The drama that unfolded this weekend between legendary film composer Ennio Morricone and Quentin Tarantino was hilarious, to me at least. Morricone accused Tarantino of being a 'Cretin' and 'Stealing from others', which caused a bit of a firestorm. The gist of the controversy came from a Playboy Germany interview that Morricone had given. However, Morricone denied that he ever said those things, and now, interviewed by Italian media outlet Repubblica, Morricone is now saying that he never did the interview and that the Playboy Germany journalist made it all up [via Google Translate]: “I asked my lawyers to report the magazine and the journalist whose name and face I never met,” adding, “I am outside of myself, I do not understand how certain things can happen in journalism.”
The composer had earlier released an official statement saying, in part, “I have never expressed any negative statements about the Academy, Quentin, or his films — and certainly, do not consider his films garbage. I have given a mandate to my lawyer in Italy to take civil and penal action.”
What I don't get is this: in his original statement Morricone seems to be indicating that the interview did happen but that his comments were fabricated. Now, he's saying the interview didn't even happen. Somebody is lying. Who? I don't know, nobody knows, but if the Playboy journalist actually recorded the interview, which every reporter should do, I think we might get a better picture of what actually happened.