No Netflix for Quentin Tarantino: The filmmaker prefers DVD, VHS formats

By Stephanie Topacio Long September 28, 2015

Quentin Tarantino wearing sunglasses. — Andrea Raffin / Shutterstock.com

Quentin Tarantino has never been behind the times when it comes to filmmaking, but the famed director, screenwriter, producer, and actor is stuck in the past when it comes to his own home viewing experience. In a chapter from the new book I Lost It at the Video Store: A Filmmakers’ Oral History of a Vanished Era by Tom Roston, Tarantino shares that he doesn’t care for Netflix or other streaming services.

As reported by IndieWire, he and a handful of fellow film directors open up about streaming in the chapter called “Wake Up Streaming.” While many of his peers reveal that they are users of new video technology and excited about improved convenience and accessibility, Tarantino prefers DVDs and videotapes. “I like something hard and tangible in my hand,” he explains.

It doesn’t sound like Tarantino will be subscribing to Netflix or any other video service anytime soon. “I am not excited about streaming at all,” says the filmmaker. “And I can’t watch a movie on a laptop. I don’t use Netflix at all.”

Tarantino’s preference for tapes and DVDs is so strong that he stocked up when the rental store Video Archives went out of business. “I bought their inventory. Probably close to eight thousand tapes and DVDs,” he shares. Not only that, he still records movies when the air on TV to “keep [his] collection going.”

It’s entertaining to imagine Tarantino checking his TV guide and setting his VCR to record movies when there’s so much readily accessible content on streaming services, though he’s certainly entitled to enjoy movies however he wants. Frankly, it’s just a relief that his lack of enthusiasm for online VOD platforms hasn’t kept his films off of them.

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Stephanie Topacio Long

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Stephanie Topacio Long is a writer and editor whose writing interests range from business to books. She also contributes to…

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