When it comes to parents, Quentin Tarantino was shit out of luck. From what I have heard about them, from the man himself and various other sources, neither his father nor his mother were particularly kind, or pleasant, not to mention involved with their son’s life as he was growing up.
His father was a deadbeat, who never really showed up — his main contribution to his son was his DNA, the ambition and frustration of a failed actor and that wonderful last name. His mother gave him life, and that’s… about it. When Quentin did make it, his father suddenly showed interest in him he never showed before, trying to make money out of what was now a very famous last name they shared.
Quentin’s father, Tony Tarantino, even joined forces with yet another renowned celebrity dead-beat — Al Pacino’s father, Sal Pacino. They briefly ran a production company together, using their last names, made famous only by the efforts of their famous sons, whom they cared little for prior to their success in Hollywood.
Meanwhile, Tarantino’s mother kept him more or less clothed, provided him with some basic necessities but belittled his artistic merits. His childhood was not particularly loving, or particularly fun. He wasn’t very wanted, his parents both very young and rather clueless when they had him, and remaining every bit as clueless even as they aged.
So when Quentin Tarantino made it big, he made it big. And he enjoyed his fame, and thanked his lucky stars. Not his parents, his parents had little to do with it. All they did was drive him to misery and force him to hide away in the magical realm of movies… which is, ironically, how he became the brilliant director he is today. Their neglect drove him to greatness. It was their greatest contribution to the world of cinema, and to their son.
A few years ago, after decades of being one of Hollywood’s most eligible bachelors, Quentin Tarantino got married. He had a son of his own. And vowed to be truly involved, and supportive, in ways his own family never was. Not a heartless man, Tarantino did help his mother out when she got in trouble with the IRS a few years back. But aside from calamities, they know better than to expect a penny from the son they neglected throughout his formative years and whose own son they never even met.