Universal
Quentin Tarantino’s ninth feature film — Once Upon A Time In Hollywood — comes out today and to say I’m gleefully excited would be an understatement.
You see, Tarantino — along with the likes of Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Christopher Nolan, Alfonso Cuarón, and Clint Eastwood — is a dying breed, an auteur. He has a unique movie-making style that everyone not only distinctly recognizes but thoroughly enjoys. He in and of himself is the box-office draw.
In the age of superhero movies and preexisting properties, Tarantino still has the ability to not only create something unique but something excellent, and that is a quality that needs to be cherished.
Throw in the fact that he’s got Leo DiCaprio AND Brad Pitt starring in Once Upon A Time In Hollywood and you have the makings of a perfect movie.
Prior to Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, though, if you were to ask the masses what their favorite Tarantino flick is, they’d likely say one of two things: Pulp Fiction or Inglorious Basterds.
Inglorious Basterds, which is now already a decade old (I know, fuck me, right?), was unique for Tarantino in that it was his first time delving into history … or at least, his version of it.
As we all know now (10-year spoiler alert), Tarantino ultimately has Adolf Hitler violently gunned down in a French movie theater during the film’s climactic scene. And according to the legendary director, the decision to do so wasn’t always necessarily cut and dry.
Appearing on Jimmy Kimmel Live! prior to the Los Angeles premiere of Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, Tarantino walked the audience through his thought process of deciding to off Adolf.
“So, the thing is though, I was like, ‘Well I don’t want it to be a double, that’s always a bummer whenever that happens in a movie. I’ve seen that before. And I don’t think they should sneak him out of the back, so, what am I gonna do?'” Tarantino begins.
“It’s like 4 o’clock in the morning; I’m writing by myself. And then I finally decide, ‘Just kill him.’ So, I took a piece of paper and I wrote on it, ‘Just fucking kill him.’”
“And I put it by my bedside table and went to bed. And when I woke up the next morning, I figured I would look at the piece of paper and realize: Was it a good idea or a bad idea? After I had a night’s sleep I read it and I go, ‘It’s a GREAT idea.’”
Given that Inglorious Basterds has since aged into one of the director’s finest films, the decision to kill Hitler ultimately proved to be a wise one, as the moment now stands as the movie’s most iconic moment.