George Clooney is the exception to the Hollywood rule.
The Oscar winner has taken pot shots at 1997’s “Batman & Robin” for years. He’s done so in good humor, recognizing the film is the weakest of the four original Bat features and his performance was less than stellar.
And that’s being kind.
Generally, artists don’t like to trash their work in public. They tried their best at the time, and doing so often insults their fellow cast and crew members.
That’s the Hollywood normal, but there’s an asterisk to this belief.
Some stars have taken to attacking their own film for not being 21st-century “woke.”
It’s often called Virtue Signaling, disparaging older content that doesn’t align with the latest groupthink. How can a film from the mid-90s hope to reflect life in 30-plus years?
It can’t, but that doesn’t stop the signaling. And it’s precisely what actress Roseanna Arquette just did.
The veteran actress called out Quentin Tarantino for using the “n-word” too often in his 1994 masterpiece “Pulp Fiction.
The catch?
Arquette co-starred in the film in question. That didn’t stop her from calling the “n-word” use “racist and creepy.”
“But personally, I am over the use of the N-word [in films]. I hate it. I cannot stand that [Tarantino] has been given a hall pass. It’s not art, it’s just racist and creepy.”
She’s not the only artist to criticize Tarantino for using the word excessively at times. It’s still odd when it comes from a co-star who appeared in the film in question.
The Oscar-winning director didn’t take long to respond, sharing this statement with media outlets.
“Dear Rosanna,
I hope the publicity you’re getting from 132 different media outlets writing your name and printing your picture was worth disrespecting me and a film I remember quite clearly you were thrilled to be a part of?
Do you feel this way now?
Very possibly.
But after I gave you a job, and you took the money, to trash it for what I suspect is very cynical reasons, shows a decided lack of class, no less honor.
There is supposed to be an esprit de corps between artistic colleagues.
But it would appear the objective was accomplished.
Congratulations
Q“
Of course, this is the same director who went out of his way to mock Paul Dano and Matthew Lillard late last year in public.
Still, Tarantino’s comments matter on a few fronts.
One, he’s calling out Arquette for ginning up media coverage. The actress isn’t in demand like she was in the 1990s, and her comments drew plenty of Legacy Media coverage.
Was that the plan all along?
Two, she could have reached out to him privately and shared her concerns with him. That might have led to a heartfelt exchange between fellow artists. Heck, she may have convinced him to tone down that awful word’s usage in the future.
Three, and most importantly? Tarantino defended his art. Sounds simple, but it’s not always the case. When USA Network put a trigger warning on “Goodfellas,” director Martin Scorsese refused to attack the policy or defend his work.
Nor did star Robert De Niro.
The trigger warning insulted the film by saying it was defamatory to Italian-Americans. “Goodfellas” deserved some protection, and the directorial legend and Oscar-winning actor couldn’t be bothered.
More recently, both Jodie Foster and Sir Anthony Hopkins said nothing publicly after their “Silence of the Lambs” co-star, Ted Levine, trashed their horror movie classic as being insensitive to trans people.
Some artistic complaints can be helpful and clarifying. It’s hard to defend casting Mickey Rooney as a stereotypically Asian man in 1961’s “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” for example.
The use of the n-word in feature films demands a more nuanced conversation. When Tarantino deployed it in “Django Unchained,” the word captured its dehumanizing impact on black people during slave times.
Is it always necessary elsewhere? Artists can agree to disagree on the matter.
Calling out a fellow artist for its use in public, hoping for clicks and controversy, feels like a terrible way to do just that.
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