10 Films That Embellished Who Actually Made Them
2. Hero
Who You Probably Thought Made It: Quentin Tarantino
Who Really Made It: Zhang Yimou
From Dusk till Dawn isn’t the only time Quentin Tarantino’s involvement in a movie has been a tad inflated. A more extreme example came with the 2004 US release of Zhang Yimou’s wuxia epic Hero.
First released to massive success in its native China in 2002, Miramax were quick to snap up its American distribution rights but left it to gather dust until Tarantino – a big fan of the film who called it “an absolute masterpiece” – offered to lend his name to it as ‘presenter’.
There was a catch, however. Tarantino insisted that if the words ‘Quentin Tarantino Presents’ were to be emblazoned all over Hero’s publicity then Miramax had to keep their grubby, meddling mitts off the movie. That is, they had to release it uncut and with subtitles rather than any unnecessary and distracting English dubbing.
On the one hand, it was pretty good of Tarantino to lend his brand to Zhang’s film. If his name hadn’t been attached, the version US audiences saw may have been butchered beyond recognition or may not have seen the light of day at all.
On the flipside, it’s not like Hero wasn’t already getting praise on US soil. Prior to its 2004 US theatrical release the movie had already been nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars and Zhang himself was by no means unnoticed by Hollywood having received two earlier Best Foreign Language nominations too.
A cynic might suggest that although Tarantino’s name no doubt raised Hero’s exposure it may have been a somewhat self-serving manoeuvre on his part. After all, it can’t hurt having your name attached to a critically acclaimed, Oscar-nominated movie can it?