On May 23, 1994, Clint Eastwood was set to present the Palme d'Or at the closing ceremony of the 47th Cannes Film Festival. Many members of the group
On May 23, 1994, Clint Eastwood was set to present the Palme d’Or at the closing ceremony of the 47th Cannes Film Festival. Many members of the group gathered at the event expected Krzysztof Kieslowski’s celebrated film Trois Couleurs: Rouge. But instead, in a shock to the system, Pulp Fiction took the prize instead.
The room was filled with clamor and whistling as the director of the winning film, Quentin Tarantino, took the stage. It hadn’t died down by the time he arrived at the podium to give his acceptance speech. While a stunned Tarantino gathered his thoughts, a woman in the crowd shouted out her displeasure: “What a piece of crap! What a piece of crap!” Without hesitation—and as seen in this archival video—Tarantino responded by giving her the finger.
At the time, Tarantino was still in the early stages of his film career. He was 32 when he attended the Cannes Film Festival to premiere of his modern independent film, which featured a star-studded cast: John Travolta, Bruce Willis, Uma Thurman, and Samuel L. Jackson, who were about to make film history. The filmmaker hadn’t expected the Palme d’Or; in fact, he’d even thought of leaving the festivities before receiving a call from Gilles Jacob, the festival president, asking him to stay. After his flippant gesture, Tarantino had this to say: “I never expect to win anything when a jury has to decide, because in general I don’t make films that bring people together. I make films that divide them.”
Clint Eastwood later said that the decision had been made democratically, and that Pulp Fiction had simply stood out from the rest of the pack. “We sat there and watched it, and it caught everyone’s attention pretty well,” he told the American Film Institute. “I was surprised that the members of the European jury jumped out of their seats… A few of them turned around and said, ‘This is the best film, this is the film of this festival!’”
Pulp Fiction, which cost $8.5 million, went on to become one of the most profitable independent films in cinema history, grossing $214 million. Today, Tarantino’s success is undeniable, and his reputation is well established. The Kill Bill saga, Inglourious Basterds, Django Unchained, Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood: the director continues to present his singular style of aesthetic violence. But not everyone may agree about which of this films is Tarantino’s very best.
Original story from VF France.
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