'The Hateful Eight' Composer Ennio Morricone Says Quentin Tarantino 'Only Steals From Others' (UPDATE)

During an interview for Playboy's German edition, famed film composer Ennio Morricone attacked the originality of director Quentin Tarantino.

Director Quentin Tarantino and composer Ennio Morricone attend a ceremony honoring Ennio Morricone
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Image via Getty/Alberto E. Rodriguez

Director Quentin Tarantino and composer Ennio Morricone attend a ceremony honoring Ennio Morricone

UPDATED 3:00 p.m. ET:  Despite the reports, Ennio Morricone has now denied criticizing his close collaborator. The composer gave a statement to the Hollywood Reporterdistancing himself from the comments and praising Quentin Tarantino. Read it in full below.

It has come to my attention that Playboy Germany has come out with an article in which I have stated extremely negative comments about Tarantino and his films, and the Academy. I have never expressed any negative statements about the Academy, Quentin, or his films — and certainly do not consider his films garbage. I have given a mandate to my lawyer in Italy to take civil and penal action.

I consider Tarantino a great director. I am very fond of my collaboration with him and the relationship we have developed during the time we have spent together. He is courageous and has an enormous personality. I credit our collaboration responsible for getting me an Oscar, which is for sure one of the greatest acknowledgments of my career, and I am forever grateful for the opportunity to compose music for his film.

In London, during a press conference in front of Tarantino, I clearly stated that I consider Quentin one of the greatest directors of this time, and I would never speak poorly of the Academy - an important institution that has given to me two of the most important acknowledgments of my career.

See the original story below.

During an interview for Playboy's German edition, famed film composer Ennio Morricone attacked the originality of his once-collaborator, award-winning director Quentin Tarantino. Morricone, who scored 2015's The Hateful Eight, said his known reuse of other filmmakers' material doesn't make him a director.

"The man is a cretin. He only steals from others and puts stuff back together again. There’s nothing original about that. That doesn’t make him a director," the 90-year-old composer told the publication. "He is nothing compared with the Hollywood greats, such as John Huston, Alfred Hitchcock or Billy Wilder. They had class. Tarantino simply recooks old dishes."

Morricone also described Tarantino's work ethic as "absolutely chaotic."

"He talks without thinking, he does everything at the last minute. He has no idea," Morricone explained. "He calls up out of the blue and wants a complete score in just a few days. That’s not possible. It makes me so mad. I’m not going to put up with this. And I told him so last time." 

This is not the first time Morricone has ragged Tarantino. After his work appeared in 2013's Django Unchained, the Italian composer told at Rome’s LUISS University that he "wouldn’t like to work with him again, on anything,” because Tarantino, "places music in his films without coherence."

Morricone pulled no punches this time, though. He also went on to criticize both the U.S. and the Oscars (he won Best Original Score in 2016 for The Hateful Eight).

"I was in pain from sitting down for so long, on the plane and at the ceremony. If I looked happy, it was because I knew I would soon be getting away from that boring ceremony," Morricone said.

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