It’s hard to believe that Quentin Tarantino’s 1994 iconic and (arguably) career-defining film Pulp Fiction celebrated its 25th anniversary this year. Upon its release, the movie was lauded for its idiosyncratic style and homage to gangster films past with its innovative combination of violence and humor — basically Tarantino at his best. To honor its legacy and position in the cultural canon, HUF made a capsule collection of pieces inspired by the film’s most memorable scenes. The special-edition range from the LA-based skate brand includes jackets, woven tops, fleeces, T-shirts, and more that directly feature some of the famous characters’ faces as well as seminal dialogue. Mia Wallace (as made famous by Uma Thurman) is prominently featured on a range of graphic tees while the whole Ezekiel 25:17 bible verse (rewritten by Tarantino and made famous by Samuel L. Jackson) is printed on the back of a jacket.
The HUF x Pulp Fiction collection will be available in HUF stores and online on December 12.
We’ve rounded up a look at some of the most intriguing films at the annual film festival, from Tarantino to the next wave in zombie films. Get a look at some of the trailers before the films are released to the world later this year.
1. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Anticipation for Quentin Tarantino’s movie has been building up since the veteran director announced the project, set in ’60s Hollywood during the height of the Manson murders, two years ago. Featuring an all-star cast including Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, Al Pacino, and the late Luke Perry, Tarantino’s ninth feature film is set to be the hit of the festival.
2. Parasite
The latest from Okja director Boon Jong-ho, Parasite is a “tragicomedy” that follows an unemployed family that gets involved in an unexpected incident with a wealthier family. Jong-ho is known for tackling relevant and occasionally uncomfortable subjects with dark humor and sharp social commentary, so Parasite will surely inspire some types of conversation upon its release this fall.
3. The Dead Don’t Die
Fashion it-boy Luka Sabbat makes his film debut in this Jim Jarmusch zombie film, which also stars Tilda Swinton and Bill Murray. Enough said.
4. Rocketman
The latest glossy biopic to chronicle a queer glam rock icon, let’s hope that Rocketman honors Elton John more that Bohemian Rhapsody did for Queen. Fingers crossed!
5. Atlantics
Okay, not technically a trailer but Atlantics is historic as it’s the first film directed by a Black woman, Mati Diop in her feature-length debut, to be featured in competition in the festival’s 72-year history. It follows a young woman whose romantic partner leaves on a voyage from Senegal to Europe, and has already earned critical acclaim.
In a little under a decade, Daps has emerged as a leading talent in the ever-expanding world of music videos. Having already worked with artists like Kendrick Lamar, Young Thug, and Migos (he directed the video for ‘Bad and Boujee,’ which went viral and was virtually inescapable for most of 2017), he’s quickly established himself as an authority of the genre.
Born in London, the director had an extensive basketball career, earning athletic scholarships for Campbell University and a master’s degree from Bellarmine University, before diving headfirst into filmmaking in 2010.
“My brother Luti started his own production company, called Luti Media. Initially, I was basically producing for Luti Media and that’s where I basically learned the ropes,” the 33-year old tells me over the phone. “As I’m producing, I’m producing for directors so I’m learning on the job what it takes, all the ins-and-outs.”
In an age where media is consumed on multiple platforms 24/7, finding a way to stand out as a director is increasingly difficult — especially when streaming culture means hit songs are bigger than ever before. Often it’s an accompanying video that makes can shift a catchy song into a massive hit. “Music videos are the most watched content on YouTube. Period,” he says. “YouTube is the second most searched engine in the world, period. The first is Google, and Google owns YouTube anyway. So music videos are very fucking important,” he adds with a laugh.
With the production value that goes into his videos, it’s no surprise that Daps gets most of his inspiration from movies. The camera movements in his video for Migos’ ‘T-Shirt’ was inspired by the football drama Any Given Sunday. He cites Quentin Tarantino’s method of extending scenes to be a continuous source of inspiration. In the age where social media dominates cultural trends, incorporating these nostalgic references is essential to surviving in an oversaturated media landscape. But with a new video for rising UK-based rapper Mist and goals to work with musical royalty Beyoncé and Rihanna, it’s clear that Daps is only getting started.
“It’s easier to be a filmmaker. It’s not easier to be a good filmmaker, necessarily,” he says. “Things are cheaper and quicker, you don’t need to go to film school anymore — you can just have your iPhone and iMovie. The access is easier as well for minorities, women, people of color. Now we don’t need ‘you’ [the system].”
The first trailer for Quentin Tarantino’s highly anticipated upcoming film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood has finally arrived. The sure-to-be summer blockbuster (and Tarantino’s 9th film overall) stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, and the late Luke Perry, and is set in 1960’s Los Angeles — around the time that Charles Manson’s cult terrorized Hollywood with the murder of 5 people, including actress Sharon Tate. Tarantino has long declared that he will retire from directing after his 10th film, so it seems he’s only upping the ante for himself before leaving with a bang. Check out the trailer below.
After launching a highly successful pop-up shop on Mercer Street in 2017, Onitsuka Tiger has moved to a permanent space in SoHo. Founded in 1949, the Japanese footwear brand remains one of the countries oldest and resurged in popularity during the early aughts when vintage sneaker fever started to set in. Additionally, Quentin Tarantino asked the brand to bring back one of its signature models for Uma Thurman to wear in Kill Bill — you know the ones.
The new 1100-square-foot flagship store boasts an open layout and carries a line of merchandise exclusive to the shop, including limited-edition sneakers, a NIPPON MADE collection of Japanese-made shoes, and children’s footwear. Following the opening of the first standalone US store, the brand will also open a showroom in the city later this summer.
Onitsuka Tiger is open now at 276 Lafayette Street, NY 10012.
Wearing Saint Laurent by Anthony Vaccarello. Photographed by Christopher Ferguson. Styled by David Bonney.
Sometimes it’s better to be a household face than a household name. If you’re recognized for your face, you’re recognized for your work, perhaps one of the greater honors that can be bestowed upon a performer. James Marsden—an actor whose filmography reveals no distinguishable pattern, no sole interest in genre, story, or character—is hyper-aware of the place he has and continues to occupy in Hollywood. He’s appeared in projects as diverse as the X-Men series, 2007’s fantasy musical Enchanted, 2008’s romantic-comedy 27 Dresses, and now HBO’s explosive Westworld, and when asked about how he chooses his roles and if he’s particularly selective, he’s quick to interrupt with a cute, yet blunt “not really.”
Marsden, 44, isn’t sloppy, careless, or ungrateful though. If anything, he’s open and flexible. Throughout our conversation—over Old Fashioneds at the Ace Hotel in downtown Los Angeles—he often inhabits the voice of a hypothetical film critic. He likes to talk about his image, choices, and career from the outside looking in. “You can always look back and go, ‘Oh, why did you do that movie?’ But you could also look back and go, ‘I can see how he might confuse studio executives. What do I do with him?’” he says.
He narrows in on a type he’s found himself playing a lot: the lovesick puppy who doesn’t get the girl. And he sees how he got that reputation. It happened when Rachel McAdams chose Ryan Gosling in The Notebook, the 2004 romance that made stars of both aforementioned actors. It happened when Jean Grey couldn’t help but fall for Wolverine over Marsden’s broody Scott Summers in X-Men: The Last Stand (2006). It’s a pattern he brings up on his own accord, but is quick to dismiss. “I look at [these roles] through my own objectivity, if I have any. Like, ‘Oh. You were having a great time. Those are the ones that you actually forgot about the camera.’ Anyway, I was reminded of how much an audience really enjoys somebody having fun.”
His perception of his own work is charming and his preoccupation with enjoyment doesn’t come off as lackadaisical or unnatural—Marsden is someone who is just happy to be working, which feels all the more genuine as he describes that familiar, life-changing move he made from Stillwater, Oklahoma, where he was born and raised, to Hollywood when he was 19. He’s not the first to do it, but he’s one of the few who have been able to reap the rewards.
“LA was this Oz in my head. What could I possibly lose? The idea of doing that, of someone patting me on the back and telling me in eighth grade that ‘you’re really good at impressions’ or ‘accents’ or ‘you come alive when you’re onstage,’ ‘something happens where people just want to watch you’— it felt good to hear that.”
So he moved to LA, and was fortunate enough that his parents, who sensed that he was diligent about this dream, offered him support for his first year. Like many, he also had a family friend (someone in the industry) who got him into auditions. Marsden describes his journey with ease, always asserting that so much of “making it” has to do with luck as well as privilege. It may be true, but there’s something about him—perhaps what could stereotypically be described as a Midwest earnestness—that’s enticing. He’s self-assured, but never a braggart. “I just went in [to auditions] with the biggest—there’s this article I just read a couple of days ago. What is it? BDE? Big Dick Energy. I went in with that at 19 not even knowing what that was.” Marsden alludes to the recent viral buzzword, a way to describe a cool, collected confidence. Naturally, the jobs started pouring in.
And as random as these jobs may appear to be, Marsden—even when he isn’t playing a lead role—has managed to appear in several truly great projects. He had a showy, singing part in Hairspray, a high-profile 2007 remake of the John Waters classic, played a douche frat bro-type in Bachelorette (2012), writer Leslye Headland’s almost anti-Bridesmaids film, and, perhaps most impressively, a recurring stint on the Emmy Award-winning NBC sitcom 30 Rock as Liz Lemon’s final love interest (he gets the girl!). Then there’s Westworld, his most recent and obviously challenging opportunity.
In the series, an epic, ensemble sci-fi work from Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy, viewers are introduced to an Old West-styled theme park filled with sentient robots called hosts. For a fee, humans can enter the park and interact with designed storylines and characters. Marsden plays Teddy, one of the park’s heroes, who—at first—seems like a John Wayne clone, until his world is turned upside down upon discovering that he’s pretty much a toy created for the amusement of humans.
It’s a smart role for Marsden, who must register as several things at once: Teddy has to be tough, has to outwardly perform as his character was designed, but also as someone who is slowly becoming aware of what he’s forced to do—either by the human beings who made him or, in season two, by Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood), a rogue host who wants to give the humans a taste of their own medicine. Teddy as the unwilling pawn makes him the heart of the show.
“We are making a show about robots having more humanity than humans do.” It’s an interesting, poetic part for Marsden, who is often a senseless killing machine, but one we must see through. There has to be a softness on his face somewhere, an understanding that there’s some inner turmoil. He has to look like the lovesick puppy again.
While season two of Westworld has wrapped and Marsden’s involvement in its future remains uncertain, he’s slated to appear in Quentin Tarantino’s upcoming star-studded Once Upon a Time In Hollywood, a drama about the Manson Family murders. “What can I say about it?” Marsden begins. “Very little. Other than, wow.”
Quentin Tarantino’s cult-classic film Pulp Fiction recently celebrated the 20th anniversary of its premiere at Cannes Film Festival. Of course this means we are all 20 years older—sigh—but the good news is Samuel L. Jackson is happy to remind us of the morsels of brilliance that still lie in many of the movie’s scenes. Perhaps the most famous being when Jackson’s character, Jules Winnfield, recites his now iconic Ezekiel 17:25 speech right before getting all gangster and pumping a guy full of lead. Jackson recently appeared on BBC One’s The Graham Norton Show to take a trip down memory lane, and ended up reciting the speech in an equally dramatic (but guns-free) close-up. Still frightening 20 years later, see Jackson as Jules below.
