In the hit show “Severance,” the protagonists have two completely different personalities that never meet — their “innies” who go to work, and their “outties,” who live their “real” lives outside of it. Award-winning “Pulp Fiction” director Quentin Tarantino, 61, seems to have found an infinitely more pleasant alternative. He is a father on one continent and a movie maker on another. Or more specifically, he’s an “abba” — the Hebrew word for dad — when he’s in Israel, where he lives with his wife, Israeli singer Daniella Pick, and their two kids, and a scriptwriter for his upcoming film when he’s back in Los Angeles.
Tarantino shared this delightful tidbit on a trip to Utah, where he attended the Sundance Film Festival (he flew in from Israel, or abba-land, especially for this occasion). When asked by film critic Elvis Mitchell why he’s spending so much time writing his next (and perhaps final?) film instead of going in production, the “Kill Bill” and “Inglorious Basterds” director replied, “I’m in no hurry to actually jump into production. I’ve been doing that for 30 years. Next month my son turns 5, and I have a 2.5-year-old daughter. When I’m in America, I’m writing. When I’m in Israel? I’m an abba, which means father.”
The filmmaker also said that he wants his oldest son, Leo, named after Pick’s grandfather, not Dicaprio, to be able to actually have memories of his father making a movie. “The idea of jumping on a voyage when they’re too young to understand it is not enticing to me. I kind of want to not do whatever movie I end up doing until my son is at least 6. That way he’ll know what’s going on, he’ll be there and it will be a memory for the rest of his life,” he continued. About his daughter, who was born in 2022, he said she “is already such a genius, she’ll just get it.” Tarantino added that he is writing a play, which, if it is a success, he will turn into a movie.
Tarantino’s job as “abba” (which he once shared was Leo’s first word) is one that he adores. “Half the time, I look at him and I’m just laughing because he’s so funny,” he said, calling his son “the most charming human being” in 2021. “And the other time, I’m just bursting into tears.”
Aside from all that, Tarantino is keeping busy in Israel, learning awesome Hebrew expressions, wearing cool bandanas, hanging out at cafes and being a dad to his two kids. We should all be so lucky.
