You think Quentin Tarantino's sick of talking over and over again about whether there's a connection between big-screen violence and the real thing? Then watch this.
Making the media rounds in the U.K. to promote Django Unchained, which like the rest of his body of work features loads of gunplay, dead bodies and cringe-inducing scenes of bloody violence, the filmmaker angrily shut down an interviewer's attempts to get him to comment on the subject, which is in the news again following the Newtown shooting.
The somewhat bizarre outburst was sparked when Channel 4's Krishnan Guru-Murthy asked him why he's "so sure there is no link between enjoying movie violence and enjoying real violence."
"I'm gonna tell you why I'm so sure? Don't ask me a question like that. I'm not biting. I refuse your question," fumed Tarantino.
When asked why, the director replied, "Because I refuse your question. I'm not your slave and you're not my master. You can't make me dance to your tune. I'm not a monkey."
Easy there, cowboy.
When Guru-Murthy subsequently tried to bring up a quote that Jamie Foxx said about the topic, QT interrupted and told him to ask his star because he wasn't exploring the issue…again.
"I'm trying to sell my movie. This [interview] is a commercial for the movie, make no mistake," insisted Tarantino before launching into a scathing rant.
"I don't want to talk about the implications of violence. The reason I don't want to talk about it is because I've said everything I have to say about it," said the Oscar winner. "If anyone cares what I have to say about it, they can Google me. And they can look for 20 years what I have to say but I haven't changed my opinion one iota."
"It's my job to try and ask you this--," responded the befuddled reporter.
"And I'm shutting your butt down," noted Tarantino.
When his interlocutor suggested he had a responsibility as a filmmaker to explain his thoughts about the issue, Quentin became even more agitated.
"No, I really don't have a responsibility to you to explain anything," the geek auteur noted, adding that his fans know where he's coming from. "I've said it already…I just refuse to repeat myself over and over again because you want me to for you and your show and your ratings."
Earlier in the sit-down, Tarantino did offer an insightful comment about why he's so tired of having to answer to the press for the horrors he regularly includes in his flicks.
"It's like asking Judd Apatow, 'Why do you like making comedies?'" he said. "I consider it good cinema. You sit there in a movie theater where these cathartic violent scenes happen."
Quentin also pointed out that his revenge tale-cum-tribute to the spaghetti western set in the Old South has done more than any film in 30 years to spark a discussion about the "holocaust" of slavery, a fact he was happy to take credit for.
Following the interview, a much more relaxed Tarantino attended the London premiere for Django Unchained, which was nominated for five Oscars yesterday.