Which is the best Quentin Tarantino film? Quentin Tarantino will now tell you

It’s a question Quentin Tarantino has probably been asked a million times: what is your favourite movie that you’ve made? Fans of his films probably have their own fervent opinions, with options like the iconic Pulp Fiction or one of three Kill Bill movies to choose from. But the director has made his choice, and it’s the 2019 ode to the city of angels, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

Speaking on The Howard Stern show, Tarantino said “for years people used to ask me stuff like that, and I would say something like, ‘Oh, they’re all my children.’ I really do think Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is my best movie.”

As choices go, it’s a pretty solid one. The film, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie, was certainly one his most financially successful ones, grossing more than $300m worldwide, but it’s also in line with Tarantino’s overall love of cinema. He’s currently on a promo tour for his book, Cinema Speculation, which looks at his own life of learning to love movies through the lens of films from the 1970s that he grew up with. Set in the last months of the 60s, Once Upon a Time rewrites one of the most tragic events in Hollywood history by having fictional actor Rick Dalton (DiCaprio) and his stuntman Cliff Both (Pitt) stop the tragic murder of Sharon Tate (Robbie) by Charles Manson and his cult. In its actual history, it’s known as the night that changed Hollywood forever, so as someone currently on a multistop book tour reflecting on the city’s creative impact it’s only right Tarantino thinks of it so fondly.

Elsewhere in his promo trail, Tarantino took aim at the current state of cinema – namely its bloated market of superhero films. On his podcast The Video Archives with fellow director Roger Avary, he said “even though the ‘80s was the time that I probably saw more movies in my life than ever – at least as far as going out to the movies was concerned – I do feel that ‘80s cinema is, along with the ‘50s, the worst era in Hollywood history. Matched only by now, matched only by the current era!”.

When he was picked up on his long-standing skepticism of superhero movies by The LA Times, he said “you have to be a hired hand to do those things. I’m not a hired hand. I’m not looking for a job”. Seemingly somewhat backtracking on that (or simply just being the erratic Quentin Tarantino we know and love) he went on to say at a Q&A promoting his book that he would only consider making a Marvel movie about Nick Fury, the character played by longtime collaborator Samuel L. Jackson. Jackson got his first major movie break in Tarantino’s 1994 classic Pulp Fiction, and they’ve since worked together on five others including Django Unchained and The Hateful Eight. While it’s unlikely he ever will actually take the leap and jump into the MCU, it’s fun to imagine just how far Tarantino could push the bloodbath potential of Marvel movies.