Why Quentin Tarantino has no interest in the new Dune movies

Director Quentin Taratino walks the walk when it comes to originality: he's been doing it his way since the '90s, making lots of movies that have gone on to become modern classics, including Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill and Inglourious Basterds. Like a lot of people, he's not enthusiastic about Hollywood's interest in remaking everything under the sun. But unlike a lot of people, he still isn't interested in those remakes even when they're great.

Take the example of Denis Villeneuve's two recent Dune movies, which adapt Frank Herbert's seminal 1965 sci-fi novel. Both movies received widespread critical acclaim. But as far as Tarantino is concerned, he watched David Lynch's 1986 Dune movie and doesn't need to revisit that story. “I saw [David Lynch’s] ‘Dune’ a couple of times. I don’t need to see that story again,” he said on The Bret Easton Ellis Podcast. “I don’t need to see spice worms. I don’t need to see a movie that says the word ‘spice’ so dramatically.”

Tarantino's antipathy towards remakes extends to the FX series Shōgun, which was widely heralded as one of the best shows of the year. But Tarantino saw the original TV miniseries that aired in 1980, so he's not interested. “It’s one after another of this remake and that remake,” the director said. “I saw ‘Shōgun’ in the ‘80s. I watched all 13 hours. I’m good. I don’t need to see that story again, I don’t care how they do it. I don’t care if they take me and put me in ancient Japan in a time machine. I don’t care, I’ve seen the story.”

I think this makes sense; if he already saw those things and doesn't want to see them again, fair enough. That said, I don't think all remakes are created equal. I'd seen David Lynch's Dune before watching the Villeneuve movies too, and they are extremely different beasts. Even David Lynch himself hated his Dune movie. There were a lot of studio shenanigans that held him back at the time, whereas Villeneuve's films have a lot more room to spread out and tell the story as Frank Herbert imagined it. I think Villenueve's movies are worth seeing even if you've watched Lynch's version.

As for Shōgun, the original 1980 series is highly regarded to this day, but the new version does update things considerably, spending a lot more time with the Japanese characters. And I'm fine with the remake because honestly, I'd never heard of Shōgun before FX decided to adapt it. A lot of time had past and I'm glad people got to experience a story they probably wouldn't have heard about otherwise.

But if they remake movies that I loved when I was younger, say Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings films, would I be interested in seeing them, even if they were good? Maybe I'd find myself adopting Tarantino's point of view there. And of course I understand his frustrations with too many remakes clogging the pipes. It's one thing if the remake is greatly improving on the original or reviving something that has been largely forgotten over the years, but a lot of time they just seem pointless.

For instance, not long ago I watched Apartment 7A, a prequel to the famous horror movie Rosemary's Baby. True, Apartment 7A (which is on Paramount+, FYI) isn't technically a remake, but it might as well be: the movie goes through more or less the exact same plot beats of the first film except with a different main character. It wasn't terrible, but everything was just a little worse than it was in the 1968 original. It's less tense, it's less scary, it's more cheesy. If you're not improving on the original, like Dune, or revisiting something too few people have heard about, like Shōgun, why bother?

Quentin Tarantino loved Joker: Folie à Deux, thinks up is down, night is day

Tarantino was offering lots of unpopular opinions on this podcast. For example, he said he loved director Todd Phillips' recent movie Joker: Folie à Deux, which was widely panned by critics and fans alike and bombed at the box office. Tarantino thought it was hilarious, he enjoyed the musical numbers, he loved Joaquin Phoenix's performance, and he liked that it seemed to be the exact opposite movie that the fans wanted.

“The Joker directed the movie," Tarantino said. "The entire concept, even him spending the studio’s money — he’s spending it like the Joker would spend it, all right? And then his big surprise gift — haha! — the jack-in-the-box, when he offers you his hand for a handshake and you get a buzzer with 10,000 volts shooting you — is the comic book geeks. He’s saying fuck you to all of them. He’s saying fuck you to the movie audience. He’s saying fuck you to Hollywood. He’s saying fuck you to anybody who owns any stock at DC and Warner Brothers […] And Todd Phillips is the Joker. Un film de Joker, all right, is what it is. He is the Joker.”

Is this a reasoned critique or edgy contrarianism for its own sake? You decide. In the meanwhile, Tarantino is contemplating a movie called The Movie Critic, about a movie critic, which he's teeing up to be his final film.

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h/t Variety