News

Michael Madsen, who was the quintessential Hollywood villain known for his chilling roles in Quentin Tarantino’s films and almost rewrote his career story… if only Kevin Costner’s flop western Wyatt Earp hadn’t pulled him away from a career-defining opportunity. The actor, who died on July 3, 2025 (aged 67), declined the role of Vincent Vega in Pulp Fiction, which went to John Travolta and launched the latter’s comeback.

Madsen, who played the sadistic Mr Blonde in Reservoir Dogs, once revealed in the 2019 documentary QT8: The First Eight that he was committed to Wyatt Earp during the filming of Pulp Fiction. Note that the western, directed by Lawrence Kasdan and starring Costner, was a critical and box office failure, while Pulp Fiction became an instant classic and a star vehicle for Travolta.

This decision marks a ‘what if’ chapter in Madsen’s storied career. As he himself said in the...

A four hour documentary about the work and life of Tim Burton is on the way from director Tara Wood. More on the project here.

It’s been a couple of years since this was first announced, but a detailed documentary series about filmmaker Tim Burton now looks like it’s complete, and ready to head into the world.

It’s the work of director Tara Wood, who debuted the first episode last summer, but has now completed all four. The series will take Tim Burton’s story from his childhood through to 2024’s huge hit, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. Furthermore, it’s said to feature some of his previously-unseen home movies, as well as photos from his youth.

Tara Wood, who previously made QT8: The First Eight, has interviewed many of Tim Burton’s collaborators as part of her new series, which is thus far untitled. Interviewees include Michael Keaton, Danny DeVito,...

Get a look inside the enigmatic mind of Tim Burton with a preview of the upcoming docuseries on the filmmaker below, via Variety.

The four-part series follows Burton’s dream journey into the themes and relationships that shape his work, from the misunderstood monster to the dichotomy of dark vs. light and the magic of collaboration with fellow “outsiders.”

Marking the first time that Burton has supported a project about his career, it includes exclusive interviews, unpublished artworks, and a never-before-seen stop-motion short.

Johnny Depp, Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, Danny DeVito, Christopher Walken, Jenna Ortega, Christoph Waltz, Mia Wasikowska, Helena Bonham Carter, and Danny Elfman are among the interview subjects.

Directed by Tara Wood (QT8: The First Eight), the first episode premiered at last year’s Tribeca Film Festival as a sneak peek.

“Following the incredible response to Episode 1 at Tribeca and the fans’ voracious desire for more, I’m...

Tara Wood has completed her in-depth, four-part docuseries on the life and work of Tim Burton, the director of “Batman,” ” Beetlejuice,” and “Edward Scissorhands.” The series marks the first time that Burton has supported a project about his career and includes exclusive interviews and unpublished artworks, as well as a never-before-seen stop-motion short film. The first episode in the docuseries premiered at last year’s Tribeca Film Festival as a sneak peek, earning strong reviews and buzz. WME has come on board to handle global sales.

The docuseries also contains conversations with Burton’s closest collaborators — it’s a group that includes Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Winona Ryder, Michael Keaton, Jenna Ortega, Danny Elfman, Danny DeVito, Christoph Waltz, Christopher Walken, and Mia Wasikowska. The docuseries also provides in-depth looks at the director’s semi-autobiographical characters and films, and his countless artworks of similar nature.

“Following the incredible response to...

Jamie Foxx recently joined Vanity Fair for a video interview in which he looked back at a handful of his most iconic acting roles, including the title character in Quentin Tarantino’s “Django Unchained.” One of the Oscar winner’s most notable memories of the film is when co-star Leonardo DiCaprio cut short a reading of the script due to Tarantino’s repeated use of the N-word. DiCaprio starred in the film as the sociopathic slave owner Calvin Candie.

“The subject matter. The N-word, specifically. Leo had a hard time saying the N-word,” Foxx said. “We’re doing a read and Leo says, ‘Hey, guys. Cut! I just can’t do this. This is not me.’ Samuel L. Jackson goes, ‘Say that shit, motherfucker! It’s just another Tuesday. Fuck them.’

“I told Leo that in slavery days we would never talk to each other,” Foxx continued. “I’m not your friend.

Reservoir Dogs and Kill Bill actor Michael Madsen has been arrested in Malibu on a charge of domestic battery, ahead of being freed from jail.

The Los Angeles Sheriff Department in an Aug. 18 booking report said Michael Soren Madsen, 66, had been booked into the Malibu/Lost Hills Station at 1:40 a.m. after an arrest for a domestic battery misdemeanor 25 minutes earlier.

A representative for the Malibu/Lost Hills Station in a separate statement told The Hollywood Reporter deputies at 12:15 a.m. on Aug. 18 arrived at a residence in Malibu to answer a “family disturbance” report.

“The informant stated that a female adult alleged her husband pushed her and locked her out of their residence,” the police statement added. After an initial investigation, “deputies determined Michael Madsen was involved in a domestic incident involving his wife,” and he was arrested soon afterwards.

“The investigation is ongoing and will be...

John Travolta’s acting genius is now known to many; however, with a string of success always comes its fair share of setbacks, which even the Grease actor was not immune to. The 1990s were not kind to the actor after a series of box office failures such as Two of a Kind, The Experts, and Perfect.

John Travolta in Pulp Fiction || Miramax Films

Whatever he tried at this point in his career was leading to failure and box-office disasters. But this one movie, directed under the brilliance of Quentin Tarantino, proved to be a career-saving move for Travolta.

How did Quentin Tarantino save John Travolta’s failing Hollywood career?

While many wondered, it was a miracle in itself that Travolta was even getting cast after his back-to-back debacles; however, Quentin Tarantino had other plans for the actor and approached him for his crime movie Pulp Fiction (1994).

John Travolta and...

Pulp Fiction turned 30 this year and fans love the film even more when they hear the rare behind-the-scenes stories from the Quentin Tarantino classic. Well, here’s one that most fans might have missed — John Travolta was never the first choice for the role of Vincent Vega. Tarantino had another actor in mind who worked with him in his 1992 film, Reservoir Dogs.

John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson in a still from Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction | Miramax

Michael Madsen is a frequent collaborator on Tarantino films. However, when he was offered Vincent Vega in Pulp Fiction, he had to turn it down due to his commitment to the 1994 Western flick Wyatt Earp. However, Madsen felt that Travolta’s addition to the film was one of the major reasons behind the success of Tarantino’s Oscar-nominated film.

Michael Madsen Shares Why His Replacement John Travolta Was Perfect For Pulp Fiction...

The Tim Burton and Johnny Depp collaborations are certainly prolific. While Depp was a teen star on the Fox series 21 Jump Street, he had a weird creative force inside of him that a high school cop series didn’t fulfill. Then came a new movie called Edward Scissorhands that paired Depp with his long-time director friend. Deadline reports that Depp is being featured in a new docu-series that’s a retrospective on the career of Tim Burton, and the actor reveals who he beat out for the part of Edward.

According to People, Depp said the competition was stiff for the titular character and names like Tom Hanks, Tom Cruise and even the King of Pop, Michael Jackson, were being considered for the role. Depp explained that Cruise “was not far away from actually playing Edward Scissorhands — true story.” Depp admitted to thinking, “He’s never going to cast...

Welcome to Deadline’s London TV Screenings list, our definitive look at next week’s buzzy event taking Soho by storm. If you’re wondering who’s exhibiting, what’s on offer and want to dive deeper into the distribs’ strategy, we’ve done the hard work for you, presenting profiles from nearly 30 exhibiting sales houses. Below, check out profiles for the companies headed over from the States and other nations around the globe. Read on, and find all our London TV Screenings content throughout the week here.

The North Americans

Disney

Key shows

Renegade Nell

Renegade Nell – Sally Wainwright-penned historical drama about a woman framed for murder who becomes a highwayman in eighteenth-century England.

Kaiser Karl (working title) – Gaumont show about the enigmatic and larger-than-life fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld.

The Long Shadows (working title) – Spanish story of a group of women whose stable, successful lives are suddenly shaken...

The Mammoth Film Festival celebrates independent movies and filmmakers, with a lineup of over 20 feature-length movies and over 70 short films and episodic titles. This year's festival features such notable stars as Ron Perlman, Emma Roberts, Dennis Quaid, and Brittany Snow, who will be showcasing their work as actors and directors. In addition to film screenings, the festival includes star-studded panels, interactive events, and educational opportunities for aspiring filmmakers in partnership with The Los Angeles Film School.

As winter nears its end, the latest edition of the Mammoth Film Festival is gearing up to begin. Having launched in 2018, the festival gears its focus toward celebrating independent movies, filmmakers and creatives, being hailed by some as a "mini Sundance". Some notable movies to have released at prior festivals have included Pretending I'm A Superman: The Tony Hawk Video Game Story, the Quentin Tarantino-focused QT8: The First Eight and the Michael Madsen...

On rare occasions, the twists and turns surrounding a filmmaker's ascent to the top of Hollywood make for a story fit for Hollywood itself. It should be somewhat less surprising that this is finally happening with one of the most prolific directors of them all: Tim Burton. As the prestige and glamor of the annual Cannes Film Festival begins in earnest, the news has come down (via Deadline) that Burton's career will be the subject of a four-part documentary series that's being set up for sales out of the Cannes Market.

The currently-untitled project is directed by documentary filmmaker Tara Wood, who previously worked on "21 Years: Richard Linklater" in 2014 and 2019's Quentin Tarantino project "QT8: The First Eight." The documentary will feature interviews with many of the filmmaker's most high-profile collaborators over the decades, including Michael Keaton, Danny DeVito, Helena Bonham Carter, Winona Ryder, "Wednesday" star Jenna Ortega, Christopher Walken,...

If there’s a prolific director who has his own distinctive style, it’s Tim Burton. Whether the movie is hit or miss, the filmmaker has always been able to inject his personality and vision into it. He became the voice for a generation of misfits with a dark edge, who gravitated toward his films in the 80s and 90s. And faithful to the material or not, he popularized the superhero movie and established a blueprint for it. It’s natural that a documentary on such a unique talent would manifest, and according to Deadline, a new documentary series on Tim Burton will be heading to the Cannes market.

The documentary, which is currently untitled, will be a four-part series directed by Tara Wood. Wood had previously made two other documentaries about famous filmmakers with a Richard Linklater feature called 21 Years: Richard Linklater and a doc on Quentin Tarantino titled QT8: The First Eight.

Exclusive: Veteran producers William Shockley and Tom Brady have partnered with Allen Gilmer and Riki Rushing to launch Thunderbird Pictures, a new production company to have a presence in both Los Angeles and Austin, TX.

Thunderbird’s launch was teased last month at SXSW, where the company served as the official awards sponsor of the inaugural Thunderbird Rising Award, presenting prizes to first-time directors Paris Zarcilla (Raging Grace) and Brittany Snow (Parachute). The quartet will be joined at the banner by Head of Casting, Tiiu Loigu; Head of Business Development, Jason Chilton; production exec Robert Abdou; and Chief Financial Officer Aldo Waker.

Thunderbird’s initial slate of films includes the Miguel Bardem-directed drama Castro’s Daughter (fka Alina of Cuba), starring James Franco and Ana Villafane, which was produced in partnership with Mankind Entertainment, and is now in post-production; the follow-up documentary Revolution’s Daughter, directed by Thaddeus Matula,...

Samuel L. Jackson is dismissing Joe Rogan’s apology for using the N-word several times on episodes of Rogan’s podcast. Grammy Award-winning musician India Arie first called out Rogan’s N-word use by posting a video compilation to Instagram last month of Rogan using the racial slur over two dozen times. Rogan apologized for his use of the N-word, but he also called the backlash against him a “political hit job.”

“There’s been a lot of shit from the old episodes of the podcast that I wish I hadn’t said, or had said differently,” Rogan said, adding that his use of the N-word was “the most regretful and shameful thing I’ve had to talk about publicly” and that many of the clips Arie shared were “taken out of context of 12 years of conversations on my podcast.”

“I know to most people, there’s no context in...

A release date for Samuel L. Jackson’s next project is inching closer: “Enslaved,” a new docuseries that is partially about Jackson identifying his ancestral tribe, is slated to premiere on Epix on September 14.

Variety reported that the six-part docuseries will feature three storylines, one of which will center on Jackson using a DNA test to identify his ancestral tribe and trace his journey from the U.S. to Gabon for his induction into the Benga tribe. The other two storylines will center on the quest for a sunken slave ship and a historical investigation led by investigative journalists Simcha Jacobovici and Afua Hirsch. The series will premiere in Canada on CBC on October 18.

While Jackson isn’t involved in two of the docuseries’ storylines, Hirsch told Variety that including his story in the series helped broaden its appeal and would help viewers emphasize with important historical elements from the other storylines.

Professional skater Tony Hawk’s documentary, “Pretending I’m a Superman,” has found a home, Variety has learned exclusively.

Wood Entertainment has bought worldwide rights to “Pretending I’m a Superman – The Tony Hawk Video Game Story.”

Hawk and Activision launched the initial “Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater” series in 1999, selling 9 million copies and spawning a total of 17 versions of the game by 2015. The film, directed by Ludvig Gür, tells the story of how Hawk evolved from a skater to a video game mogul, and the near extinction of skateboarding culture before exploding into the mainstream in the early 2000s.

Wood Entertainment CEO Tara Wood negotiated the deal with producer Ralph D’Amato, a producer on the “Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater” franchise, on behalf of D’Amato Productions.

“‘Pretending I’m a Superman’ is a robust, real-life story of our successful video game series as told by those who created it,...

Actor Michael Madsen playfully recreated his iconic “Stuck in the Middle With You” ear-cutting scene from Reservoir Dogs in a homemade video promoting social distancing.

The cellphone-shot clip, uploaded by the team behind the Quentin Tarantino documentary QT8: The First Eight, opens with members of Madsen’s family with bloodied bandages over their ears, a nod to gruesome, darkly comic scene from Tarantino’s debut 1992 film.

Eventually, the camera finds Madsen, in his “Mr. Blonde” persona with suit and pajama pants, dancing along to the Stealers Wheel track popularized by Reservoir Dogs.

Actor Michael Madsen reached back to his cinema past in a home video that recalled a famous scene of his in Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs. In the classic indie film, Madsen (known as “Blonde” in the film) tortures a captured policeman before cutting off his right ear with a straight razor, all done to Stealers Wheel’s song, Stuck in the Middle With You. It’s not quite so graphic in the home video, but you’ll get the message. Madsen most recently had a cameo in Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time…In Hollywood and did a retrospective interview in Tara Wood’s documentary QT8: The First Eight. Watch the home video above. More from DeadlineQuentin Tarantino Digs Deep On 'Once Upon A Time... In Hollywood' As He Fears "Dark Night Of The Soul" For Filmmakers: Q&AQuentin Tarantino Cast Thickens: Burt Reynolds To Star, Roth, Russell,...

New Jersey’s Garden State Film Festival is getting around the cancellations due to coronavirus by agreeing to live stream all the films on its lineup beginning next week.

The only catch is that to watch the films, you have to be a ticket holder to the festival.

The Garden State Film Festival, now in its 18th year, was meant to kick off in Asbury Park, NJ on March 26-29, but all industry activities, workshops and public panels have been canceled due to the spread of Covid-19. However, the festival will now live stream its program of over 240 films films across five days via its private servers at the films’ originally scheduled times.

Also Read: SXSW to Stream and Give Awards to Films From Canceled Festival

The links to the films will not be listed on YouTube or Vimeo, and the festival promises that the films cannot be pirated. And...

In today’s film news roundup, four film festivals have opted to pull the plug, the horror film “Infection” finds a home, Heidi Honeycutt gets hired and “Where the Crawdads Sing” gets a writer.

Cancellations

A quartet of mid-size film festivals announced Wednesday that they are calling off their events due to concerns over the coronavirus pandemic.

The Beverly Hills Film Festival, the Cleveland Film Festival, the Full Frame Festival at Duke University and the New York Children’s Film Festival all decided to scrub their events.

The Beverly Hills event, which was scheduled to occur on April 1-5, was postponed until further notice. “Due to the fact that the Beverly Hills Film Festival will bring together thousands of attendees locally and globally, it is our ethical and moral responsibility to not participate in the possible outbreak of Covid-19,” organizers said in a statement.

The Cleveland Film Festival said it...

Exclusive: The Mammoth Film Festival has added Runt to its 2020 lineup. The indie feature, which will make its world premiere at the fest, was the last film of the late Cameron Boyce. The festival will take place February 27-March 2 in Mammoth Lakes, California.

Boyce, who was best known for his role as Carlos in Disney Channel’s Descendants franchise, stars in the film as Cal, a teenage boy who, after a troubling incident transpires, proves to be a young man with a take-no-prisoners attitude. The film was directed by William Coakley and based on a script by him, Christian Van Gregg, and Armand Constantine.

Runt will debut on February 29 at 1Pm and will have a second public screening March 2 at 5Pm to close out the festival. Victor and Libby Boyce (Cameron Boyce Foundation) are expected to attend. Boyce sadly passed last year in July due to a seizure as a result of epilepsy.

In today’s film news roundup, four Netflix titles have been added to the Criterion Collection, Slamdance and ArcLight are partnering, Steven Grayhm is starring in and directing a paranormal drama, and The Mammoth Film Festival sets its lineup.

Criterion Collection

Four Netflix titles will be released on Blu-ray through the Criterion Collection — Martin Scorsese’s “The Irishman,” Noah Baumbach’s “Marriage Story,” documentary “American Factory” and Mati Diop’s “Atlantics.”

The streaming service had announced last year that Alfonso Cuaron’s “Roma” would be the first Netflix film to receive a home video debut via the Criterion Collection. Criterion specializes in licensing high-profile films and selling them to film aficionados.

“The Irishman,” starring Robert DeNiro, received five Golden Globe nominations, ten BAFTA nominations and ten Academy Award nominations. It was the ninth Oscar nomination for Scorsese as a director, making him the most-nominated living director in Academy history.

“Marriage...

Quentin Tarantino is one of the most influential and beloved filmmakers working in the business today, and it's been that way for two and a half decades now. With the release of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood earlier this year, the director's ninth feature and a legitimate threat to take home Best Picture at the Oscars, the Pulp Fiction director only further cemented his place in the business as a living legend. Now, filmmaker Tara Wood is here to take us on a journey through his first eight movies with her new documentary, QT8: The First Eight.

Tara Wood previously did a similar deep dive on Richard Linklater with 21 Years: Richard Linklater and decided to focus on Quentin Tarantino for her next cinematic endeavor. In QT8: The First Eight, Wood takes us on a journey through the first 8 wildly divergent movies that Tarantino has helmed, narrated by the actors...

We’ve gathered up some trailers for smaller movies you might have missed, because we care about you, reader. In our latest trailer round-up you’ll find trailers for a Helen Hunt thriller called I See You, the Amazon series The Feed, the documentary QT8: The First Eight, and the drama Burden. Watch the trailers, and learn more about these films, […]

The post Trailer Round-Up: ‘I See You’, ‘The Feed’, ‘QT8: The First Eight’, ‘Burden’ appeared first on /Film.

Tara Wood has racked up multiple territory sales at Afm for her documentary QT8: The First Eight, which chronicles the making of Quentin Tarantino's first eight films.

Wood's sales outfit, Wood Entertainment, has inked sales with multiple territories across Europe and Asia for the doc, including with Signature Entertainment for the U.K. and Australia; Koch Films for Germany; Exponenta Films for Russia; Noori Pictures for South Korea; and DocAviv for Israel.

Wood Entertainment and Shaked Berenson’s Entertainment Squad jointly bowed the documentary last month in the U.S. The VOD release is set for Dec. 3.

Wood ...

Tara Wood has racked up multiple territory sales at Afm for her documentary QT8: The First Eight, which chronicles the making of Quentin Tarantino's first eight films.

Wood's sales outfit, Wood Entertainment, has inked sales with multiple territories across Europe and Asia for the doc, including with Signature Entertainment for the U.K. and Australia; Koch Films for Germany; Exponenta Films for Russia; Noori Pictures for South Korea; and DocAviv for Israel.

Wood Entertainment and Shaked Berenson’s Entertainment Squad jointly bowed the documentary last month in the U.S. The VOD release is set for Dec. 3.

Wood ...

Wood Entertainment, Entertainment Squad launched the film in Us last month.

Quentin Tarantino documentary QT8: The First Eight has proven to be a hot property for Wood Entertainment as buyers have flocked from the UK, Germany and South Korea.

Tara Wood’s documentary has gone to Signature Entertainment for the UK and Australia, Koch Films for Germany, Exponenta Films for Russia, and Noori Pictures for South Korea. DocAviv will distribute the film theatrically in Israel.

Wood Entertainment and Shaked Berenson’s Entertainment Squad jointly handled the Us theatrical release in October after Wood extracted the film from The Weinstein Company...

Can you imagine Reservoir Dogs without Michael Madsen as Mr. Blonde? That almost happened, when Michael Madsen very seriously considered walking away from the classic gangster pic, which also happens to mark the official directorial debut of Quentin Tarantino. The actor didn't want to die on screen at the hands of an unknown, which happened at the time to be a young Tim Roth. He wanted his character to be killed by seasoned actor and Martin Scorsese alum Harvey Keitel.

Mr. Blonde eventually meets his ultimate demise at the hands of Tom Roth's undercover cop Mr. Orange, during the thrilling climax of Reservoir Dogs. But Michael Madsen had decided he was ready to walk if he didn't have it a different way. This new info comes courtesy of the new documentary QT8: The First Eight, which chronicles the first 8 movies in Tarantino's filmography as a director. Madsen says this...

Michael Madsen will forever be associated with his collaborations with Quentin Tarantino, starting with the director’s 1992 feature directorial debut “Reservoir Dogs” and continuing through “Kill Bill,” “The Hateful Eight,” and a cameo appearance in this summer’s “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.” In the new Quentin Tarantino documentary “QT8: The First Eight,” Madsen reveals that their partnership almost never happened because the actor originally did not want the role of Mr. Blonde/Vic Vega in “Reservoir Dogs.” As for his reasoning, it had nothing to do with Tarantino or the script and everything to do with the actor’s feelings about one of his fellow cast members.

“I don’t know why he had me stuck in his head to play Mr. Blonde,” Madsen says. “I didn’t want to play Mr Blonde. I didn’t want to get shot by Tim Roth. I didn’t want to be killed by Tim Roth.

There are few filmmakers with more video essays, articles, and other materials related to their careers than Quentin Tarantino, so what could a new documentary possibly offer? Well, Tara Wood’s QT8: The First Eight actually includes interviews with some of the director’s closet collaborators, including Samuel L. Jackson, Christoph Waltz, Tim Roth, Lucy Liu, Zoë Bell, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Jamie Foxx, Eli Roth, Robert Forster, Diane Kruger, Michael Madsen, Kurt Russell, Louis Black, Richard Gladstein, Scott Speigel, Stacey Sher, and more.

Set for a release this December, the first trailer has now arrived and while it seems like it could err on the side of complete hagiography, hopefully the full documentary will dive deeper into what makes his work stand out. The trailer, of course, is well-timed with the theatrical re-release of an expanded Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood, which features an additional 10 minutes and is now in over 1,000 theaters starting today.

Quentin Tarantino and his first 8 movies are the subject of QT8: The First Eight. The documentary has just revealed the first trailer and it gives brief, albeit entertaining, glimpse into what we can all expect. Working with Tarantino is anything but orthodox and the several interviews with the director's collaborators over the years cements this fact. Zoe Bell, Louis Black, Bruce Dern, Robert Forster, Jamie Foxx, Richard Gladstein, Samuel L. Jackson, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Diane Kruger, Lucy Liu, Michael Madsen, Eli Roth, Tim Roth, Kurt Russell, Stacey Sher, Scott Spiegel, and Christoph Waltz all sing the praises of Tarantino in the doc.

QT8: The First Eight takes viewers on a journey through the first 8 wildly divergent movies that Quentin Tarantino has helmed, narrated by the actors and collaborators who have worked with him. From Reservoir Dogs through The Hateful Eight, from the video store to the fall of Harvey Weinstein,...

The new documentary “QT8: The First Eight” is full of behind-the-scenes stories from the sets of Quentin Tarantino’s movies, and no collaborator is more revealing than Eli Roth. The director worked with Tarantino on their double feature “Grindhouse” and later played Donny “The Bear Jew” Donowitz in Tarantino’s “Inglourious Basterds.” It turns out, Tarantino’s prep work for “Basterds” was demanding, with the actors playing the title group expected to answer questions about their characters’ backstory on the spot.

As revealed in “The First Eight,” Roth remembered the movie’s first rehearsal. “We all sat around and everybody had their scripts and lines,” Roth said. “Quentin said to close our scripts and asked us who we were. You had to go on and on and on about your backstory. [Quentin asked], ‘How did you feel when he joined the Bastards?’ There was one person who didn’t know, and he...

"There will always be blood, brilliance and controversy." Wood Ent. has debuted an official trailer for the documentary QT8: The First Eight, a film about Quentin Tarantino's career and the first eight films he made - starting with Reservoir Dogs in 1992. This is made by the same filmmaker who bought us 21 Years: Richard Linklater about, obviously, Linklater's career. With Tarantino's newest film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood arriving to praise and controversy, filmmaker Tara Wood takes us on a journey through the first 8 wildly divergent films that Tarantino has helmed, narrated by the actors & collaborators who have worked with him. Featuring interviews with: Zoe Bell, Louis Black, Bruce Dern, Robert Forster, Jamie Foxx, Richard Gladstein, Samuel L. Jackson, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Diane Kruger, Lucy Liu, Michael Madsen, Eli Roth, Tim Roth, Kurt Russell, Stacey Sher, Scott Spiegel, and Christoph Waltz. Quite a line-up. Enjoy the trailer below. Here's...

When you look at the quality of work that filmmaker Quentin Tarantino has produced over the course of his first eight films, you’d be hard-pressed to find many other auteurs that have been as consistent, for as long. And that’s exactly the premise of the upcoming doc, “QT8: The First Eight.”

The new documentary aims to shed light on the first eight films of Tarantino, through the words of those who worked closely with him.

Continue reading ‘QT8: The First Eight’ Trailer: Quentin Tarantino’s Filmography Is Dissected In A New Doc at The Playlist.

Tara Wood’s new documentary “QT8: The First Eight” looks back at Quentin Tarantino’s legendary career through the eyes of his collaborators. The movie debuted in theaters October 21 ahead of its on demand launch December 4 and includes at least one notable revelation from Tarantino’s executive producer Stacey Sher, who first collaborated with the director on “Pulp Fiction” and also worked with him on “Django Unchained” and “The Hateful Eight.” Sher reveals Tarantino based Kurt Russell’s brutally misogynistic “Hateful Eight” character John “The Hangman” Ruth on Harvey Weinstein, adding “If you read it on the page it was a little more accurate. Kurt is the most charming person on the planet.”

“The Hateful Eight” was released in December 2015 under The Weinstein Company, nearly two years before the wave of sexual harassment allegations against Harvey Weinstein went public. While the movie would be the last Tarantino film produced and distributed by Weinstein,...

You know you’ve made it as a filmmaker when they’re making films about you. After a big year bolstered by the release of his already-beloved awards contender “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” Quentin Tarantino has now become the subject of yet another film. Tara Wood tackles Qt’s filmography, legacy, and influence in the wide-ranging “QT8: The First Eight,” which (appropriately enough) digs into the first eight films made by the American auteur.

Per the film’s official synopsis, it will take audiences “on a journey through the first 8 wildly divergent films that Tarantino has helmed, narrated by the actors and collaborators who have worked with him. From ‘Reservoir Dogs’ through ‘The Hateful Eight,’ from the video store to the fall of Harvey Weinstein, QT8 digs deep into the story of the most important and controversial filmmaker of our time.”

The film’s zippy first trailer hints...

The new Quentin Tarantino documentary “QT8: The First Eight” covers many of the biggest talking points that have emerged out of the writer-director’s feature films, so it’s inevitable the doc briefly lands on Tarantino’s controversial use of the N-word. The director has long been criticized for overusing the racial slur in his scripts, most aggressively in “Django Unchained.” Tarantino’s slavery drama featured nearly 110 uses of the N-word. Samuel L. Jackson has already defended Tarantino’s use of the slur, but in “QT8” he goes a step further and calls out the industry for accepting the language in a film like “12 Years a Slave” and not in a film like “Django.”

“You take ’12 Years a Slave,’ which is supposedly made by an auteur. Steve McQueen is very different than Quentin,” Jackson says on camera. “When you have a song that says n-gger in it 300 times nobody says shit.

When Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” debuted at Cannes earlier this year, much of the headlines about the film’s world premiere centered around a press conference in which the writer-director was criticized by a reporter for giving Margot Robbie limited dialogue in the film. Tarantino’s viral response (“I reject your hypothesis”) reignited the debate around his treatment of female characters. While Tarantino has been praised for the likes of Jackie Brown and The Bride, he’s come under fire for characters like Broomhilda in “Django Unchained” and Daisy Domergue in “The Hateful Eight” who are constantly brutalized in their films.

A significant part of Tara Wood’s new documentary “QT8: The First Eight,” which hit theaters October 21, is spent reminiscing on Tarantino’s female characters. Actresses who have worked with Tarantino stand by his depiction of female characters and champion his writing. “He writes women like nobody’s business,...

With. Quentin Tarantino’s celebrated (and controversial — it is Tarantino) ninth film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood this year, the filmmaker has dominated much of the cultural conversation in 2019. Whether people were debating the depiction of Sharon Tate, Bruce Lee, the Manson Family, or generally heaping acclaim on Tarantino’s love letter to the Hollywood of yore, the iconic filmmaker has been having quite the year. Which makes it the perfect time to look back on his resume of industry-shaking films with QT8: The First Eight, the new documentary from director Tara Wood that offers an in-…...

Nobody loves cinema more than Quentin Tarantino. When watching one of his films, it’s impossible not to see the joy that movies, as well as making movies, brings the man. So, a documentary about his cinematic output almost makes too much sense not to exist. Lo and behold, one now does exist, in the special presentation QT8: The First Eight. A one night only event this coming Monday, it’s the sort of flick that should bring together anyone who loves Tarantino and his work. Luckily, it’s not a thrown together project either, but one made with care, featuring a ton of his players speaking highly about the auteur. This is a documentary that focuses exclusively on the first eight films in Quentin Tarantino’s career, beginning with Reservoir Dogs and ending with Django Unchained, though the making of Once Upon a Time in…Hollywood is briefly mentioned.

At one point during Tara Wood’s chiefly tributary film, QT8: The First Eight, Quentin Tarantino is described, simply, as a romantic. Rampaging through the ears and bucketing past the brain, it’s a trivial duality, pitting the instant and universal characteristics of his work – bloody and foul – against their red-soaked and maniacally-written storylines. You remember that after Django (Jamie Foxx) decimates what’s left of Candy Land, he doesn’t just ride off into the night’s sky, he stares back at the lovely woman he’s liberated, his now-quenched purpose for gunfighting. The shockwaves rage on until you finally realize, “oh wait, that’s actually true.”

As was the case here, this documentary sometimes flourishes as an archive of analytical footage, validating claims with perfectly plucked pieces from his catalogue – mere sentences are occasionally enhanced by a minute moment from a movie. But QT8 is also a frustratingly...

The La Film Festival may have shuttered last year after an 18-year run but the organizers of the 11th annual Dtla Film Festival are hoping to keep the downtown Los Angeles film scene buzzing with a showcase of 38 feature films this year, including documentaries on Quentin Tarantino and Kathy Griffin. 

Director Tara Wood's QT8: The First Eight will open the festival that runs Oct 23-27 at downtown La's Regal La Live venue. The long-awaited and much-delayed documentary, which chronicles the making of Tarantino's first eight films with interviews from his cast and frequent collaborators, will finally be seen ...

The La Film Festival may have shuttered last year after an 18-year run but the organizers of the 11th annual Dtla Film Festival are hoping to keep the downtown Los Angeles film scene buzzing with a showcase of 38 feature films this year, including documentaries on Quentin Tarantino and Kathy Griffin. 

Director Tara Wood's QT8: The First Eight will open the festival that runs Oct 23-27 at downtown La's Regal La Live venue. The long-awaited and much-delayed documentary, which chronicles the making of Tarantino's first eight films with interviews from his cast and frequent collaborators, will finally be seen ...

Rumor has long had it that Quentin Tarantino’s first choice for the role of Vincent Vega in “Pulp Fiction” was Michael Madsen. The two had worked together in “Reservoir Dogs,” which starred Madsen as Vic Vega (aka Mr. Blonde) and put him front and center in the film’s iconic ear-severing torture scene set to Steelers Wheel’s “Stuck in the Middle With You.” In the upcoming Tarantino documentary “QT8: The First Eight,” Madsen confirms he was supposed to be Tarantino’s Vincent Vega until he had to turn down the now-famous role to star as Virgil Earp in Lawrence Kasdan’s 1994 Western “Wyatt Earp.”)

“I was already committed to ‘Wyatt Earp,’” Madsen says in the documentary (via Entertainment Weekly). “And now, here’s Quentin, wants me to do ‘Pulp Fiction.’ And they were both going at the same time.”

Twenty-five years after “Pulp Fiction” premiered and won the...