ASC Awards Live Blog: Follow Updates For 33rd Annual Ceremony

Tarantino: “I’m here to give the Lifetime Achievement Award to my lovely collaborator Robert Richardson. Or as we call him on the set, Oscar Richardson III. I met Bob on the set of Casino for two seconds, but really the first time was when he asked could we get together and meet about possibly doing Kill Bill together. When it actually had happened, I had already hired two different cinematographers; one is in the room and he’s a great guy. But I couldn’t not take this meeting. I wanted to hear what he had to say, so we met on Sunset, and had lunch together; Bob had 17 Espressos. He didn’t really eat much in those days. So we got together and I can honestly say it was the greatest first date of my life. Because when it was over, I asked him to marry me, and I broke off my engagement with my other two fiancées. One of the things with Bob is, along with my late editor Sally Menke, he is the greatest artistic collaborator of my life. Ive learned so much working with Bob; it took me a few movies to get this but now I know that when the sun’s [high], you want to shoot this way. And when it’s here, you do a bunch of shit that doesn’t matter about the sun. I fought him for like three movies about that, but I think there has been an explosion in the work that we’ve done together, as far as the cinematic qualities of it are concerned. One of the great things about Bob is, most cinematographers have more of a passion for cinema than most directors. Like, by far. And if I’m doing a kung fu movie, or a WWII movie or a spaghetti Western, I can’t give Bob enough movies to watch. We have the exact same visual grammar and dialogue, and it’s the funnest thing to watch movies with him, preparing.”