Quentin Tarantino Confirmed He Wrote Himself Into One of the Greatest Crime Films Ever Made

True Romance was something of a “Chocolate and peanut butter” combination of a film, blending Quentin Tarantino‘s trademark dialogue and memorable characters with the visceral visual aesthetic of Tony Scott‘s visual style. That means lots of mirrors, sweat-glistened actors, and most outdoor shots take place during golden hour. Despite how well-defined and fleshed out the story and characters are, True Romance marks the first feature-length screenplay that Tarantino ever completed.

But when it comes to the lead role, it’s very apparent to those familiar with Tarantino’s persona and interests that Clarence (Christian Slater) is a self-insert for Tarantino himself.While the obvious parallels are there between Tarantino and Clarence, like their mutual love of comic books, exploitation movies, Star Trek, and Elvis (Tarantino famously played an Elvis impersonator in Golden Girls), if you watch the film with his commentary track, you’ll see (or rather, hear) that the character was highly autobiographical.

Tarantino wrote the original version of the script when he was 25, and Clarence was very emblematic of where he was at the time. “It’s the most autobiographical film that I ever wrote,” said Tarantino, in the film’s commentary track, “Just like many first-time novelists or first-time screenwriters, my first script was about me.” The character works in a minimum wage job at a comic book store (rather than at a video store, like the famous Video Archives) and is highly knowledgeable about pop culture, but strikes out with the ladies, as seen in the cold open when he fails to ask a woman out to see a triple feature of the Street Fighter movies, starring Sonny Chiba (“Bar none, the greatest actor working in martial arts movies today”).

The dynamic between Clarence and Alabama (Patricia Arquette) is the heart of the story, and Tarantino admits that Alabama comes from a place of idealization, considering at the time he wrote the screenplay, he’d never had a girlfriend. “It’s not that they’re boyfriend and girlfriend,” said Tarantino, “It’s that the girl is your pal. She was your friend, and you could hang out with her like one of your friends. That’s part of the bond between them is that she enjoys some of the things he enjoys.” That also explains why Alabama is enthused by Clarence working at a comic book store and is so entranced when he talks about comic books and the things that he likes.

‘True Romance’s Clarence Is One of Quentin Tarantino’s Best Characters

Image via Warner Bros.

That’s really the case with all characters who meet Clarence. He’s immediately magnetic and full of charisma to the point that enemies are impressed by his moxie, and a big-shot film producer he’s trying to make a drug deal with is impressed by his views on movies and actively wants to do business with him. Even one of the cops who’s trying to bust him is totally enamored by him (“Oh man, I like this Clarence kid, this f*cking guy is crazy.”). Everyone loves him — which makes sense, considering Slater is charismatic as hell in the role — so much so that it feels like the character, in many ways, is like an idealized version of Tarantino, with Christian Slater even saying in an oral history of the film, “Clarence was a version of who he wanted to be.”

Regardless, nothing about the way Tarantino crafted Clarence feels like a vanity move. When you see the character’s progression throughout the story, he starts out nebbish and bashful when he tries to ask out the woman at the bar, and in the first few conversations with Alabama, he’s borderline shy and only shows confidence talking about Elvis and kung-fu movies. That’s where the casting of Slater works to the movie’s benefit — a point that Tarantino himself addresses in the commentary — because he’s handsome enough that you’d believe Alabama would be into him, but it’s still believable that he isn’t used to pretty girls approaching him first (she’s the one who asks him out to pie after the movie). Alabama even has a line of dialogue later saying that she was hired by Clarence’s boss, because he knows that Clarence doesn’t get out much.

It’s only after Clarence and Alabama admit that they love each other and get hitched the next morning that Clarence gets a rush of confidence. He gets a matching tattoo with Alabama, confronts her pimp, stands up to his estranged father (a detail that Tarantino admits is based on what he always wanted to say to his stepfather, Curt), and is able to be compelling enough that he orchestrates a $200,000 drug deal. Falling in love made Clarence determined and gave him direction in life. When you look at it that way, it’s a nice sentiment behind what could’ve been a character developed solely out of wish-fulfillment. Tarantino sees the film as a legitimate love story, and it’s a hard point to argue against. Especially when you see what the couple accomplishes when they work together as a team.

True Romance

Release Date

September 10, 1993

Runtime

119 minutes