After two decades of reporters and talking heads trying to blame the violence in his films for spurring real-world violence, Quentin Tarantino decided yesterday that he'd had enough.
When the question inevitably came up again during a sit-down with Krishnan Guru-Murthy of Britain's Channel 4 News, the filmmaker simply refused to answer.
"Why are you so sure that there's no link between enjoying movie violence and enjoying real violence?" Guru-Murthy asked Tarantino, who was in London for the British premiere of Django Unchained.
"Don't ask me a question like that – I'm not biting," the director responded. "I refuse your question."
"Why?" prodded Guru-Murthy. "Because I refuse your question," Tarantino repeated. "I'm not your slave and you're not my master. You can't make me dance to your tune. I'm not a monkey."
But Guru-Murthy pressed on, asking Tarantino over and over why he wouldn't respond. After some increasingly heated back and forth, Tarantino got serious.
"It's none of your damn business what I think about that!" he exclaimed. Guru-Murthy persisted: "Well, it's my job to ask you why you think that because…" Retorted Tarantino: "And I'm saying no! And I'm shutting you down."
To his credit the auteur did not leave the interview, despite being obviously fed up.
Following the explosive exchange, Guru-Murthy released this statement to the Daily Telegraph:
I was surprised about his reaction to the questions, which were very gentle. I love a lot of his work – I wasn't looking for a fight. I would have thought if you invite somebody to interview you it is better to try to answer the questions rather than not. No interviewee has ever said 'I'm not your slave...I'm not a monkey' to me before.
[video via Channel 4 News]