The composer now plans to sue the magazine that ran the “false” interview.
Following the news that legendary composer Ennio Morricone gave an interview with Playboy’s German edition in which he called Quentin Tarantino a “cretin” comes an official statement from Morricone denying that such a thing ever happened.
It had been widely reported that the 90-year-old Italian had absolutely slammed Tarantino, with whom he worked with on languid western The Hateful Eight back in 2015.
“He is not a director,” Morricone was quoted as saying.
“He is absolutely chaotic. He talks without thinking, he does everything at the last minute. He has no idea.
“He calls up out of the blue and wants a complete score in just a few days. That’s not possible. It makes me so mad. I’m not going to put up with this. And I told him so last time.”
If that wasn’t enough, he was also attributed with the following strong words:
“The man is a cretin. He only steals from others and puts stuff back together again. There’s nothing original about that. That doesn’t make him a director.
“He is nothing compared with the Hollywood greats, such as John Huston, Alfred Hitchcock or Billy Wilder. They had class. Tarantino simply recooks old dishes.”
Pretty explosive stuff, and a series of words that Morricone has quickly moved to distance himself from.
In a statement released on Sunday night, Morricone rubbished the remarks and claimed that they are completely fabricated.
“This is totally false,” he said.
“I have not given an interview to Playboy Germany and even more, I have never called Tarantino a cretin and certainly do not consider his films garbage.
“I have given a mandate to my lawyer in Italy to take civil and penal action.”
Morricone, who has composed music for over 500 films, will return to Dublin on 15 February 2019 — performing his 60 Years of Music tour in the 3Arena.
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