Foxy Brown may be the meanest chick in town and Coffy the baddest one-chick hit squad that ever hit it, but Pam Grier is one of the most down-to-earth actresses on the planet. Still going 50 years into her career, Grier has worked with some premiere directors, most of whom wanted to collaborate because they were fans of her iconic work in the ‘70s. Take John Carpenter and Quentin Tarantino, for example, who directed Grier in 1996’s Escape from L.A. and the next year’s Jackie Brown, respectively. But who does Pam Grier prefer when it comes to these genre-loving filmmakers? Oh, she knows what’s goin’ down!
Comparing both John Carpenter and Quentin Tarantino, Pam Grier said, “Quentin is more reality, John is fantasy. Because he got me to play Hershe Las Palmas, where I was a female actor playing a man who becomes a woman,” referring to her character in Escape from L.A., although we shouldn’t neglect that she appeared in 2001’s Ghosts of Mars as well. “So they’re both unique in so many ways, and I was honored to work with both of them.”
Still, for Grier, it’s Tarantino that takes it. While she did respect that John Carpenter is a musician, she just clicks with Quentin Tarantino. “Quentin watched all my videos, and he and I can talk movies for three days, five days. Just style, black and white. Everything that he taught me to be a filmmaker as I’m going to direct and produce. But the fact that there’s things that we missed, and he does not. Quentin can find the smallest essence of a word, dialogue, a bell bottom, a shoe…and when he [referenced] me in Reservoir Dogs – c’mon now. How’s he going to bring Foxy Brown in Reservoir Dogs, a show full of men and named after colors…?”
We all know that Tarantino is a massive Grier fan, but did you know that he even opened up a coffee joint next to his Vista Theater called, appropriately enough, Pam’s Coffy? Grier, too, has had nothing but positives about her director, recognizing his ability to take an actor to somewhere they’ve never been and channel a part of themselves that they have yet to put on the big screen.
But Carpenter and Tarantino aren’t the only great directors that Grier has worked with. How can you forget the likes of Jack Hill, Jack Clayton, Tim Burton, and so many more?
Who is your favorite director that Pam Grier has worked with? Who got the most memorable performance out of her? Drop your pick below.
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