I've often marveled at the cult of celebrity that sometimes surrounds a limited few filmmakers. I don't just mean directors about whom the vast majority of the public knows (Spielberg, Coppola, Scorsese, Stone) or even more recent filmmakers who moviegoers can also identify by name and maybe by face (Spike Jonze, Michel Gondry, Peter Jackson, Sofia Coppola). Audiences will, in fact, go to these directors' movies just because it carries the credit, "A (blank) film." Hell, that's obviously true even for the worst major director out there, Michael Bay. And these filmmakers "enjoy" the lifestyle that comes with notoriety and success: they attend all the big parties, they appear in gossip pages, EW and US Weekly, and they carry a certain degree of celebrity. But they are still thought of for the films they make rather than the celebrations of their personas.
In the last 15 years, I can think of two filmmakers, however, whose celebration of themselves has transcended their notoriety for filmmaking. (I don't include Woody Allen because his tabloid newsmaking aside, he's essentially a recluse.) The first is Spike Lee. Whether it's because of his Mars Blackmon character (which became more famous in Air Jordan commercials than the film it inhabited), or his courtside seats at Knicks games and newsmaking fights with Reggie Miller, or whatever controversy linked to his films he chooses to inflame, I'd venture to say more people know about Spike Lee and his activities off the set than actually go see any of his films. 25th Hour, a pretty major release with some name stars grossed only about $13-Million in the US. His previous feature, Bamboozled, grossed just over $2-Million. In fact, while many of Spike's movies have made money due to their relatively low budgets and ultimate video and pay-TV packaging, they notoriously don't gross big numbers. Malcolm X (with a little over $48-Million in the US) is the only Spike Lee "joint" to gross over $30-Million in its initial theatrical run.
Spike at least has been relatively prolific in his work, churning out some sort of film every year. Recently, he has concentrated much more on documentaries and a few television projects. And while Spike may occasionally get caught-up in his own celebrity, he doesn't hold a candle to Quentin Tarantino! Today Cinecultist asks, "How is it that Quentin Tarantino's head hasn't become so big in the last 10 years of critical adulation that its just exploded?" She then presents several quotes from the deluge of recent Tarantino news (due to this weekend's Kill Bill Vol. 2 release) that represent the worst of "QT's pretensions." And I couldn't agree more.
Seriously, why does Tarantino think he's so damn important? I'm not begrudging the publicity blitz. Nor am I trying to negate his obvious talents in the realm of filmmaking; nor his vast knowledge regarding popular and pop culture cinema. But why must we constantly be inundated with Tarantino. Even when he disappears from filmmaking, he doesn't disappear. Did anyone actually ever tell him he could act? And is he actually a draw? I can't believe QT brought one extra viewer to any of his appearances on Alias. His performance in the god-awful Destiny Turns on the Radio gave that film status as one of my all-time most hated. And the only reason he didn't completely ruin From Dusk 'Til Dawn is because there were vampires and Robert Rodriguez was directing.
Why the hell is he a guest judge on American Idol? In fact, it's a good thing that the President's press conference tonight will postpone our having to suffer through Tarantino's AI critiques until tomorrow, and maybe with it being on tape, the producers will bless us by cutting away from him quicker than had we been subjected to him live. I would love to hear QT talk about his use of music in his films, but I have no interest in seeing him talk nice to a bunch of wannabe prefab pop stars. (In fact, could you imagine some sort of panel on music in the movies featuring Tarantino and Scorsese? The kinetic hyperactive energy between the two would be amazing! And combustible.) Is he going to tone himself down too? Or are they going to let him be surly? I imagine that's Cowell's private realm, and QT will have to be on the qt. But what's the point of him appearing on the show anyway? Is it to get all those 15-year-old girls to go see the spurting blood, missing limbs and extreme-fighting of Kill Bill?
Really ... I'm confused about this, so someone please fill me in. If his name is not credited with "A film by ..." does anyone anywhere ever care about Quentin Tarantino and what he's doing? Especially when he's acting or making guest appearances? Fine, let him program "My Trio" and Samurai Action-Fest Vol. 2 on IFC (reportedly airing this Thursday 4/15 according to Cynopsis but I can't find any info on the IFC site), but seriously Quentin, the rest of the time, leave us alone. Go ahead and hypnotize Mira into dating you again. Or keep stalking Uma. Most importantly, just keep making your films. I don't love everything about all of them, but I always know I'll see something that is at least fresh and interesting. In fact, maybe if you focused solely on filmmaking, you could even get rid of some of the self-indulgent crap that makes its way into them, and every moment would be important and meaningful rather than the frequent, "Ooh, doesn't that look cool" sequences that pervaded Kill Bill Vol. 1. (And I liked it ... I'm just saying ....) Meanwhile, I'll be there this weekend to check out the blood and guts and gore, although I'm sure it will now seem tame since I've already seen Mel's Christ child.
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