What do you know. There is something Quentin Tarantino dislikes more than potentially missing the premieres of fancy international festivals, and it’s none other than the presence of pure, unadulterated mobile devices. On his sets, that is. (Although a Getty search of “Tarantino†and “phone†yielded zero results … suspicious.) As revealed by Timothy Olyphant in a new interview, Tarantino had a strict no-phones policy on the set of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, and the repercussions were legit. “You’re fired. Cell phone out? Done. No warning, nothing, you’re going home. I’m not telling tales,†he told Rich Eisen’s radio show. “Outside the set we’d have a lovely little booth for everyone to check their phones in. That’s where all of our phones would be. If you needed to make a phone call, you’d go out to the street to make a phone call.â€
Olyphant insisted Tarantino didn’t put the ban in place in fear of leaked footage or photos, but rather because he wanted to create an environment where everyone would be focused only on their art. “We’re not gonna be over there doing some other thing, Instagramming, working on your next script, or talking to your agent. We’re here and this is what we’re doing, and we’re going to take it really seriously,†Olyphant said. “I don’t know how it comes across, but it was one of the greatest gifts he could give the crew and actors.†And if someone dared disobey Daddy Q with their ringtone going off? “Oh man, it was scary,†he added. “That person just took off running.â€