We have to admit, we thought that The Hateful Eight seemed like a sure thing at the Oscars, considering Quentin Tarantino's track record since 2009's Inglorious Basterds brought him back to the big show. Unfortunately, it wasn't meant to be – and while that's bummed some of us out, Tarantino himself is still driven as ever. In fact, he wants to become such an iconic presence that the Oscars will have to rename the award for Best Original Screenplay.
At least, that's how the famed director sees it, and his exact plan to get his way was laid out in an interview that Tarantino conducted with GQ. Quentin Tarantino's game plan is laid out, as follows:
I want to have more original-screenplay Oscars than anybody who’s ever lived! So much, I want to have so many that—four is enough. And do it within ten ?lms, all right, so that when I die, they rename the original-screenplay Oscar "the Quentin." And everybody’s down with that.
While the goal of becoming the record-setting winner of Best Original Screenplay Oscars is lofty, and definitely in the realm of egoism that the director of The Hateful Eight usually occupies, his criteria for his record isn't that greedy. Considering the current record for Best Original Screenplay wins is held by Woody Allen for his 3 wins across his career, setting himself up for one over the line is definitely ambitious, but modestly so. If anything, the more grandiose portion of Tarantino's record breaking dream is the one where the trophy would be renamed "The Quentin."
Four wins in ten films is still pretty impressive when all is said and done, but even with that successful of a run, renaming the honor after one person seems pretty improbable. Hypothetically, Quentin Tarantino probably knows this himself, and made the statement just out of the pure manic fun that he happens to have with most of his press interviews. Renaming an honor that prevalent would not only set an unfair bar for whomever is nominated in the future, it also opens the door for all other Oscar categories to undergo the same treatment. But while getting the Best Original Screenplay trophy renamed "The Quentin" doesn't seem like a possibility, there is another way Tarantino could make his mark on the Academy Awards.
It's an outside chance, but if Quentin Tarantino's legendary career leaves a deep enough impression with The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, he could get a separate award named after him. Much like the Golden Globes has the Cecil B. Demille Award, or the Oscars has the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, there could be a "Quentin Tarantino Award" for some sort of special honor the Oscars may choose to associate with the director's name. More than likely, the award would be issued for a specific achievement in the field of screenwriting, seeing as it's the bread and butter of Tarantino's career. This too sounds like a big ask, but at the very least it's logistically sound, and doesn't create as many waves as Tarantino's true wishes would.
Longshot or not, Quentin Tarantino's contribution to the world of modern film is undeniable. Whether it's worth of its own special Oscar or not is to be debated, but at the very least the mention of his name and that special honor doesn't seem all that crazy. At the very least, it pleasantly fits with Tarantino's eccentric style, and it makes for a fun story in the highlight reel of the man's career. For now, we'll eagerly await his next two films, and see if he does indeed break the Best Original Screenplay record.
The Hateful Eight is currently in theaters nationwide.
