‘What do you care?’: Quentin Tarantino fires back at everyone who hasn’t liked what he’s had to say about ‘Dune’ and ‘Joker 2’

Quentin Tarantino has had some bonkers takes over the years. From the diminutive, like saying he didn’t buy that Martin Scorsese was shocked by audiences celebrating the violence in Taxi Driver, to the confusing, like claiming he doesn’t consider George Clooney a movie star, to the funny, like insisting he looks like George Clooney. And then there are the absolute unconscionable takes, such as defending Roman Polanski against his rape charge involving a 13-year-old because they were “dating.”

Tarantino has delivered horrible takes throughout his 30-plus-year career, but every so often, he makes a good point — of course, between crafting generation-defining movies. This time, Tarantino caught the wrath of the internet for expressing his enjoyment of Joker: Folie à Deux. During his appearance on The Bret Easton Ellis Podcast, Tarantino shared that he liked the film’s musical scenes, praised Joaquin Phoenix’s performance as the best he’s ever seen, and felt flattered by the movie drawing inspiration from Oliver Stone’s Natural Born Killers, a film he wrote. Tarantino even remarked that the Joker sequel was the kind of movie he dreamed of seeing made from his script.

Now, of course, we disagree. Joker: Folie à Deux struggles to balance painting a sympathetic figure of its lead, while simultaneously critiquing the audience that embraced the original film. The sequel fails at serving both these masters. That aside, Tarantino is right: he still has every right to enjoy whatever movie he chooses. Variety reports that during an appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience, he went on a profanity-laden mini-tirade, assuring everyone that he will, in fact, continue liking whatever he chooses regardless of what people say about him in the comment sections of articles reporting the story and that we can all do the same, saying, “You read the comments: ‘Quentin is a f-cking asshole. That movie f-cking sucks. He’s a f-cking asshole for saying that.’ Why am I a f-cking asshole? I liked the f-cking movie! That makes me a f-cking asshole? You either like the movie or you don’t.”

Tarantino also addressed criticism for not watching Dune, saying, “Then they’ll say I’m a f-cking asshole for not seeing something — what the f-ck do you care what I see or don’t see?” This stance is a bit bizarre, given that he was railing against franchise filmmaking when he made that claim, arguing that Dune exemplifies an era dominated by endless remakes. Even if we’re being generous, Joker is undoubtedly part of a franchise, while also borrowing heavily from Scorsese classics, and the sequel takes inspiration from Tarantino’s own work. So it’s not exactly breathtaking for its originality. Regardless, he’s right — nobody can watch everything. That said, his apparent issue with Denis Villeneuve fimmaking seems rooted in something deeper than he’s letting on.

At the end of the day, we’d all prefer to hear Tarantino sharing his thoughts on what constitutes a good movie rather than his views on other subjects. This is clearly his realm, and even when he’s wrong — and he is wrong on these two particular film takes — his opinions are harmless and often fascinating. Especially now as Tarantino nears his contentious retirement, it would be nice to have a figure like him continue guiding movie lovers worldwide on what to watch, even if those films are no longer his own.

Tarantino’s recent media appearances have been to promote The Video Archives Podcast, which he co-hosts with Pulp Fiction co-writer Roger Avary. The podcast, where they always bicker over movies, is a genuinely fun listen for cinephiles.