NEW YORK — Quentin Tarantino says he won’t be intimidated by police groups calling for a boycott of his upcoming film “The Hateful Eight” after he spoke against police brutality.
Their action is putting pressure on one of December’s most anticipated releases and inserting one of Hollywood’s top directors into a pitched cultural battle.
In his first comments about the controversy, Tarantino told The Los Angeles Times on Tuesday that the law enforcement groups that have criticised him are attempting to bully him. “Instead of dealing with the problem of police brutality in this country, better they single me out,” Tarantino told the Times.
Tarantino signalled that he isn’t backing down from comments he made last month at a Brooklyn rally against police brutality where he said he was “on the side of the murdered.”
The director added on Tuesday that “all cops are not murderers.”
In a statement, the Weinstein Co. said Tarantino “should be allowed to speak for himself.”
In recent days, a growing number of police groups called for the boycott of the film. After local police organisations in New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Philadelphia and Los Angeles, the National Association of Police Organizations recently joined the ranks.
“We ask officers to stop working special assignments or off-duty jobs, such as providing security, traffic control or technical advice for any of Tarantino’s projects,” the organisation said in a statement. “We need to send a loud and clear message that such hateful rhetoric against police officers is unacceptable.”
Tarantino attended the Brooklyn rally against brutality on October 24 where he told The Associated Press: “I’m a human being with a conscience. And if you believe there’s murder going on then you need to rise up and stand up against it. I’m here to say I’m on the side of the murdered.”
Tarantino’s comments drew condemnation from, among others, New York Police Department Commissioner William Bratton. “Shame on him,” he said, speaking shortly after the recent fatal shooting of NYPD officer Randolph Holder in East Harlem. “There are no words to describe the contempt I have for him and his comments at this particular time.”
The response has made Tarantino a regular topic on Fox News and at Hollywood soirees, alike. Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly last week said Tarantino “lives in a world of his own.” At the Hollywood Film Awards on Sunday night in Los Angeles, Jamie Foxx, star of Tarantino’s “Django Unchained,” defended the director. Foxx urged him: “Keep telling the truth and don’t worry about none of the haters.”
Tarantino’s father, Tony Tarantino, has even issued a statement through the New York Police Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association saying his son is “dead wrong” about police officers. The director has previously said that his father “was never part of my life.”
Expectations are high for “The Hateful Eight,” which opens on Christmas Day exclusively in film projections of 70mm before expanding to nationwide theaters January 8. Starring Samuel L. Jackson and Kurt Russell, it’s a wintery Western about a group of bounty hunters holed up together during a blizzard.
Tarantino’s last film, 2012’s “Django Unchained,” earned $425.4 million globally and won two Oscars, including best screenplay for Tarantino.
Harvey Weinstein, co-chairman of the Weinstein Co., has a long history of using media storms to stoke interest in a movie. This time, the fortunes of “The Hateful Eight” — for better or worse — risk being altered by a controversy not of his making.
AP