Icons Unearthed: Quentin Tarantino

Inspired by the Westerns he grew up idolizing, Quentin Tarantino writes a post-Antebellum era revenge flick titled Django Unchained.

After years of failed attempts, Quentin Tarantino finally cracks his long-gestating World War II film that would become Inglourious Basterds.

Rooted in their love of kung-fu movies, Tarantino and Uma Thurman came up with a revenge saga inspired by martial arts and exploitation cinema that took nearly 10 years to fully realize. Thus, was born Kill Bill, Tarantino's most ambitious movie yet.

Now with an Oscar under his belt and more popularity than he could've imagined, those same studios that once passed on Tarantino's scripts scramble to do business with him.

Hot off his indie hit Reservoir Dogs, Quentin Tarantino faces rising expectations, in response, he doubles down on his trademarks - pushing the violence, drug use, and bold, nonlinear storytelling further with his sophomore smash-hit, Pulp Fiction.

As a broke video store clerk with an encyclopedic knowledge of film, young gun Quentin Tarantino tries to turn his heist script, Reservoir Dogs, into a $50,000 movie.