“You actually feel the audience getting mad”: Quentin Tarantino Found Takashi Miike’s Disturbing Ending From Audition a Genius Move

Filmmaker Quentin Tarantino is one of the most acclaimed directors of the generation. He is known for his gory action dramas that have sprinkles of dark humor and act as tributes to all the films he has loved. He is known for films such as Pulp Fiction, Django Unchained, Kill Bill, and more. He has also written books about cinema.

Tarantino has always appreciated brilliant pieces of art and has also criticized films that he felt did not meet the mark. He reportedly loved Takashi Miike’s cult horror film Audition. He especially commented on the much-talked-about final scenes in the Japanese horror film and spoke about how Miike took the audience on a ride.

Quentin Tarantino Loved The Ending Of Takashi Miike’s Audition

A still from Audition | Credits: Omega Project/Creators Company Connection/Film Face/AFDF Korea/Bodysonic

Japanese filmmaker Takashi Miike has been one of the most influential contemporary directors in the horror genre. The filmmaker has inspired many directors internationally, including Eli Roth and Jen and Sylvia Soska. His most noted work has been the 1999 horror film Audition. The film received international acclaim due to its unique final sequence.

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Audition follows a widower Shigeharu Aoyama who hopes to find his next wife by conducting an audition for lead actresses for a film. During the process, he finds Asami, who he becomes infatuated with. As they grow closer, Aoyama gets to know Asami’s tumultuous past which leads to him being tortured in the final sequence of the film.

Quentin Tarantino | Credits: The Howard Stern Show

The film was noted for the final minutes as Takashi Miike employs none of the horror tropes in the first half of the film. The climactic torture sequences make it all the more surprising for the audiences as the entire film has gone the other way. Filmmaker Quentin Tarantino appreciated the film and described the atmosphere of a screening he had sat through (via James Whale Bake Sale),

The sequence towards the end gets so f*cking rough. And he has not prepared you for it at all, which is kind of the genius of it. But you actually feel the audience getting madder…like there is going to be a riot maybe…After actually daring the audience to charge the screen…he does this one little tiny thing and the audience laughs. And from that point on you get it.

Quentin Tarantino later called it a masterpiece and labeled it as one of the best movies to come out since he became a director in 1992 (via YouTube).

Quentin Tarantino Cameoed In Takashi Miike’s Sukiyaki Western Django

A still from Sukiyaki Western Django | Credits: Sedic International/Geneon Universal Entertainment/Sony Pictures Entertainment/Dentsu/TV Asahi/Shogakukan/A-Team/Nagoya Broadcasting Network/Tokyu Recreation

Takashi Miike has directed many films in his illustrious career and has dabbled in various genres. Though the filmmaker is known for his contributions to the horror genre, he has also been a master of various other categories such as action, crime, and fantasy. In 2007, the filmmaker made a Western after being influenced by Sergio Corbucci’s Django.

Titled Sukiyaki Western Django, the film drew inspiration from many popular Westerns such as Clint Eastwood’s Dollars trilogy and Akira Kurosawa’s Yojimbo. The film also had a cameo from Quentin Tarantino, years before he crafted his own Django-inspired revisionist western Django Unchained.

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Tarantino reportedly described his role as a wild and unhinged character who distracts a group with a story before killing them. He spoke about the role and his love for Miike in a press conference,

I’ve always loved Japanese films so much, and so it’s always been a desire of mine to actually work in a Japanese movie for the Japanese film industry — to see what it’s like, and the differences, because I always just embrace stuff like that. But to actually do it with what I consider one of the greatest directors living today, Miike-san, is actually a dream come true.

The film also reportedly sees him narrate a story in a Japanese accent and Quentin Tarantino even called the film ‘a sukiyaki-slash-macaroni’ due to its handling of multiple genres.