Quentin Tarantino Hails This Director as the “Perfect Filmmaker”

Quentin Tarantino has always been open about the directors who shaped his approach to filmmaking. In a candid interview with Charlie Rose in the late 1990s, Tarantino discussed some of his biggest influences while Steven Spielberg was busy working on Saving Private Ryan.

When asked which living directors he admired and could learn from, Tarantino didn’t hesitate to name Spielberg.

“Steven Spielberg,” he said with enthusiasm. “He’s just such a perfect filmmaker as far as, like, you know, when he comes up with the taking of Shanghai sequence, for instance, in Empire of the Sun. And I talked to him about [Saving] Private Ryan, and he goes, ‘Oh, we’re gonna create the greatest taking of Omaha Beach ever.’ And I have no doubt he will. He’s just a master movie maker.”

Tarantino praised Spielberg not just for his technical skill, but for his ability to create iconic cinematic moments that resonate deeply with audiences.

He expressed confidence in Spielberg’s upcoming work, adding, “This one’s [Saving Private Ryan] coming out, and I’m sure he’s gonna do the greatest taking of Omaha Beach ever captured in cinema. That kind of filmmaking language, I think I’ve got it too, but in a different way. But I can learn something from him.”

While Spielberg impressed him with his mastery of spectacle and narrative, Tarantino also spoke highly of Martin Scorsese, though he approached learning from him differently. He explained that the value in observing Scorsese came not from copying his style, but from absorbing his love for film.

“I can learn from Scorsese, but how I can learn from Scorsese is not like how he does anything, you know what I mean? Because how he does it is how he does it, and how I do it is how I do it,” Tarantino said.

He elaborated that simply spending time with Scorsese could improve his own understanding of cinema. “Scorsese is so much film and love of film. I might be a better director if I just had dinner at his house every week and we just talked, not about filmmaking, per se.”

Tarantino’s reflections highlight how he studies masters of the craft without losing his own unique voice. He admires Spielberg for his precise control of cinematic language and Scorsese for his boundless passion for movies, showing that inspiration can come from very different sources.

It’s clear that Tarantino doesn’t just study directors to copy them; he studies them to expand his own creative world. Learning from the best allows him to craft films that feel both original and deeply informed by cinema history.

What do you think about Tarantino’s approach to learning from other directors? Share your thoughts in the comments.