The relationship between Quentin Tarantino and Harvey Weinstein is a complicated one. At once, Tarantino does owe a lot of his mainstream success–particularly early on–to Weinstein. On the other hand, there is absolutely zero to defend as far as Weinstein’s behavior goes. While on a book tour to promote his first non-fiction book, Cinema Speculation, the topic was broached, giving Tarantino an opportunity to give his take.
“I’d never heard the stories that later came out at all,” Tarantino said. “I heard the same stories that everybody had heard. What I wish I had done was talk to Harvey about it and say, ‘Harvey, you can’t do this.’ To tell you the truth, I chalked it up to a Mad Men-era version of the boss chasing the secretary around the desk. I’m not saying that’s ok. That’s how I heard it…in that category. There was never any talk of rape or anything like that.”
As far as why Quentin Tarantino didn’t approach Harvey Weinstein, the director said, “The reason I didn’t [say something to Weinstein] was because that’s a real hard conversation to have…I felt it was pathetic. I felt what he was doing was pathetic and I didn’t want to deal with his pathetic-ness.”
Tarantino elaborated and expressed regret over the Weinstein situation. “I didn’t think it was, ‘Ok, you do this for me or you’re not going to get this movie.’ I never heard any actresses say anything like that…It was just, you know, ‘Don’t get in the back of a limo with him.’ It was easy to compartmentalize that to some degree…What I feel bad about is I feel bad that I did not have a man-to-man talk with him about it.”
Quentin Tarantino’s Cinema Speculation book tour concluded earlier this week. Many stories have come from the Q&A sessions, such as that he’ll be helming a limited series.
What do you think? Did Quentin Tarantino have a responsibility to help bring Harvey Weinstein’s behavior to the headlines? Let us know your thoughts below.