Tarantino accused of urging teenagers to break censorship law (Australia)

The Sydney Morning Herald ^ | October 17, 2003 | By Garry Maddox, Film Reporter

[Byron_the_Aussie]

A suggestion by the Hollywood director Quentin Tarantino that teenagers sneak into his latest film or catch it on video was yesterday criticised as "totally inappropriate".

The director of the Office of Film and Literature Classification, Des Clark, said Tarantino was encouraging young people to break the law. "He shouldn't be making comments like that because he's talking about a classification system that was designed for Australians and is highly regarded by the Australian community," he said.

In Sydney for the premiere of Kill Bill: Volume One, a blood-soaked, kung-fu-filled revenge tale starring Uma Thurman, Tarantino confirmed that he made the film for an audience aged 14 to 45. That prompted the Herald to ask how he felt about its R rating, which bans those under 18 from seeing it.

"That's why God invented video and ... multiplexes for kids to sneak into R-rated movies," he said, adding with a provocative laugh that he was surprised the consumer advice was that Kill Bill had only medium-level violence.

"How violent are the movies here when this is 'medium'? "

Defending the decision, Mr Clark said the classification board felt the violence was graphic but also stylised and cinematic. Films requiring a stronger warning treated violence both "very graphically and very realistically".

The director of Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction was dismissive about claims that Kill Bill was the most violent mainstream movie to come out of the United States.

"I've seen many more violent movies. For that matter, I'd consider Reservoir Dogs more violent than Kill Bill . . ."

Tarantino said he wanted to play with violence in the film. He considered certain scenes outlandish and funny.

"I like playing around with tone. It's not funny when she cuts off Sofie Fatale's arm. You feel it there. [It's] 'Oh my gosh.' "