Quentin Tarantino thinks audiences are becoming more "sophisticated".
The 52-year-old filmmaker has always liked to shock people with his gory and provocative features like Nazi drama Inglourious Basterds and Django Unchained, which focused on slavery.
He's often spoken about the way he likes to manipulate viewers and "play" them like a conductor. But with more and more people taking an interest in film, has it become harder'
"Frankly, sophisticated audiences are not a problem. Dumb audiences are a problem. But I think audiences are getting more sophisticated - that’s just a product of time," he mused in an interview with Vulture.
"In the 50s, audiences accepted a level of artifice that the audiences in 1966 would chuckle at. And the audiences of 1978 would chuckle at what the audience of 1966 said was OK, too. The trick is to try to be way ahead of that curve, so they’re not chuckling at your movies 20 years down the line.
"With Pulp Fiction, people were like, 'Wow, I have never seen a movie like that before. A movie can do that' I don’t think that’s the case anymore. I’m not talking ridiculously over anyone’s head anymore. I think people watched Django and Inglourious Basterds and thought they were really out there, but they got it. They felt themselves on solid ground. It wasn’t just, 'What the f**k was that' And people understand what I’m doing with genre. They’re not befuddled. They don’t think I’m doing it wrong. They get it."
Quentin's latest project is The Hateful Eight, a dramatic western about bounty hunters trapped in a blizzard. It's likely to stir things up again, as it discusses the issue of race - and Quentin can't wait.
"Finally, the issue of white supremacy is being talked about and dealt with. And it’s what the movie’s about," he explained.
The Hateful Eight stars Channing Tatum, Samuel L. Jackson and Jennifer Jason Leigh and hits cinemas from January 8 next year. Tarantino favorites Tim Roth and Michael Madsen also appear.
