Filmmaker Who Built Career Ripping Off Films Upset Author Ripped Off Book
No word yet on whether Quentin Tarantino will sue himself.
Director Who Stole From 'Every Single Movie Ever Made' Draws Line at Novels
LOS ANGELES — Quentin Tarantino, a 62-year-old writer-director whose filmography samples extensively from Japanese samurai cinema and Italian spaghetti westerns, called for The Hunger Games author Suzanne Collins to be sued for sampling from a Japanese novel.
"I don't understand how […] Japanese writer [Koushun Takami] didn't sue Suzanne Collins for every fucking thing she owns," Tarantino, whose 2003 film Kill Bill: Volume 1 drew from Toshiya Fujita's 1973 revenge thriller Lady Snowblood and dozens of other Asian genre productions, said on The Bret Easton Ellis Podcast. "They just ripped off the fucking book."
"Stupid book critics are not going to go watch a Japanese movie called Battle Royale, so the stupid book critics never called her out on it," continued Tarantino, who in a 1994 Empire magazine interview described stealing from every movie ever made as what great artists do.
The director, who has called such observations about his own work "vaguely insulting," was incensed that Collins' young-adult series bore thematic similarities to the 1999 Japanese novel Battle Royale.
"There are similar themes, for sure," responded Josh Hutcherson, star of The Hunger Games franchise, when asked about Tarantino's remarks. "But, you know, everyone borrows from everyone."
Tarantino's comments came during promotion for Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair, a new theatrical cut of his revenge epic opening today. It is not based on anything. ■
