Hollywood wouldn’t be where it is today without special and practical effects. They are important elements to immerse audiences in bloody action movies or gory horror movies. And with this in mind, some filmmakers, such as the acclaimed director Quentin Tarantino are particular about the details.
Speaking with Variety, legendary makeup artist Howard Berger – who has worked on monster movies such as American Werewolf in London, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and the recent horror series Interview with the Vampire – revealed that Tarantino uses a specific type of fake blood for his films. The fake blood in question has been crafted to the colour the filmmaker prefers, and the blend of ingredients has even been named after the director. That’s right, ‘Tarantino blood’ is a thing.
“We have many different types of blood. There’s human blood, vampire blood and zombie blood. There’s even ‘Tarantino blood’ which is a colour that Quentin likes for specific things,” Berger explained.
“When we were on Kill Bill, he said, ‘I need the Japanese sword blood.’ I went upstairs and mixed some things up and brought it down to him, and he said, ‘I knew you had it,’” Berger added, recalling working with the director on the 2003 thriller movie.
While the colour shade of fake blood may seem strange, Berger clarified that Tarantino’s attention to its detail is important as different types and shades of fake blood are needed in different filming situations.
“Sometimes, if you’re shooting in a dark scenario, and the clothing might be dark,” he said. “That lighter blood will show up better on a black costume or darker costume as opposed to normal human blood.”
Besides working with Tarantino, Berger has over 800 credits to his name and has worked on a number of projects such as the Marvel movie Werewolf by Night, and the Spider-Man movie, The Amazing Spider-Man 2.
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