Since winning the Palm D’Or 20 years ago at Cannes, Quentin Tarantino’s brand of filmmaking has become synonymous with cult cinema. Controversy and brilliance has followed him from Pulp Fiction to Reservoir Dogs, from The Grindhouse films to Django Unchained.

Quentin Tarantino and Uma ThurmanQuentin Tarantino and his Pulp Fiction star Uma Thurman at Cannes 2014

Cannes 2014 saw the Pulp Fiction gang get back together again as a special screening of the film marked two decades since it was awarded the Springtime film festival’s highest honour. QT has never been shy with the press, often polarizing with a concoction of arrogance, bloody-mindedness and – more often than not – a level of knowhow transcended by very few. 

He’s been on scintillating form over the past few days, answering questions with vim, vigour and a scintilla of spice. From dancing on the red carpet to sweeping statements on the state of cinema, here’s what we learned from Tarantino’s Cannes 2014. 

He’s over the whole ‘Hateful Eight’ thing

It wasn’t long ago that he was seething, bitter and litigious surrounding the now-famous ‘Hateful Eight’ Gawker leak situation. But now: “The knife-in-the-back wound is starting to scab, and I have calmed down on it,” he said, before thinking aloud on what ‘Hateful Eight’s’ future may be. “Exactly what I’m going to do, I don’t know. I’m in the process of writing it, of finishing the second draft and then I intend to do a third draft,” he said. “I’m in no hurry and maybe I’ll shoot it, maybe I’ll publish it. Maybe I’ll do it on the stage... maybe I’ll do all three, but we’ll find out,” he added.

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Django Unchained Might Get a Miniseries

Tarantino also said he has some 90 minutes of unused footage from his revenge Western “Django Unchained” that he’s considering using, along with the released movie, to create a four-hour miniseries for television. "It wouldn't be an endurance test," said Tarantino. "It would be a mini-series and people love those. You show people a four-hour movie and they roll their eyes. Show people a four-part mini-series and they'll sit and watch it all in one sitting".

More: Quentin Tarantino Keen To Develop Django Unchained Mini-series

Difficult characters are the best characters

Tarantino told reporters in Cannes that he enjoyed presenting audiences with difficult-to-like characters like those in Pulp Fiction. “I like... showing the worst sides of them, the most violent sides of them, the most deplorable sides of them,” he said. “And g**dammit, I’m going to get you to root for them anyway.”

More: check out photos from Cannes 2014

Two decades and hundreds of awards later, the Palme D’Or for Pulp Fiction still ranks highest

QT called the Palme d’Or for his cult classic “my single absolutely positively greatest achievement,” adding:  “Of all the trophies that I have won, it’s the one that has the biggest place of honor inside of my house,” said Tarantino. “It’s the one I want another of some day before they turn out the lights."

Quentin Tarantino Cannes 2014
Tarantino shows the world his moves on the Cannes red carpet

Cannes 2014 Palme D'Or Winner: 'Winter Sleep' Takes The Jewell of The Springtime Festival

Cinema is Dead

“As far as I’m concerned, digital projection and DCPs is the death of cinema as I know it,” said Tarantino, referring to digital cinema packages. “The fact that most films now are not presented in 35 millimeter means that the war is lost. Digital projections, that’s just television in public. And apparently the whole world is OK with television in public. But what I knew as cinema is dead.”

More: Cinema Is Dead, For This Generation At Least, Claims Quentin Tarantino

Tarantino watches his own films back for fun, feels sorry for directors that don’t

Tarantino - unlike many directors - said that he loves to re-watch his film, and does so any time they’re on TV. He also said he feels sorry for filmmakers who don’t get such pleasure out of their own work. “I’ve always made my movies for me, anyway,” said Tarantino with that trademark grin on his face. 

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