Somehow, Tarantino seems to have missed the cardinal rule of Being Online, which is that denizens of the Internet will call you a fucking asshole for saying anything. (Just ask the lady who posted about drinking coffee with her husband in the morning.) But as a man who mostly cares about making movies, watching movies, and talking about movies, this mode of discourse mystifies him. “You either like the movie or you don’t. I’m not plugging the movie. I’m not doing anything. I’m just saying I like it,” he says. “Who gives a fuck what I like? What do you care what the fuck I like?”
This is where things get a little disingenuous, because of course a lot of people give a fuck what Tarantino likes. Not only is he one of the preeminent auteurs of modern cinema, but he’s also well-regarded as a connoisseur of cinema history. Frankly, you wouldn’t start a podcast talking about movies you like if you didn’t think people gave a fuck about what movies you like.
But his larger point is taken, that there’s no reason for one person’s opinion (positive or negative) on a film to inspire such passionate vitriol. Unfortunately, we’re now among the 150 articles that will be published about Tarantino complaining about his remarks turning into articles—if only he weren’t so quotable! The A.V. Club was not actually among the 150 articles about his opinion on Joker: Folie Á Deux; we went with the “Tarantino doesn’t care about Dune” angle. But the director also takes umbrage with those bothered by his avoidance of Denis Villeneuve’s remake. “What the fuck do you care what I see or don’t see?” He now complains. “Someone will say, ‘Well I think he’s missing out.’ Well I am sure there is a lot of shit I could say you’re missing out on and I don’t care if you miss out on.” Fair enough, man.
