There's something heartwarming about seeing two celebrities like Chris Pine and Quentin Tarantino share a genuine moment with each other. Maybe it's something about how a couple of larger than life figures can enjoy the same sorts of connections as all the lowly weirdos down here. Or maybe it's the consistently surprising discovery that some rich people have hearts.
But that feeling tends to intensify when it involves people who are already kind of likable in the first place. In this case, the couple of squishy bros are none other than Star Trek actor Pine and endearingly terrifying director Tarantino. The actor recently shared a story about his past experiences with the legendary director, and it's a refreshing bit of mutual respect. It's not exactly easy to find common ground these days, particularly when the basic human rights of so many marginalized groups are somehow a debate topic. So moments like this feel like a nice escape.
When speaking with The Hollywood Reporter about his new film The Contractor, Pine eventually shifted to the subject of Tarantino after the interviewer brought up a years-old declaration from the director on The Ringer's The Rewatchables podcast that he was the Wonder Woman actor's biggest fan. "Of course, I'm extremely flattered," Pine said of Tarantino's comments. "Just on a personal level, I used to take my mom [Gwynne Gilford] to the Academy Awards, and we'd always go to the Vanity Fair party, where we'd run into Quentin. And every time we ran into Quentin, he was so lovely with my mother and spoke with her about her mom [Anne Gwynne], who was an actress."
That's right, it turns out that Tarantino's starstruck appreciation for Pine stretches back through the generations, all the way to (at least) his grandmother. "And he, of course, knew everything about my grandmother," Pine continued. "And then in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, he had one of my grandmother's B movies [1958’s Teenage Monster] on the television screen that [the Manson family is watching] in Bruce Dern’s scene. So he's a gem, man. I'm very, very grateful and kind of blown away that he thinks so highly of me. It feels nice."
It's one thing to write a nice letter of appreciation like the incomparable Anthony Hopkins did to express his love of Bryan Cranston's performance in Breaking Bad (yes, that really happened. Snopes says so). But it's another thing entirely for a genuine legend to flat out admit to being someone's biggest fan. Of course, everybody is a fanatic for somebody or something. That's not unusual. But when one's career boasts the power and influence of Tarantino's, it almost feels like comments like that carry the weight of a dying sun.
It's not difficult to see why somebody would be a fan of Pine, from his undeniable charm in Star Trek to even smaller roles like in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. But this statement from Tarantino, as well as Pine's own humble response, may just rocket that feeling into the stratosphere. Hey, if Tom Hanks is any indication, being a real swell homie just enhances one's likability.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter