Having warmed himself up on the relatively benign ordeal of facing down most of the police officers in America—currently boycotting his films in an effort to get him to retract statements decrying recent incidents of violence—director Quentin Tarantino is apparently ready to throw himself against a truly frightening force: Disney, and The Force Awakens. Tarantino hopped on Howard Stern’s recently renewed Sirius XM show today to complain about The House Of Mouse, Marvel, and Midichlorians, telling Stern that Disney was “going out of their way to fuck me” in regards to the booking of a particular Los Angeles theater.
Specifically, Tarantino’s pissed that his new movie The Hateful Eight won’t get to play in regular rotation at Hollywood’s iconic Cinerama Dome, currently operated by ArcLight Cinemas, where the movie’s premiere was held. The director apparently had a deal in place for the movie to start running at the cultural landmark starting on Christmas Day—a week after The Force Awakens opens worldwide—but now, he says, Disney is threatening to pull its record-demolishing blockbuster from all of ArcLight’s other theaters if The Hateful Eight is given the Cinerama Dome spot.
You might very well be wondering, “Who actually cares about one stupid theater?” right now, and the answer, unsurprisingly, is Quentin Tarantino, a man who never met a piece of ’60s and ’70s-based Hollywood ephemera that he wouldn’t devote all his energy and half a screenplay to lavishing with praise. (The Hateful Eight apparently even features the logo for the theater—which, needless to say, is outfitted with one of the director’s beloved 70mm projectors—in its opening credits.) Disney’s alleged block of his nerdy ambition, then, has sent the Kill Bill director—who once indirectly worked for the company, through his films with Miramax—into a very Tarantino-esque fit of rage, declaring the move, “mean,” “vindictive,” and “extortion.” (He was careful, though, to stress that his irritation was with Disney, and not J.J. Abrams, or anyone associated with the Star Wars production, who presumably have no control over their parent company’s distribution deals.)
Luckily, Uncle Howard was there to calm Tarantino’s nerves, with Stern reaching out to apparent listener and Disney chief Bob Iger to soothe the roiling feud. Utilizing his typical approach to diplomacy, Stern addressed Iger directly from his radio pulpit, saying, “Listen Bob… I don’t give a shit about this theater. Quentin’s a weirdo. Sorry, Quentin. They’ve got the stupid 70mm. They got all that shit that he cares about. He just wants to show his goddamn movie there. You’re sitting on top of the world. You’ve got Star Wars. What, do you need this?” It remains to be seen whether Iger, in fact, does.