Tarantino has never helmed a TV series of his own, but he’s a big TV watcher. The Pulp Fiction director is just as vocal about his opinions on television shows as he is with his opinions on movies. He was a big fan of Justified (based on the work of one of his biggest influences, Elmore Leonard) and How I Met Your Mother.
Tarantino would watch each episode of Aaron Sorkin’s The Newsroom three times over just to hear Sorkin’s sumptuous dialogue again and again. But he hasn’t enjoyed all the original programming that HBO has put out over the years. The first season of True Detective might have been hailed as a masterpiece of television that revolutionized the way a TV show could tell a story, but one of Hollywood’s most celebrated screenwriters wasn’t so charmed by it. Tarantino found the Southern Gothic mystery series to be interminably boring.
Quentin Tarantino Thought True Detective Season 1 Was "Really Boring"
Tarantino Couldn't Get Through A Single Episode
In a 2015 interview with New York Magazine, Tarantino was asked if he’d seen True Detective, which, at the time, had only released its first season and was about to go into its second season. Tarantino confessed that he “tried to watch” the first episode of the series, but he “didn’t get into it at all.” He found the show to be “really boring,” so he gave up on it before he even finished the pilot. Bear in mind, this is the man who wrote Death Proof, the talkiest slasher ever made.
True Detective Season 1 Is Indeed Slow (But It's Not Boring At All)
The Dual Timelines Keep Its Mystery Storyline Compelling
The first season of True Detective definitely has a slow, somber pace — it’s not as fast-moving as something like Reservoir Dogs or Django Unchained, with a shootout every couple of scenes — but it’s not boring at all. Woody Harrelson and especially Matthew McConaughey are captivating as the central Louisiana detective duo on the trail of a serial killer. Harrelson leans into the moral ambiguity of an unfaithful husband, while McConaughey gives an uncharacteristically understated turn as a deeply disturbed soul. They have a lot of long, rambling, philosophical conversations in the car, but they’re never dull.
Nic Pizzolatto initially developed True Detective as a novel before retooling it as a TV series.
Nic Pizzolatto’s devilishly complex plot unfolds across two separate timelines. In one timeline, Hart and Cohle investigate a murder in the mid-‘90s, and in another timeline set 17 years later, they revisit the case when it’s linked to a shocking new series of murders. Switching between these two timelines keeps the story consistently engaging. The series strikes a unique tone, combining a Southern Gothic murder mystery with the gonzo stylings of horror comics. It’s visually stunning, full of unsettling imagery and featuring a oner that belongs in the action filmmaking hall of fame.
It’s a mesmerizing, atmospheric, thought-provoking cinematic experience.
True Detective season 1 takes its time to round out its characters, build their relationship in the past and present, and explore every facet of its curious mystery storyline. But just because it takes a while to get to its payoffs, it doesn’t mean it’s boring. The payoffs are worth the wait; they reward the audience’s patience in spades. It’s a mesmerizing, atmospheric, thought-provoking cinematic experience.
Tarantino Was Also Not Interested In Watching True Detective Season 2
He Complained About Hollywood Actors Dres As Average Joes
When Tarantino gave an interview slamming season 1, the trailer for True Detective season 2 had recently dropped. Tarantino candidly said that the second season “looks awful.” He complained about the cast being full of “handsome actors trying to not be handsome.” Season 2 casts supermodel-looking actors like Colin Farrell, Rachel McAdams, and Taylor Kitsch to play grungy, rough-around-the-edges blue-collar stiffs. True Detective season 2 was a massive step down from the quality of season 1, because Pizzolatto didn’t have nearly as long to work out a multilayered story, so it likely wouldn’t have changed Tarantino’s opinion of the show.
Source: New York Magazine
True Detective
- Release Date
- January 12, 2014
- Network
- HBO Max
- Showrunner
- Nic Pizzolatto
Cast
Rust Cohle
Ray Velcoro
WHERE TO WATCH
- Directors
- Cary Fukunaga
- Writers
- Nic Pizzolatto
- Creator(s)
- Issa López, Nic Pizzolatto
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