 First edition cover | |
| Author | Quentin Tarantino |
|---|---|
| Audio read by | Edoardo Ballerini Quentin Tarantino |
| Language | English |
| Subject | Film |
| Publisher | Harper |
Publication date | November 1, 2022 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (hardcover) |
| Pages | 400 |
| ISBN | 978-0-06-311258-2 |
| OCLC | 1348950198 |
Cinema Speculation is a 2022 nonfiction book by American filmmaker Quentin Tarantino, published by Harper on November 1, 2022.
Cinema Speculation is Tarantino's debut work of nonfiction and combines "film criticism, film theory, a feat of reporting, and wonderful personal history". [1] The book is a collection of essays organized around "key American films from the 1970s" which Tarantino saw in his youth, [2] ranging from blaxploitation films to all the Best Picture nominees of 1970. [3] It was inspired by the film writing of critic Pauline Kael. [4]
The first and last chapters are autobiographical. Two other chapters are a homage to film critic Kevin Thomas, and a comparison of two generations of film-makers. The rest of the chapters are essays about the following films:
The book was initially scheduled to be published on October 25, 2022; [5] Cinema Speculation was published by Harper on November 1, 2022. [6] It is the second book in a two-book deal Tarantino signed with HarperCollins in 2020. [4] Tarantino promoted the book with a nationwide book tour. [7] The book's cover features a photograph of Steve McQueen with director Sam Peckinpah on the set of the 1972 action crime thriller The Getaway . [8]
Cinema Speculation received favorable reviews, with a cumulative "Rave" rating at the review aggregator website Book Marks, based on twelve book reviews from mainstream literary critics. [9] The book debuted at number five on The New York Times nonfiction best-seller list for the week ending November 5, 2022. [10] Kirkus Reviews gave the book a starred review, writing, "Whether you agree with his assessments or not, he provides the original reporting and insights only a veteran director would notice, and his engaging style makes it impossible to leave an essay without learning something." [11] The Daily Telegraph reviewer Jasper Rees gave the book 3 out of 5 stars, writing, "At times it's like leafing through yellowing back issues of Screen International . At others you feel Tarantino would have made a brilliant Tinseltown gossip columnist." [12]
Quentin Jerome Tarantino is an American filmmaker, actor, and author. His films are characterized by stylized violence, extended dialogue often featuring much profanity, and references to popular culture. His work has earned a cult following alongside critical and commercial success; he has been named by some as the single most influential director of his generation and has received numerous awards and nominations, including two Academy Awards, two BAFTA Awards, and four Golden Globe Awards.
Pulp Fiction is a 1994 American independent crime film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino from a story he conceived with Roger Avary. It tells four intertwining tales of crime and violence in Los Angeles, California. The film stars John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Willis, Tim Roth, Ving Rhames, and Uma Thurman. The title refers to the pulp magazines and hardboiled crime novels popular during the mid-20th century, known for their graphic violence and punchy dialogue.
Reservoir Dogs is a 1992 American crime film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino in his feature-length directorial debut. It stars Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Chris Penn, Steve Buscemi, Lawrence Tierney, Michael Madsen, Tarantino, and Edward Bunker as diamond thieves whose heist of a jewelry store goes terribly wrong. Kirk Baltz, Randy Brooks, and Steven Wright also play supporting roles. The film incorporates many motifs that have become Tarantino's hallmarks: violent crime, pop culture references, profanity, and nonlinear storytelling.
Pauline Kael was an American film critic who wrote for The New Yorker from 1968 to 1991. Known for her "witty, biting, highly opinionated and sharply focused" reviews, Kael often defied the consensus of her contemporaries.
From Dusk till Dawn is a 1996 American western horror film directed by Robert Rodriguez and written by Quentin Tarantino from a concept and story by Robert Kurtzman. Starring Harvey Keitel, George Clooney, Tarantino, Ernest Liu, and Juliette Lewis, the plot follows a pair of American criminal brothers who take a family as hostages in order to cross into Mexico, but ultimately find themselves trapped in a saloon defending against a horde of vampires.
Inglourious Basterds is a 2009 war film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, starring Brad Pitt, Christoph Waltz, Michael Fassbender, Eli Roth, Diane Kruger, Daniel Brühl, Til Schweiger and Mélanie Laurent. The film tells an alternate history story of two converging plots to assassinate Nazi Germany's leadership at a Paris cinema—one through a British operation largely carried out by a team of Jewish American soldiers led by First Lieutenant Aldo Raine (Pitt), and another by French Jewish cinema proprietor Shosanna Dreyfus (Laurent) who seeks to avenge her murdered family. Both are faced against Hans Landa (Waltz), an SS colonel with a fearsome reputation for hunting Jews.
Phillip Lopate is an American film critic, essayist, fiction writer, poet, and teacher.
Death Proof is a 2007 American slasher film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. It stars Kurt Russell as a stuntman who murders young women with modified cars he purports to be "death-proof". Rosario Dawson, Vanessa Ferlito, Jordan Ladd, Rose McGowan, Sydney Tamiia Poitier, Tracie Thoms, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, and Zoë Bell co-star as the women he targets.
Tom Bissell is an American journalist, critic, and writer, best known for his extensive work as a writer of video games, including The Vanishing of Ethan Carter, Battlefield Hardline, and Gears 5. His work has been adapted into films by Julia Loktev, Werner Herzog and James Franco.
Not Quite Hollywood: The Wild, Untold Story of Ozploitation! is a 2008 documentary film about the Australian New Wave of 1970s and 1980s low-budget cinema. The film was written and directed by Mark Hartley, who interviewed over eighty Australian, American and British actors, directors, screenwriters and producers, including Quentin Tarantino, Brian Trenchard-Smith, Jamie Lee Curtis, Dennis Hopper, George Lazenby, George Miller, Barry Humphries, Stacy Keach, John Seale and Roger Ward.
Heywood Gould is an American screenwriter, journalist, novelist and film director. He wrote the screenplays for the films Rolling Thunder, The Boys from Brazil, Fort Apache, The Bronx, Streets of Gold, Cocktail, and wrote and directed the films One Good Cop, Trial by Jury, Mistrial and Double Bang.
Michael Perry is an American author, born and raised in New Auburn, Wisconsin.
Quentin Tarantino is an American film director, screenwriter and film producer who has directed ten films. He first began his career in the 1980s by directing and writing Love Birds In Bondage and writing, directing and starring in the black-and-white My Best Friend's Birthday, an amateur short film which was never officially released. He impersonated musician Elvis Presley in a small role in the sitcom The Golden Girls (1988), and briefly appeared in Eddie Presley (1992). As an independent filmmaker, he directed, wrote, and appeared in the violent crime thriller Reservoir Dogs (1992), which tells the story of six strangers brought together for a jewelry heist. Proving to be Tarantino's breakthrough film, it was named the greatest independent film of all time by Empire. Tarantino's screenplay for Tony Scott's True Romance (1993) was nominated for a Saturn Award. Also in 1993, he served as an executive producer for Killing Zoe and wrote two other films.
Django Unchained is a 2012 American revisionist Western film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. It stars Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kerry Washington, and Samuel L. Jackson, and is with Walton Goggins, Dennis Christopher, James Remar, Michael Parks, and Don Johnson in supporting roles. Set in the Antebellum South and Old West, it is a highly stylized, revisionist tribute to spaghetti Westerns. Its title refers particularly to the 1966 Italian film Django by Sergio Corbucci. The story follows a slave who trains under a German bounty hunter with the ultimate goal of reuniting with his wife.
Kevin Thomas is an American film critic who has written reviews for the Los Angeles Times since 1962. His long tenure makes him the longest-running film critic among major United States newspapers.
The Hateful Eight is a 2015 American Western film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. It stars Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Walton Goggins, Demián Bichir, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, and Bruce Dern as eight dubious strangers who seek refuge from a blizzard in a stagecoach stopover some time after the American Civil War.
Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood is a 2019 comedy-drama film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. Produced by Columbia Pictures, Bona Film Group, Heyday Films, and Visiona Romantica and distributed by Sony Pictures, it is a co-production between the United States, United Kingdom, and China. It features a large ensemble cast led by Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, and Margot Robbie. Set in 1969 Los Angeles, the film follows a fading actor and his stunt double as they navigate the rapidly changing film industry, with the threat of the Tate murders looming.
The following is a list of unproduced Quentin Tarantino projects in roughly chronological order. During his career, American film director Quentin Tarantino has worked on a number of projects which never progressed beyond the pre-production stage under his direction. Some of these projects were officially cancelled and scrapped or fell into development hell.
Super Pumped is an American anthology drama television series created by Brian Koppelman and David Levien, named for the 2019 nonfiction book of the same name by Mike Isaac. The first installment, subtitled The Battle For Uber, is based on Isaac's book and centers on the rise and fall of former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick, played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Also starring Kyle Chandler, Uma Thurman, and Elisabeth Shue, it premiered on Showtime on February 27, 2022. Ahead of the series premiere, the series was renewed for a second season, based on a separate forthcoming book by Mike Isaac about Facebook.
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood: A Novel is the 2021 debut novel by Quentin Tarantino. It is a novelization of his 2019 film of the same name. Like the film, it follows the career arc of fictional action movie star Rick Dalton and his friend and stunt double, Cliff Booth. According to Tarantino, the novel is "a complete rethinking of the entire story" and adds details to various sequences and characters, including multiple chapters dedicated to the backstory of Cliff Booth. It debuted at number one on The New York Times' fiction best-seller list.