Quentin Tarantino is an American filmmaker who was born in 1963 in Knoxville, Tennessee. He is known for becoming a successful Hollywood writer and director even thought he never attended film school. Instead, his knowledge of how to make films came mainly from being a fan of films, and this led to his most widely known film, Pulp Fiction.
Reservoir Dogs (1992) was the first feature film to garner both widespread attention and critical praise for Quentin Tarantino. It was a violent crime drama that featured more dialogue than action, made many pop culture and film references, and was written and directed by Tarantino, who also portrayed one of the characters of the film. His next major project was as the screenwriter for the controversial film Natural Born Killers (1993), which was directed by Oliver Stone. The two filmmakers had different opinions about the use of Tarantino’s script, which led to a rift between Quentin Tarantino and Oliver Stone.
Pulp Fiction was released in 1994, was made for the modest sum of $8 million US Dollars (USD) and was once again written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, who again portrayed a small role in the film. The film ended up winning an Academy Award for best screenplay and was nominated for several others. Pulp Fiction got its name from the “pulp” crime fiction of the 1930s and 1940s, featured even more irreverent dialogue than its predecessors and mixed elements of violence, pop culture references and an eclectic blend of characters. All of these components, combined with the popularity of the film, put it in the unique position of being a cult film and a box office hit simultaneously.
The popularity of the films of Quentin Tarantino can be attributed to his unique style due to his wide range of influences. He followed his success of Pulp Fiction with a variety of projects that he worked on with many Hollywood actors as well as several other directors who shared his same visions. Some of the more notable films that Quentin Tarantino wrote and directed were Kill Bill (2003) and Kill Bill Vol. II (2004), two martial arts films that centered around a plot of revenge by a character named “The Bride.” He also directed the film Death Proof (2007), which played in theaters as the second half of the double feature Grindhouse. The two movies featured in Grindhouse were a tribute to gritty 1970s films that go by that term, and furthered the public’s perception of Quentin Tarantino as one of the most unique filmmakers working today.
