He was 12 years old, and his mother had just mocked him.
Quentin Tarantino wrote screenplays instead of doing his schoolwork, and Connie Zastoupil, his mother, sarcastically told him that his “little writing career” was already over. He said nothing at the time. But inside, he made himself a promise: the day he became successful, she wouldn’t see a cent. No house, no vacations, no Cadillac.
Decades later, with two Oscars for Pulp Fiction and Django Unchained and a fortune of 120 million dollars, Tarantino told the full story on The Moment podcast, hosted by Brian Koppelman, in 2021. When pressed by the interviewer, he was blunt: there are consequences for the words spoken to one’s children. The only exception he acknowledges from all that time was helping her resolve a problem with the US tax authorities.
His mother, now 75 years old, later responded in a public statement, saying that she is proud of him and loves him. But the promise made by that 12-year-old boy—that one was never broken.
