Quentin Tarantino accuses the American writer Suzanne Collins of copying almost the entire story of the Japanese novel and movie “Battle Royale” when she created the “Hunger Games” series. The director says the similarities are “far too big to be a coincidence” and wonders why the Japanese author did not sue her.
Quentin Tarantino says ‘The Hunger Games’ was plagiarized PHOTO: Getty Images
The controversy was brought back into focus during The Bret Easton Ellis Podcast, where Quentin Tarantino discussed his favorite films of the 21st century. While compiling his personal list, the director came across Battle Royale, the dystopian film by Japanese director Kinji Fukasaku, released in 2000 and based on the novel of the same name by writer Koushun Takami.
The story follows a group of students forced by a totalitarian government to fight to the death, the central element of which, in Tarantino’s opinion, was “Answered” by Suzanne Collins for The Hunger Games. The American author’s first book appeared in 2008, and the first movie in 2012.
“I don’t understand how the Japanese writer hasn’t sued Suzanne Collins for absolutely everything she has,” Tarantino said on the podcast, according to Far Out Magazine.
The director was even more vehement: “They just stole the damn book! Idiot literary critics would never go see a Japanese movie called Battle Royale, so those idiot critics never held her (Collins) accountable“.
In the same intervention, Tarantino also recalled the reaction of film critics after seeing the Japanese feature film: “They were talking about how it was the most damn original thing they’d ever read. As soon as movie critics saw the movie, they were like, ‘What the hell! This is just Battle Royale, but PG!'”.
The director refers to the fact that The Hunger Games received a rating in the US that allows viewing by children, under parental guidance, while the Japanese film is considered much more violent.
The Hunger Games franchise, adapted into four films, has grossed $3.3 billion worldwide, with the final feature set for release in 2023.
Tarantino, among the first viewers of the film “Battle Royale”
In the podcast, the filmmaker also recounted the moment he first saw the 2000 film. While in Japan for documentaries before filming Kill Bill, Tarantino was invited by director Kinji Fukasaku to a private screening.
“I had no idea what the hell I was going to see. And, my God, damn it! I don’t even know what I saw“, he said.
Shortly after, the film was publicly screened at the Seattle Film Festival, where Tarantino was once again in the audience. “It was so crazy… three months later I was at the Seattle Film Festival. They were going to run the Battle Royale at midnight. No one had seen this in America yet”he told.
“I got to the midnight screening and it was one of the most exciting screenings since I was waiting for the movie to start. I knew what he was going to see. This will deliver more than they imagine! They are not prepared for how this movie will deliver”, concluded Tarantino.
