From Pulp Fiction to 'that' scene in Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood, here's a look at Quentin Tarantino's foot fetish, throughout the years!
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From Pulp Fiction to 'that' scene in Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood, here's a look at Quentin Tarantino's foot fetish, throughout the years!
Yes. We all know that Quentin Tarantino’s films often contain scenes of feet that he considers ‘cinematic shots’, which are very integral to the core of the storyline (of course). However, have you ever wondered where it all began?
Starting with the Big Bang when the universe was created, only for Tarantino to shoot six close-ups of Diane Kruger’s feet in Inglorious Basterds (look it up), the director’s scenes have gone from quirky to bizarre, much like his Hollywood career. In this entire article dedicated to exploring the timeline of Quentin Tarantino’s foot fetish, we will be taking a deep dive from Pulp Fiction to Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood.
Famously, Reservoir Dogs, which was Tarantino’s first major Hollywood motion picture, had no overt themes or dialogues regarding feet. Naturally, the timeline starts from that infamous banter between Samuel L. Jackson’s Jules Winnfield and John Travolta’s Vincent Vega in Pulp Fiction.
It all started with a smile (not really). It was actually a dialogue between Samuel L. Jackson’s Jules Winnfield and John Travolta’s Vincent Vega in the 1994 movie, Pulp Fiction. During the opening dialogues, we see Jules and Vincent entering a house while the camera follows them from the trunk of their car to the door of their enemy.
During the whole conversation, Jules talks about how a henchman was thrown out of a building because he gave a foot massage to Mia Wallace, the wife of Marsellus Wallace. The conversation later shifts to Vincent asking what’s wrong with a foot massage.
Naturally, Samuel L. Jackson goes into a deep dive into how a foot massage can be a s*xual thing for anyone to do. This was the first hint towards the foot fetishism that Quentin Tarantino has had for years. As the movies progressed, so did his talks about feet.
His next flick after the success of Pulp Fiction was the underrated 1997 movie, Jackie Brown. The film starred Pam Grier, Bridget Fonda, and Robert de Niro in prominent roles, and yes, there were some scenes related to foot fetishism.
Case in point, the character of Melanie (played by Bridget Fonda) often lounged at Samuel L. Jackson’s home in some skimpy outfits. However, there were several shots of her bare feet, which were given special focus by Quentin Tarantino.
In fact, her first scenes showcased Melanie putting on some toe rings with an extensive focus on her feet. Although Tarantino didn’t say it, it was pretty well understood what the director meant by it.
Starring Uma Thurman in the lead role of The Bride, the Kill Bill movies were some of Tarantino’s best works of all time. Featuring a vengeance-filled Bride who was left for dead by Bill, the film follows her revenge journey as she slaughters through Bill’s henchmen and eventually Bill.
The Bride’s journey starts in a hospital, and following her escape, there is a significant scene where Uma Thurman lies in the back of a car and commands to “wiggle your big toe” to get it moving. Although the scene represents the Bride taking back the command of her body (since she had been in a coma), the toe close-up and her feet are a bit… too prolonged, as some would say.
By far, one of the most brazen shots wherein Quentin Tarantino showcased his foot fetishism in quite a bizarre manner, Death Proof featured Kurt Russell as a retired stuntman who uses his ‘death proof’ car to kill people as a way of… getting off.
In one of the earlier scenes in the movie, Kurt Russell’s stalker persona goes to a car where a woman is lying with her feet out the window. There are extensive shots of Russell’s character admiring it, and even tickling the feet before going off in the distance.
Probably the movie where Tarantino deliberately showcased his fetishism through the means of a character. Naturally, Death Proof was a film that revealed what Quentin Tarantino was capable of if given the stage.
Hailed as the movie that Quentin Tarantino calls his “masterpiece”, Inglourious Basterds was a serious piece of history that Tarantino altered to see what the other side of the story would look like. Featuring a group of soldiers (calling themselves the Basterds) and a plot to assassinate Hitler and Hans Landa by Shosanna (played by Mélanie Laurent).
Although a serious flick, there is a surprising lack of bare feet shots; however, the one scene that does feature feet is bigger (and more harsher) than Quentin Tarantino’s filmography combined.
The scene in question is when Bridget Von Hammersmark is being choked by Christoph Waltz’s Hans Landa. With her ankle injured and Landa having discovered the plot, the camera only focuses on Von Hammersmark’s feet as she struggles. With her toe visible, the feet thrash against the floor until she eventually stops suffering.
Side note: Although Quentin Tarantino has created a total of 9 movies, so far, we would like to point out that The Hateful Eight and Django Unchained offer no shots of bare feet (except some scenes which are there for a deeper cinematic meaning).
Last, but not least, Quentin Tarantino’s penultimate film, Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood. With a star-studded cast that includes Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio, Margot Robbie, and Margaret Qualley, the film was a Tarantino success with millions of viewers and an equal amount of box office collection.
The film also featured two very brazen shots of feet. Portraying the role of Sharon Tate (a real actress who loved going barefoot everywhere she went), Margot Robbie portrayed her inner Sharon Tate as she was also featured barefoot in several scenes.
One particular scene featured Margot Robbie going into theaters to watch her own movie (as Sharon Tate). She puts her legs on the cinema seat in front of her, and the camera goes back to showcase her full frame. Her bare feet are visible in the camera for quite a while, and what’s more effective is that her feet are dirty (kept purposeful by none other than Mr. Tarantino himself).
The movie also features another set of foot scenes where Margaret Qualley’s Pussycat puts her feet on the dashboard of Cliff Booth’s car (played by Brad Pitt). The feet are also dirty while that Tarantino treatment is given to the particular scene.
With the director planning his last flick of his Hollywood career, it would be no surprise that we would have another movie with plenty of bare feet scenes and equally bizarre cinematic storylines.
