Quentin Tarantino has broken his silence after Rosanna Arquette chastised the famed director for his use of the N-word throughout Pulp Fiction.
“Dear Rosanna, I hope the publicity you’re getting from 132 different media outlets writing your name and printing your picture was worth disrespecting me and a film I remember quite clearly you were thrilled to be a part of?” Tarantino, 62, told Us Weekly in a statement on Monday, March 9, after Arquette, 66, criticized the director’s use of the racial slur in the 1994 hit.
“Do you feel this way now?” Tarantino continued. “Very possibly. After I gave you a job, and you took the money, to trash it for what I suspect is very cynical reasons, shows a decided lack of class, no less honor.”
Tarantino’s comment came days after Arquette, who played Jody in Pulp Fiction, spoke with The Sunday Times about the Oscar-winning film.
Arquette told the outlet in an interview published on Saturday, March 7, that Pulp Fiction was an “iconic” and “great” movie “on a lot of levels.”
She did have one big issue with the classic film, which starred John Travolta, Uma Thurman and Samuel L. Jackson.
“Personally I am over the use of the N-word — I hate it,” Arquette confessed, referring to the racial slur which was used about 20 times throughout the movie. “I cannot stand that he [Tarantino] has been given a hall pass. It’s not art, it’s just racist and creepy.”
Arquette, who famously portrayed Eric Stoltz’s drug dealer character Lance’s wife, noted that she also took issue with how little she made off the movie — but didn’t blame Tarantino for her measly paycheck.
“I’m the only person who didn’t get a back end [share of the takings at the box office]. Everybody made money except me,” she claimed, pointing to the film’s producer Harvey Weinstein as the one to blame for the alleged monetary slight.
Arquette was one of several actresses who publicly accused Weinstein, 73, of sexual misconduct and assault prior to his conviction in New York in 2020 and in Los Angeles in 2022 for sexual assault. More than 100 women came forward against the now disgraced producer, sparking the worldwide #MeToo movement.
Despite his New York City conviction being overturned on appeal in 2024, Weinstein is currently serving a 16-year jail sentence due to his California conviction. (Weinstein has maintained his innocence and denied all accusations.)
During her interview with The Sunday Times, Arquette recalled meeting with Weinstein about a script. When she got to his room at the Beverly Hills Hotel, he allegedly answered the door in his bathrobe before attempting to put her hand on his penis.
“I was fortunate because I was not raped,” Arquette told the outlet. “But, boy, was it going there and I paid a price for saying no, and later I paid a price for telling the truth.”
She claims that because she refused Weinstein in the early 1990s, he retaliated by denying her or keeping her from various acting roles for years.
“There’s a photo of a charity auction at the Cannes Film Festival [in 2001],” Arquette recalled. “I look really thin and he’s standing next to me, but you can see the horror in my smile. I was not a comfortable woman.”
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).
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