Quentin Tarantino
Arguably one of the most influential screenwriters of the last 25 years, Quentin Tarantino burst into the social consciousness in 1992 with the game-changing Reservoir Dogs. Having honed his skills with previous independent movies Love Birds In Bondage and My Best Friend’s Birthday, it wasn’t until Reservoir Dogs hit the Sundance Film Festival – with its incredible cast, including Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, Chris Penn and Steve Buscemi – that we got to hear Tarantino’s very specific and particular style.
Tarantino’s screenplays are characterised by carefully drawn, almost enigmatic characters engaging in lengthy monologues – often littered with pop culture references – that are designed to make an emphatic point relating the action in the scene. He favours non-linear story structures, which serve to keep the audience on their toes, while employing liberal use of stylised violence and profanity. These themes can be found in True Romance, Pulp Fiction, Natural Born Killers, From Dusk Til Dawn, Jackie Brown, his Kill Bill films, Inglorious Basterds and Django Unchained.
Though he is, himself, influential, his work is heavily influenced by the cinema of the past. As such, much of his writing can be seen as an homage to one genre or another – most literally in Grindhouse and Death Proof. His success lies in lending his own brand to those methods past, and allowing his own voice to ring clear. This is why his announcements of new projects are so highly anticipated: audiences are keen to hear which genre will get the Tarantino treatment next. It seems that, despite early problems, we will next be seeing a Quentin Tarantino western – The Hateful Eight – which feels like a perfect genre fit to me.