As if he isn’t busy enough gearing up to shoot "The Hateful Eight," last month Quentin Tarantino put another job on his CV, taking over the gig of head programmer at the New Beverly Theater in Los Angeles. Tarantino saved the long-running cinematic institution years ago from redevelopment, but this time around he felt compelled to act when the theater upgraded to digital projection. This was too much for Tarantino, who took over the head programmer job from Michael Torgan and vowed to only screen movies from prints, and saw to it that in addition to the already installed 35mm projection system, a 16mm projector was added. After being closed for the month of September, the New Beverly will reopen in October, and the first slate of Tarantino approved movies has been unveiled. And as you might have guessed, it’s eclectic.
While exact titles are still coming together, Variety reveals that the first films show when the theater reopens this week will be from Paul Mazursky ("Blume In Love," "Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice"), followed by movies from Luc Besson ("Leon: The Professional" which will screen with "Pulp Fiction" for a week), and Sam Peckinpah. A George C. Scott double feature is in the cards, as is a Bruce Lee night and a Robin Williams double-feature, via the Mazursky directed "Moscow On The Hudson" and "The Best Of Times" co-starring Tarantino pal Kurt Russell. And that’s not all. On Halloween, Eli Roth with screen three of his own movies (scary) along with a trio of other horror selections.
All told, it’s a Tarantino-esque lineup, though as other programmers get involved things will change. The plan is for the director to program the first three months before passing the reins to others, but we’d wager he’ll be looking in.