Quentin Tarantino Says He Never Bought His Mother a House or Car
Says he has kept a long-standing promise not to give his mother money after she mocked his screenwriting ambitions when he was a child. The filmmaker told The…
Quentin Tarantino refuses give his mother a penny of his success, he said, tracing the decision to a childhood argument over his ambition to write screenplays. The filmmaker recalled the vow on The Moment podcast with host Brian Koppelman, saying he has never bought his mother a house or a car.
There was one exception to the promise: Tarantino said he helped her out of a jam with the IRS. He described the rest of his decision in stark terms, including withholding a house, vacations and an Elvis Cadillac.
The remark behind Tarantino’s promise
Tarantino said his mother, Connie Zastoupil, criticized his writing when he was 12, after teachers complained that he was not concentrating on lessons. He recalled her mocking what she called his “little ‘writing career’” and telling him it was over.
“OK lady, when I become a successful writer, you will never see one penny from my success,” Tarantino said he told himself at the time.
The promise stayed with him as his career grew. Tarantino wrote and directed films including Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill and Django Unchained. Fortune described him as having an estimated $150 million fortune and two Oscars.
That decision has a personal edge: it turns a remembered family conflict into a lasting boundary around the filmmaker’s money. Tarantino’s account also includes the limited help he says he gave his mother, rather than presenting the vow as an absolute refusal to assist her under any circumstances.
His mother also supported his film interests
The story is not only about the childhood criticism. Fortune reported that Zastoupil raised Tarantino while working double shifts as a nurse, and that she allowed him to watch films aimed at adults. Her then-husband, musician Curtis Zastoupil, took him to film screenings.
Tarantino began writing early. By 14, he had written a screenplay called Captain Peachfuzz and the Anchovy Bandit. His mother allowed him to leave school at 16 on the condition that he get a job. He later worked as an usher at a cinema in Torrance and spent five years at the video store Video Archives.
“When people ask me if I went to film school, I tell them, ‘No, I went to films,’” Tarantino once told Rolling Stone, according to Fortune.
Koppelman urged him to reconsider the vow, suggesting the criticism may have fueled his drive to prove himself. Tarantino rejected that argument and framed the issue as a matter of consequences for dismissing what matters to another person.
“Remember: There are consequences for your sarcastic tone about what’s meaningful to them,” Tarantino said.
Source: fortune.com
