To clear up a bit of confusion, yes the Tarantino / Rodriguez double bill Grindhouse will be split into two separate films outside of the US – but only in non-English speaking countries. It’s primarily for this reason that Tarantino is making time on his schedule to play around with a longer cut of his film-within-a-film, Death Proof. And not only that, he’ll be taking the print to Cannes, where there’s a very good chance it’ll appear in competition.
It’s currently running at 87 minutes, and general consensus seems to be that this is a comfortable length for the film, given that it’s been described essentially as ‘conversations and car chases’. But when Variety spoke to Eli Roth (who has made one of the fake trailers in between the two features) at the junket earlier this week, he didn’t sound surprised at the possibility of making it longer. “He could do a two hour version if he wanted,” said the Empire award winning Hostel director. “Monday was the first time he saw it with an audience, and it played really well, so I honestly don’t know how Quentin is going to feel.”
It’s just as likely that Robert Rodriguez’s half, Planet Terror, could end up at the French festival, but there’s been no word on the subject from Troublemaker Studios.
Now this is all very well and good, and we can’t wait to see both versions of Death Proof (unfortunately we can’t give you a concrete release date for Grindhouse yet, but stay tuned – you’ll hear it here first), but Quentin – some of us are still waiting for the Kill Bill Version Integrale. One freakin’ thing at a time, man! Please bring all relevant prints with you to the UK, and we’ll set up a mini-festival at the Prince Charles, or something. You know it’ll be awesome.