WE CONTINUE OUR SERIES OF REPORTS FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT JOHN
EXSHAW'S DIARY FROM THE RECENTLY CONCLUDED VENICE INTERNATIONAL FILM
FESTIVAL.
“Quentin Tarantino is under sedatives,†the spokesman
announced, before starting to shuffle furiously through a sheaf of papers.
Well, of course he is, I thought. In a flash, the whole story unfolded before
my eyes: Tarantino had arrived in Venice
and discovered that the organisers of the international event to which he’d
lent his name were showing crappy digital prints of some of his favorite
movies. Naturally enough, he’d completely flipped out and strangled them both
with a length of 35mm film he keeps for just such a purpose. He’d eventually
been restrained and was now “under sedatives†in the newly-named Sergio Leone
Suite of the Excelsior Hotel, as his lawyers prepared an unanswerable defense
of justifiable homicide . . .
It was all so clear. And Cinema Retro was going to
get the cinematic scoop of the century! Hot damn in a handcart! I could already
see myself signing off my reports with Danny De Vito’s lines from ‘L.A.
Confidential’: “Remember, dear readers, you heard it here first – off the
record, on the QT, and very hush-hush.†And then, why not? the book deal,
serialisation rights, movie options . . . Larry King, here I come! Clear the
sofa, Oprah! But what to call it? ‘Death in Venice’? No, no, no . . . ‘Death by
Celluloid’? Hmm, yeah, maybe . . . “. .
. blahdy- blah . . . sends his regrets . . . blah blah blah . . .†What the hell is that man talking about?
Can’t he see I’m creating here? And why’s he waving that piece of paper?
“. . . letter . . . full text . . .†Reluctantly, I hauled myself off Oprah’s
couch and returned to Planet Earth. And this is what I heard:
“To Marco Müller and all my friends,
I will not be able to join you at this festival as I injured
my back.
I am heartbroken not to be able to watch and enjoy all the
different Spaghetti Westerns we’ve programmed for the festival. Great movies
like The Bounty Killer, El Desperado, Navajo Joe, Tepepa.
It is my wish that when this festival is over the director Sergio Corbucci will
take the place he deserves beside Leone and with John Ford, Howard Hawks and
Anthony Mann as one of the greatest Western directors of all time.
So everyone drink good wine, eat good food, ride the waters
and enjoy the magic of cinema.
Love,
Quentin Tarantinoâ€