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Quentin Tarantino is a director who famously never attended film school, instead getting all of the cinematic education he needed from clerking at a video store and just endlessly watching and studying movies. As a result of this, he has not just become one of the most renowned filmmakers of the modern era, but there are few human beings on the planet who have as expansive and encyclopedic knowledge about the medium.
Understanding Tarantino’s reverence for film for one might think that he would choose very carefully the first title that his young son would watch… but it turns out that the opposite is the truth. The director exposed his son to his first ever movie by accident, and it turned out to be Despicable Me 2.
This funny revelation was made by Quentin Tarantino recently in an interview with Empire while specifically discussing his approach to introducing his children to movies (he has a two-year-old and a baby who was just born this month with his wife Daniella Pick). He explained that on one random day he had the intention of showing his son a Minions cartoon, but it turned out to be the first Despicable Me sequel:
[My son is] pretty young, so he’s only really seen one movie. I thought I was hitting a Minions cartoon, and I realise it’s Despicable Me Part 2. And he seemed to be interested in the opening credits, so I go, ‘Okay, I guess we’re watching Despicable Me Part 2.’
Continuing, Quentin Tarantino added that it ended up taking a minute for his son to adjust to the cinematic experience, but they finished watching the movie by viewing it in segments over the course of a week. Said the filmmaker,
He gets up and he walks behind the couch, but he’s still watching the TV. We watched it for 20 minutes, until it was time for him to go to the park, and then the next day we watched another 15 minutes of it. And so, in the course of a week, in small bites, the first movie Leo ever watched was Despicable Me Part 2.
Having accidentally shown his son Despicable Me 2 in segments, perhaps he can make his progeny’s first time sitting through a full movie something special in the months/years ahead.
As for Quentin Tarantino’s son’s other viewing habits beyond watching the Minions, the filmmaker says that Peppa Pig is a favorite – and it definitely doesn’t make it sound like he is suffering through the viewing experience.
I actually do like Peppa Pig; I watch it a lot. I’ll say it – Peppa Pig is the greatest British import of this decade.
In addition to raising his young children, Quentin Tarantino is preparing to make his tenth (and potentially final) film… though at this point in time we have no idea what it will be and a whole lot of questions. While you wait (and prepare to watching your next viewing of one of his movies) check out our Quentin Tarantino movie ranking.