Quentin Tarantino, the legendary Hollywood director behind “Pulp Fiction” and “Django Unchained,” has admitted in an interview with The New York Times that he “knew enough” about the sexual assaults and inappropriate behaviour of Harvey Weinstein over the years “to do more than I did.” What he “did” was profit from Weinstein as a producer and turn a blind eye to the rape, so yeah, he probably could’ve done more.
Harvey Weinstein gave Tarantino a career. He picked up “Reservoir Dogs” and then produced “Pulp Fiction,” which won the director his first Oscar, and now he’ll throw money at anything Tarantino wants to do, which is the absolutely ideal situation for a writer-director, but still, does that come near justifying staying silent about sexual assaults that you knew were taking place?
This is highly disappointing, especially given how Tarantino is known for writing strong female characters, which would suggest a more heightened respect for women.
LA police are investigating Weinstein
This Tarantino interview came at the same time that police in Los Angeles are investigating Weinstein for a sexual assault he is accused of that took place in 2013. Weinstein’s spokesperson has said that he has “unequivocally denied” any allegations of “non-consensual sex,” but he does admit that his actions have “caused a lot of pain” for a lot of women.
Sal Ramirez, a spokesperson for the LAPD, said that detectives from the Robbery Homicide Division have met with and interviewed “a potential sexual assault victim involving Harvey Weinstein, which allegedly occurred in 2013.” Ramirez said that the assault is “under investigation” and that there’s “no more information” to divulge about it at the moment.
The 2013 assault would fall under the 10-year statute of limitations enforced by the state of California for the crime of rape (which basically means that if you got raped 11 years ago and you’re finally ready to come forward about it, they won’t do anything to help you or bring your attacker to justice). If the detectives investigating find enough evidence against Weinstein, this could go to trial.
US media reports that the victim of this particular rape is a 38-year-old Italian model and actress.
Tarantino turned a blind eye so he could keep making movies
Tarantino said that, for him in particular, it was more than “just the normal rumours, the normal gossip,” that all the other Tinseltown celebrities are saying that had heard over the years.
For him, the information “wasn’t second hand,” and he knew some things first hand. He claims, “I knew he did a couple of these things.” He says that, in hindsight, he wishes he would’ve “taken responsibility” for the stories that he had heard, although he says that if he had spoken up about Weinstein’s actions, then he “would have had to not work with him.” Oh, well, that makes it alright then.
Weinstein and Tarantino were close friends, working together on “Django,” “Inglourious Basterds,” “Kill Bill,” “Pulp Fiction,” “Jackie Brown,” everything. The producer let Tarantino do whatever movie he wanted for however much he demanded. He let him do a two-and-a-half-hour spaghetti western about the horrors of American slavery twinged with pitch-black comedy for $100 million, so of course, Tarantino kept his mouth shut.
Weinstein calls some claims ‘patently false’
Weinstein has said that some of the accusations against him are “patently false,” while his spokesperson has said that while he is guilty of sexually inappropriate behaviour and unwanted sexual advances towards women, there were “never any acts of retaliation” against the women who turned him down.
