By Sebastian Bauer
Oscar winner Quentin Tarantino (60) presented his book “Cinema Speculation” in Berlin and chatted about Til Schweiger, Kreuzberg clubs and of course films.
A thunderous applause with standing ovations like in the Admiral’s Palace embarrasses even a hardened warhorse like Quentin Tarantino. “I haven’t done anything yet,” said the star director (“Pulp Fiction”, “Kill Bill”) when he and presenter Steven Gätjen (50) appeared in front of around 1,700 cheering people on Wednesday evening.
Tarantino visited Berlin as the last place on his European reading tour of the book “Cinema Speculation”, in which he philosophizes about his lifelong love of cinema. In Berlin, he likes to watch films with an audience, “then I sit down in the middle. Hearing the reactions so directly is priceless,” says the director.
“It’s nice to be back,” says Tarantino, who shot most of his Oscar-winning masterpiece “Inglourious Basterds” (2009) in Berlin and Potsdam-Babelsberg. “I had my best times in Berlin. We always celebrated well, for example in the Haifischbar.”
Finding talented German actors for his film wasn’t difficult, says Tarantino admiringly. “I knew beforehand who Til Schweiger was.” He cast his Hitler actor Martin Wuttke because of a tip from director Tom Tykwer (57, “Run Lola Run”). Tarantino was enthusiastic about Wuttke’s performance in the BE play “The stoppable rise of Arturo Ui”. “I didn’t dare hope that he would want to shoot with me.”
Tarantino recently confirmed that his tenth and final feature film will be called The Movie Critic. “It’s about a film critic, you wouldn’t have guessed that,” says the director with a wink. “I have no idea who will be in the cast yet, but would like to start shooting in the fall.”