Ennio Morricone Denies Trashing Quentin Tarantino, Playboy Defends Original Report

Well, this is certainly interesting. It looks like there’s some drama a-boiling between composer Ennio Morricone and the outlet Playboy Germany. Recently, said outlet published a story that featured snippets from an interview with Morricone that supposedly took place earlier this year, and that snippet was…harsh, to say the least.

“The man (Tarantino) is a cretin,” a rough translation read of Morricone’s supposed interview with Playboy. “He only steals from others and puts stuff back together again. There’s nothing original about that. That doesn’t make him a director. He is nothing compared with the Hollywood greats, such as John Huston, Alfred Hitchcock or Billy Wilder. They had class. Tarantino simply recooks old dishes.”

Ouch. Pretty scathing, huh? And this came from a man who worked with Tarantino scoring his most recent film, Hateful Eight. It certainly doesn’t sound like the words of a friend and would lead one to wonder what in the hell happened between Tarantino and him to make Morricone so bitter. But, if we’re to take the word of Morricone himself, he said no such thing, as he revealed in a statement.

“It has come to my attention that Playboy Germany has come out with an article in which I have called Tarantino a cretin and consider his films garbage. This is totally false. I have not given an interview to Playboy Germany and even more, I have never called Tarantino a cretin and certainly do not consider his films garbage. I have given a mandate to my lawyer in Italy to take civil and penal action.

I consider Tarantino a great director. I am very fond of my collaboration with him and the relationship we have developed during the time we have spent together. He is courageous and has an enormous personality. I credit Tarantino for being one of the people responsible for getting me an Oscar, which is for sure one of the greatest acknowledgments of my career, and I am forever grateful for the opportunity to compose music for his film.

In London, during a press conference in front of Tarantino, I clearly stated that I consider Quentin one of the greatest directors of this time.

Ennio Morricone”

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Such a statement would seem to quash the whole thing, but apparently not. The outlet has since gone on to double down on their interview with the composer, saying:

“We are surprised that composer Ennio Morricone denies giving an interview to German Playboy. In fact, the conversation took place on June 30, 2018, at his estate in Rome. The interview, about the concert organizer Semmel Concerts, which was also present at the interview, had been agreed to with German Playboy. We also cannot understand that parts of the published statements were apparently not found to have been accurate.”

So who’s telling the truth? Well, unless Playboy pulls out the tapes, I’m inclined to believe Morricone on this one. While I could understand the composer maybe saying some things that may be considered less than favorable to Tarantino, I can’t imagine him going all-in as he appears to in his original quote, without realizing that it would end up in print.

What do you make of this whole deal? Sound off down below!

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SOURCE: Playboy (via Complex), Variety (1), (2)

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