The director said he knew about an alleged assault involving his former girlfriend.
In an interview with the New York Times, Quentin Tarantino has said that he was aware of instances of alleged sexual assault by Harvey Weinstein but failed to act, stating: “I knew enough to do more than I did.”
Since breaking through with Reservoir Dogs, Tarantino and Weinstein have enjoyed a strong working relationship – the film producer distributed Tarantino’ debut, Reservoir Dogs, right up to his most recent release, The Hateful Eight – but Tarantino regrets not intervening sooner.
“There was more to it than just the normal rumors, the normal gossip. I wish I had taken responsibility for what I heard. If I had done the work I should have done then, I would have had to not work with him,” said Tarantino.
The director of Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill also revealed that he was aware of a previous settlement between Rose McGowan and Weinstein. McGowan is just one of the many women that have claimed Weinstein sexually harassed and abused them.
Tarantino also said that his ex-girlfriend, Mira Sorvino, had once told him about an incident where Weinstein made unwelcome advances towards her.
“I couldn’t believe he would do that so openly. I was like: ‘Really? Really?’ But the thing I thought then, at the time, was that he was particularly hung up on Mira. I thought Harvey was hung up on her in this Svengali kind of way. Because he was infatuated with her, he horribly crossed the line. I chalked it up to a 50s-60s era image of a boss chasing a secretary around the desk. As if that’s OK. That’s the egg on my face right now,” said Tarantino.
At present, the Los Angeles police department and the Met police are investigating various claims of sexual assault claims that were made against Weinstein.
Weinstein’s spokesperson has previously said that: “Mr Weinstein obviously can’t speak to anonymous allegations, but he unequivocally denies allegations of non-consensual sex.”
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