6. Quentin Tarantino... Well, Hes Quentin Tarantino
If anyone defines arrogance in the movie industry it has to be Quentin Tarantino. For years I was incredibly against him because every interview with him seemed to be a never ending stream of self congratulation, but I had to give in because some of his films are flat out awesome. The big ego's not really his fault. Reservoir Dogs was met with immediate universal acclaim which would start pumping the sense of self-importance of any first time director and once Pulp Fiction got a similar reaction it was easy for him to think he was the best thing since a Royale with cheese. My main issue here is that two films isn't enough to prescribe greatness, but thats what the press pushed and Tarantino (who I imagine was already quite a cocky personality given how accomplished those films were) totally embraced it. Arrogance is fine if whats coming out is good. Sadly a move into acting, an area far from his forte, showed the early stages of an unquenchable ego. The naughties brought with it some good, if unremarkable films but Tarantino remained as self assured as ever, much to his critics annoyance. The release of Death Proof as part of the ill advised Grindhouse project seemed to be proof he was all talk. Thankfully all the negative word seemed to have deflated him a bit; even though Inglorious Basterds and Django Unchained were long films that had some unnecessary pulpy callbacks, they were strong entries in his filmography that deserved their plaudits. In that case why does he make the list? Because even if Django Unchained won him his first Oscar since Pulp Fiction, hes still arrogant enough to give himself extended cameos for no reason other than hes Quentin Tarantino.