A Look At How Quentin Tarantino Blends The Work Of Other Directors Into His Own Films

Image: Sony

Once Upon A Time In Hollywood exceeded box office expectations this weekend bringing in $41 million dollars, making it the biggest opening of director Quentin Tarantino’s career. The film stars Leonardo DiCaptiro, Brad Pitt, and Margot Robbie, and takes filmgoers back the summer of 1969 and the L.A. of Tarantino’s youth.

I saw the movie over the weekend myself, and while I don’t like to write film reviews (because I just don’t) I give this movie a big thumbs up! Tarantino is a big film nerd, and whether you like his writing and directing style or not, his love of movies always shines through with lots of the visual references in his own films.

In fact, the director makes no secret of his indirect plagiarism. In a famous quote from a 1994 interview in Empire magazine Tarantino said:

I steal from every single movie ever made. If my work has anything, it’s that I’m taking this from this and that from that and mixing them together. If people don’t like that, then tough titty, don’t go and see it, alright? I steal from everything. Great artists steal; they don’t do homages..

Tarantino’s visual references to movies have become his trademark, and this video essay from Nathaniel Lee of Insider takes a look at how the director blends the work of other directors and genres into his own, original films. Take a look!