Quentin Tarantino on Grindhouse (film)

“CGI for car stunts doesn't make any sense to me—how is that supposed to be impressive? [...] I don't think there have been any good car chases since I started making films in '92—to me, the last terrific car chase was in Terminator 2. And Final Destination 2 had a magnificent car action piece. In between that, not a lot. Every time a stunt happens, there's twelve cameras and they use every angle for Avid editing, but I don't feel it in my stomach. It's just action. ~ Quentin Tarantino]]”

“Tarantino: You’re bringing all the judgment there. That’s your adjective. I never use the term crap. Ever! These are not so-bad-they’re-good movies. I love this stuff! And that’s what we want to re-create. For lack of a better word, we want Grindhouse to be a ride. I think we could both go out with our movies and have them stand on their own. But what’s so good about this is it’s two movies, and trailers, and bad prints, and if a little bit of gang violence breaks out in the theater, all the better! It just makes the whole experience more interactive!”

“Q: Were you daunted by attempting a car chase? Quentin Tarantino: It was very exciting. My lawyer was on the set and he said: “You were 100 per cent right.” He was referring to something I said a lot on Kill Bill – that the really good action directors are the real cinematic directors. I’m not saying that’s the only kind of cinema there can ever be, but when it comes to movie magic and wizardry and really knowing how to put film together, those to me are the most cinematic guys. Whenever I deal myself into this, whether with fights, which I’d never done before Kill Bill, or car chases, that’s me dealing myself into that. That’s me doing my stab at it. But I’m not doing it to be “OK”. I’m not doing it to be “pretty good”. I wanted to make this one of the best, if not the best, car chases ever. That was a big anxiety. But we got to the end of it and I knew I had my chase. Q: The crash scene is very explicit and also perversely thrilling… Quentin Tarantino: The whole idea of it is that you’ve got this total momentum going. Point one is to get really realistic about what happens to people in a crash – you kind of get ripped apart. So the thing is to set up this sequence where the two cars are going to hit each other. We know what’s going to go on. After being in the dark throughout the whole movie, now we’re actually ahead of the characters. The girls are oblivious until the second before it happens, but with the music I’ve got playing… I’m making the audience complicit in this crash. They want the crash to happen. It’s exciting, the girls are driving, and the audience is waiting for it, and they’re waiting for it, and… it’s like a come shot when it happens. And the audience has to admit that they wanted it to crash. If, at the last second, the girls had braked and missed it, they would be pissed off. They’d be totally mad… That’s the thing: to get them complicit, get them wanting it and waiting for it. Then – BANG! – it happens, it’s so much more horrible than you ever could have imagined. But… too late! You wanted it to happen. You willed it into being. You are complicit in it. Now take your medicine! And you should feel a little ashamed, feel a little bad, but feel like you came. Now light the cigarettes! We didn’t pull any punches at all.”