Tarantino: 'Give Me a Break'

Even as Django Unchained producer Harvey Weinstein cancels the Los Angeles premiere of the film, and star Jamie Foxx admits that film violence can inspire real life violence, director Quentin Tarantino is unbowed in his defense of ultra-violent depictions of bloody horror onscreen.

On Saturday, the day after the massacre in Newtown, Connecticut at Sandy Hook Elementary School, Tarantino told critics he was sick and tired of criticisms of his film violence. Tarantino said, “I just think you know there’s violence in the world, tragedies happen, blame the playmakers. It’s a western. Give me a break.”

Of course, Tarantino’s film is far more than a Western. It is a Tarantino Western, which means that its depictions of violence will be stylized and brutal. Tarantino has made his living from such depictions. The question now is whether Weinstein, a major backer of President Obama, will continue to back Tarantino’s play, even as he denounces movie violence and Obama struggles to lead America through one of the most violent civilian incidents in its history.