Quentin Tarantino, the Academy Award-winning director and writer behind modern classics like Pulp Fiction and Inglourious Basterds, claims that the young adult dystopian book The Hunger Games, and thus the film series that followed, ripped off the Japanese action thriller classic, Battle Royale. Tarantino is a loyal fan of the film adaptation of Koushun Takami’s novel, even claiming that it’s the film he wishes he had been able to make. The director continues to show his passion for the dystopian action movie, slamming original “Hunger Games” author Suzanne Collins for copying the story from one of his favorite films.
The acclaimed director recently appeared on The Bret Easton Ellis Podcast, where he addressed the similarities between Battle Royale and The Hunger Games. The extremely popular book series became a multi-million-dollar film franchise starring Jennifer Lawrence, while the Japanese novel was adapted into two cult films that came out in 2000 and 2003. Needless to say, these adaptations never received as much attention as The Hunger Games.
Tarantino has always stood by the Japanese dystopian movie, and even cast Battle Royale’s Chiaki Kuriyama as Gogo Yubari in Kill Bill: Volume 1. In the podcast, Tarantino takes aim at “Hunger Games” author Suzanne Collins, and wonders why she never got sued:
“I do not understand how the Japanese writer didn’t sue Suzanne Collins for every f-ing thing she owns. They just ripped off the f-ing book. Stupid book critics are not going to go watch a Japanese movie called Battle Royale so the stupid book critics never called her on it. They talked about how it was the most original f-ing thing they’d ever read. As soon as the film critics saw the film, they said, ‘What the f-ck? This is just Battle Royale except PG!'”
How Similar Are ‘The Hunger Games’ and ‘Battle Royale’?
Ever since the first “Hunger Games” novel was published in 2008, some have cited the young adult thriller as a direct copy of other literary works as well as films. The Battle Royale comparison is the most obvious one because, yes, there is a strong resemblance, and regardless of the further expansion within the world of The Hunger Games, the basic idea remains consistent throughout the series. It is a story about young people forced to hunt each other for survival, which is the premise for Koushun Takami’s 1999 novel.
However, there’s more. The Hunger Games is also similar to Seventh Victim, a sci-fi short story from the 1950s, which depicts a future society engaged in sanctioned global hunts. Other works that could have inspired Collins also include Stephen King’s The Long Walk and The Running Man, as they portray a future society in which survival games are taken as a societal norm.
For her part, back in 2011, Collins said in an interview that she was not familiar with Battle Royale, the book or the film: “I had never heard of that book or that author until my book was turned in. At that point, it was mentioned to me, and I asked my editor if I should read it. He said, ‘No, I don’t want that world in your head. Just continue with what you’re doing.'”
- Release Date
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December 16, 2000
- Runtime
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114 Minutes
- Director
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Kinji Fukasaku
- Writers
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Koushun Takami, Kenta Fukasaku
