worst.I think we need a lot more sex in movies. I think kids (and adults) should see a lot more depictions of people who love each other, or at least like each other, having sex for pleasure, because they want to, rather than watching young women having their bodies used as outlets for male sexual desire by total strangers. We talk about movie sets being a dangerous place to film simulated sex, and we’re all so (rightfully) appalled by stories about the filming of Last Tango in Paris, but dodgy consent and sexual assault happens so often in porn that it’s seen as like slipping in a puddle. Eh, that’s unfortunate, but you’re okay and what you can do, anyway?
I don’t think you can overlook that acting out sex (especially when it involves full nudity) is fundamentally different from acting out violence – especially the cartoonish violence that’s so prevalent today. Yes, sexual assault and coerced consent happens in the porn industry and that’s bad, but that really isn’t an argument to film more sex scenes in “mainstream entertainment.” But to be clear, I agree with a lot of your points. I just feel that from the perspective of the filmmakers and producers, the question, “Is ___ necessary?” is asked about everything, and whether the answer is yes or no is often up to things that the audience is completely unaware of and will never know about.
Seems like, as a fifteen year-old, he’d love them.
Who didn’t?
Yes, but you and I got over being fifteen years old. Little Quentin’s not there yet.
Of course not, it takes away valuable time that’s better spent dropping N-bombs.
Of course not, it takes away valuable time that can be spent dropping N-bombs.
Certainly when I was growing up there was a lot of gratuitous nudity that didn’t need to be in films. (“Quick! The guy we’re chasing ducked into that strip club!”) But I’ve seen some surprisingly prudish takes online, like people genuinely saying that sex scenes should never be shown in film, as if it’s not a major part of human existence.