Quentin Tarantino has just issued a statement on his controversial Selma comments from last week.
In a recent New York Times interview with acclaimed author and screenwriter Bret Easton Ellis, the two-time academy award winner appeared to have dissed the Martin Luther King biopic directed by Ava Duvernay.
The discussion between the two touched on the film's snub from most of the major categories at last year's Academy Awards. During this part of the piece, Tarantino is quoted as saying, "She did a really good job on Selma but Selma deserved an Emmy," insinuating that the film wasn't Oscar caliber.
The Hateful Eight director has now cleared the air. He spoke with Indiewire's Anne Thompson via Facebook to explain how his words were misinterpreted. He claims he hasn't even seen the film and says he never meant to insult Duvernay or her work.
"I'm writing you to pass on that the quote from the NY Times piece about Selma is wrong. I never saw Selma," Says Tarantino. "If you look at the article, it was Bret who was talking about Selma, not me. I did say the line 'it deserved a Emmy,' but when I said it, it was more like a question."
Tarantino then proceeds to tell Thompson that the emmy remark was posed as a question.
Which basically meant, "it's like a TV movie" Which Bret and myself being from the same TV generation, was not only understood, but there was no slam intended.
Both Bret and myself come from the seventies and eighties when there were a lot of historically based TV movies: the King mini-series written by Abby Mann staring Paul Winfield; "Crisis at Central High" with Joanne Woodward. And "Judge Horton and the Scottsboro Boys." These were great TV movies. I'd be honored to be placed next to those films. However, I haven't seen it. Does it look like a seventies TV movie? Yes. Does it play like one, I don't know, I haven't seen it.
