Quentin Tarantino Gives Advice to Young Filmmakers at Cannes: ‘You Only Have So Much Time' on Set. ‘How You Use' It ‘Will Define You'
Quentin Tarantino, who is this year's guest of honor at the Cannes Film Festival's Cannes Classics section, shared his passion for George Sherman — the prolific U.S. director of low-budget Westerns and other genre films — on Wednesday with a packed screening of two of his Universal Pictures movies.
'Well, I want to thank the Cannes Film Festival for setting up a double feature of George Sherman westerns and having a sold-out audience, pretty much standing room only,' Tarantino said when he took to the Salle Bunuel stage after being introduced by Cannes chief Thierry Frémaux. 'This does my heart very, very good.'
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The double bill comprised Sherman's 'Red Canyon,' from 1949, and 'Comanche Territory' from 1950.
After 'Red Canyon' screened, Tarantino delved into details of Sherman's career and pointed out that when he was first hired by Universal, the studio had not realized just how fast he was at making films.
'They didn't know how quick he was able to run his sets,' Tarantino said. 'Being fast is nice and being fast is great — especially for the boys in the front office — but how good is the footage?'
Tarantino then answered his own question: 'Well, you can see right there how good the footage is. The fact that this guy can work faster than every other director under contract, and his footage is that good and he has that much of a story sense and actors like him that much. Even Shelley Winters didn't give him a hard time.'
The 'Pulp Fiction' and 'Jackie Brown' filmmaker then segued into what young filmmakers can learn from Sherman's speed and ability. 'He didn't have any more time than any of those other fucking directors,' Tarantino said. 'But it's what he did with that time that made it matter, and that's what I want to pass on to you young filmmakers here: You are only going to have so much time in the course of the day when you're making a movie.'
He continued: 'Look: we all want to shoot what we want. We all want to get the best that we want to get. But it almost doesn't count unless you do it inside the circle that you're supposed to be working in. And how you spend that time; how you use that time, that will define you.'
Tarantino first appeared at Cannes on Tuesday night during the festival's opening ceremony, when he surprised the crowd by officially opening the event. 'It's my honor to declare the 78th festival open!' Tarantino shouted before literally dropping the mic.
Cannes Film Festival runs through May 24.
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