Just because you are a character doesn't mean you have character. Quentin Tarantino More Quotes by Quentin Tarantino More Quotes From Quentin Tarantino Something stopped me in school a little bit. Anything that I'm not interested in, I can't even feign interest. Quentin Tarantino interestlittlesschool I want to risk hitting my head on the ceiling of my talent. I want to really test it out and say: O.K., you're not that good. You just reached the level here. I don't ever want to fail, but I want to risk failure every time out of the gate. Quentin Tarantino ceilingsdesignrisk Frankly, Django is an American story that needs to be told, when you think of slavery existing in this country for 245 years. In slave narratives there were all types of tales and drama and heroism and pain and love that happened during that time. That's rich material for drama! Everyone complains that there are no new stories left to tell. Not true, there are a whole bunch of them, and they're all American with a capital A. Quentin Tarantino paindramacountry Between men and women, all the time there is tension. I feel it. A woman walks down the street, and I'm going back, and suddenly there is this tension. I just walk down the street, we were just on the way. And she thinks I'm a rapist. And now I feel guilty, even though I'm a damn poor did not. Quentin Tarantino menwaythinking I don't believe in putting in music as a band aid to get you over some rough parts or bad film making. If it's there it's got to add to it or take it to another level. Quentin Tarantino bandaddbelieve Particularly as a writer, it is my job to ignore social critics, or the response that social critics might have when it comes to the opinions of my characters, the way they talk, or anything that can happen to them. Quentin Tarantino mightjobscharacter I'm not superstitious in my normal daily life but I get that way about writing, even though I know it's all bullshit. But I began that way and so, that's the way it is. My ritual is I never use a typewriter or computer. I just write it all by hand. It's a ceremony. I go to a stationary store and buy a notebook and then fill it up. Quentin Tarantino notebookwritinghands Sergio Leone was a big influence on me because of the spaghetti westerns. Quentin Tarantino spaghettiinfluencebigs A writer should have this little voice inside of you saying, Tell the truth. Reveal a few secrets here. Quentin Tarantino voicetruthshould-have There are a lot of bad screenplays so if you write a good screenplay people are going to respond to it. Quentin Tarantino screenplayswritingpeople Spaghetti Westerns are really brutal and operatic with a surreal quality to the violence. Quentin Tarantino spaghettiqualityviolence I've always considered myself a filmmaker who writes stuff for himself to do. Quentin Tarantino filmmakerstuffwriting You name any horrific thing, and I can make a joke out of it. Quentin Tarantino horrificjokesnames Emotion will always win over coolness and cleverness. It's when a scene works emotionally and it's cool and clever, then it's great. That's what you want. Quentin Tarantino cleverwinningwant If a Million People See My Movie, I Hope They See a Million Different Movies. Quentin Tarantino movieinspiringpeople Violence is one of the most fun things to watch. Quentin Tarantino violencefunwatches One can be inclined to just say, "F this political correctness! I don't have time for that!" Quentin Tarantino political-correctnesscorrectnesspolitical L.A. is so big that if you don't actually live in Hollywood, you might as well be from a different planet. Quentin Tarantino hollywooddifferentmight That's how it always is with me: the thing that sets me down to start writing is usually not what I end up doing. Because, as much as I love genre, and I try to deliver the goods, I go off from it. I go do my own thing. Quentin Tarantino endswritingtrying I didnt go to film school, i went to films Quentin Tarantino film-schoolfilmschool