Quentin Tarantino, a provocative and influential figure in Hollywood, is known for his filmmaking style that often challenges viewers’ sensibilities and moral compass, sparking debate among critics and audiences.

Here are 50 facts about the director and his compelling films:

1. His middle name is Jerome.
2. He has a mixed heritage of Italian, Irish, and Cherokee descent.
3. At 16, he dropped out of school to study acting at the James Best Theatre Company, but left after two years due to boredom.
4. He worked at Video Archives, a video rental store, where he observed viewers’ preferences, which he claims influenced his directing.
5. He co-wrote and directed “My Best Friend’s Birthday” (1987), but a fire nearly destroyed the film reels. The screenplay later inspired “True Romance” (1993).
6. In “Pulp Fiction,” all the clocks in the pawn shop are set to 4:20.
7. Tarantino categorizes his scripts into “Movie Movie” and “Realer than Real World,” suggesting that characters from the latter would watch the former. “Movie Movie” films are unrealistic, while “Pulp Fiction” and “Reservoir Dogs” belong to the “Realer than Real World” category.
8. One of the names carved into The Bear Jew’s bat in “Inglourious Basterds” is Anne Frank.
9. After watching “Reservoir Dogs,” Madonna, the subject of the opening dialogue, sent Tarantino her “Erotica” album with the message, “To Quentin. It’s not about dick, it’s about love. Madonna.”
10. He states that he intentionally leaves 20% of the movie “unseen,” like the contents of the briefcase in “Pulp Fiction,” to encourage audience interpretation.
11. He often drives the “Pussy Wagon” from “Kill Bill” in his hometown of Malibu.
12. He played an Elvis impersonator on “The Golden Girls.”
13. He dislikes sports, stating that watching them on television is “torture.” He finds long football games boring.
14. Tarantino wrote “Inglourious Basterds” between “Jackie Brown” and the “Kill Bill” films.
15. “Inglourious Basterds” and “Django Unchained” are the first two parts of a revenge-themed trilogy, with “Black Crow” rumored to be the third film.
16. “Black Crow” will reportedly be based on a plotline removed from “Inglourious Basterds.”
17. His revenge and ‘blaxploitation’ films stem from his deep-seated hatred of racism, slavery, and anti-black sentiment in the American South. He is fascinated by pro-Klan texts like “The Birth of a Nation” and “The Clansman,” which he considers “evil.”
18. Due to his hatred of racism, he claims that Calvin Candie, the villain in “Django Unchained,” is the only character he’s ever hated, stating, “I just f*cking hated this guy.”
19. After a fight with a taxi driver who insulted his girlfriend, Tarantino almost lost his nipple, recalling, “He took a big bite out of me, right by my nipple… Had he taken a smaller bite, I might not have a nipple now.”
20. Tarantino received a thank you in Nirvana’s “In Utero,” though his name was misspelled. In return, he thanked Nirvana on the “Pulp Fiction” soundtrack and included ‘RIP Kurt’.
21. Many of his films feature scenes involving women’s feet, and he has stated his enjoyment of filming feet.
22. He dislikes brand placements in films and creates imaginary brands like Kahuna Burger, Red Apple Cigarettes, and Jack Rabbit Slims.
23. The suit bought in “Jackie Brown” is the same one worn by Mia Wallace in “Pulp Fiction.”
24. Mr. Blonde’s (“Reservoir Dogs”) real name is Vic Vega, sharing the same surname as Vincent in “Pulp Fiction.”
25. Robert Rodriguez composed the “Kill Bill” soundtrack for $1, and in return, Tarantino directed a scene in Rodriguez’s “Sin City” for the same fee.
26. His intelligence quotient (IQ) is measured at 160.
27. While he now possesses a reported net worth of $90 million, he experienced such poverty early in life that he was incarcerated for unpaid parking tickets. As he stated, “I was actually in jail three different times for tickets. I was picking up some dialogue, but I wasn’t in there for that. It was easier when you’re broke to do the time.”
28. On the set of Reservoir Dogs, a paramedic was present to ensure the realism of Mr. Orange’s simulated blood loss in terms of quantity and consistency.
29. The iconic “Bad Mother F*cker” wallet that appears in Pulp Fiction was, in fact, Quentin Tarantino’s personal wallet.
30. The bandage on Ving Rhames’ neck in Pulp Fiction wasn’t a stylistic choice; Tarantino incorporated a shaving accident into the character’s look.
31. Tarantino insisted on using blood effects in Kill Bill identical to those popularized by Chang Cheh, a pioneer of Chinese cinema: condoms filled with fake blood that burst upon impact.
32. The production of the two Kill Bill movies required the use of over 450 gallons of simulated blood.
33. To achieve a deliberately gritty and “dirty” look, the actual film stock of Death Proof was physically scratched.
34. Tarantino received an offer to direct Men in Black but ultimately declined the opportunity.
35. Leonardo DiCaprio expressed interest in portraying Calvin Candie in Django Unchained, which led Tarantino to revise the character, making him younger to suit the actor. Tarantino explained: “He got [the script] and really liked Calvin Candie. Leo was younger than I had initially written, but I read it again and could see no reason why the character couldn’t be younger. And since I’m hitting hard this notion of the American South re-creating European aristocracy in this amateur make-it-up-as-you-go-along fashion, the nothing of him as the boy emperor was cool.”
36. He stands at a height of 6 feet 1 inch.
37. He has more acting credits to his name than directing credits.
38. Early in his career, he worked as a production assistant on a workout video called Maximum Potential, starring Dolph Lundgren.
39. A recurring element in all of his feature films is the presence of scenes set within restaurants.
40. He enjoys the James Bond film franchise and has expressed a desire to direct a Bond film at some point in his career.
41. In 1994, he directed an episode of the American television show ER titled “Motherhood.” He commented on the experience: “I didn’t want to stand out. Everyone else was wearing all that crap. I wanted to fit in. I didn’t want to be the odd man out. I wanted to be inside, not on the outside. When I was directing the ER thing, the emergency room guys wore the green scrubs. I wore those for a few days. Then, I wore the blue scrubs, which were the surgeons’, for a few days. When I wore the nurse’s pink scrubs, though, that’s when I became a hero on the set. The nurses didn’t think I was going to throw in with them. I ended the episode, the last two days, wearing the nurses’ scrubs. When I walked on the set all the nurses applauded me.”
42. He and Leonardo DiCaprio have been friends for approximately 15 years, and during that time, he has consistently sent DiCaprio scripts of his latest films “just in case” he wanted to act in them.
43. Pulp Fiction and Django Unchained have each earned him an equal number of awards: five awards for each film.
44. His accolades include two Academy Awards (both for Best Original Screenplay), a Palme d’Or from the Cannes Film Festival, three BAFTAs, and numerous other awards primarily recognizing his screenwriting, but also his directorial skill.
45. Tarantino has stated his intention to retire from filmmaking at the age of 60 to concentrate on writing novels and film literature.
46. He has also voiced his disapproval of the film industry’s increasing digitalization, stating, “If it actually gets to the place where you can’t show 35mm film in theatres anymore and everything is a digital projection, I won’t even make it to 60.”
47. With the single exception of Death Proof, all of Tarantino’s films feature actors who previously appeared in Martin Scorsese’s Mean Streets.
48. Tarantino frequently casts the same actors in multiple films, with Samuel L. Jackson being perhaps the most recognizable example, having appeared in five of his movies.
49. He was sued for $5 million by Don Murphy for allegedly assaulting him in a restaurant.
50. Numerous critics have hailed Pulp Fiction as one of the greatest films ever made, while Empire magazine has declared Reservoir Dogs the “Greatest Independent Film of All Time.”