New York, March 31, 2007 - Open All Night talked with Grindhouse
directors Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez at their in-store appearance
at a Jim Hanley's Universe store in Manhattan.
OAN – Weren't grind house films fairly short, and this came
in at 3 hours?
ROBERT RODRIGUEZ – “No, not at all.”
QUENTIN TARANTINO – “No. They were about,
you know, in the ‘70s, they were like normal size movies. They were
like 90 minutes or so.”
RODRIGUEZ – “Ours are 85 minutes.”
TARANTINO – “Yeah, exactly. Yeah.”
RODRIGUEZ – “You know, it’s a double
feature. And grind houses, they would have triple features as much as
they would have double features.”
OAN – Mr. Tarantino, Variety says you’re doing a longer
version to be shown at the Cannes Film Festival?
TARANTINO – “Yeah, uh-huh. It’ll be
about a half hour longer.”
OAN – Do you need to shoot extra scenes?
TARANTINO – “No, no, no. I have to edit.”
OAN – Are both features going to be longer at Cannes? Will
you show them separately or together?
RODRIGUEZ – “I think separate.”
TARANTINO – “Yeah, separate. Separate. His
is about 20 more minutes, mine is about a half hour.”
RODRIGUEZ – “In some countries they’re
going to be split up, because they don’t understand the American
idea of a double feature, so they’re going have a separate screen.”
TARANTINO – “And they also said, uh, a Robert
movie and a Quentin movie for the price of one? Bulls--t on that! Lets
split ‘em up.”
OAN – Mr. Tarantino, you have worked with such eclectic people
– you revived the careers of John Travolta and Pam Grier. Who would
you love to work with?
TARANTINO – “Oh there’s a lot of people
I would love to work with, but you know, it all kind of falls under...
You know, it’s about my characters, not about cherry picking actors.
It’s about finding the right actor to play my characters. So it
always starts with the character.”
OAN – How did you pick Rose McGowan for Grindhouse?
TARANTINO – “Oh. She was Pam through and
through, I think. I couldn’t not.”
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