In a Channel 12 news interview with Danny Hecht on Saturday night, actress/model/singer Daniella Pick, who has been Mrs. Quentin Tarantino since 2018, talked candidly about their life together, her first major movie role, and how the famed Hollywood director, who has made such classics as Pulp Fiction and Inglourious Bastards, coped with the war.
The couple has been living in Tel Aviv for years with their two children. When Hecht asked whether Tarantino thought about heading back to Hollywood as bombs fell on Tel Aviv during the war, Pick said, "Absolutely not. First of all, Quentin takes it the easiest way in the world. Most of the time, he wouldn't even go down to the shelter if I didn't tell him, and … I have two small children in my arms, so he helps me … He isn't afraid, and once he said something funny to me: 'Well, whatever. Like if something happens, I'll die as a Zionist.' So I said, ‘Well, OK."
It was never a question that the family would spend the war in their home in Israel. "It was during the war that Tarantino said, 'We'll be here.' It was clear,” she said.
Although a few months ago, there were reports that Tarantino would be working on a play in London, Pick reiterated that there were no plans to uproot the family from their comfortable home in north Tel Aviv.
Daniella Pick opens up about family life in north TLV
The director, who has spoken often about enjoying being a hands-on father and who is learning Hebrew, was shown in the news feature telling reporters, "I love it [in Israel]. If I didn't love it, I wouldn't be there. Playing with my kids, walking around the neighborhood, or riding my bike around the neighborhood. Just going out with my good friends and having fun, drinking and smoking cigars, or having dinner with my good friends."
Said Pick, "And he's an amazing father, I have to say that. He's warm, family-oriented, huggable, funny, and playful, and he's also an amazing and supportive husband, and he always pushes me, and we get along really well. From the first moment we met in life, we got along really well."
They met in 2009, when Pick was a popular model and singer, and Tarantino was doing publicity for Inglourious Basterds, his movie about Nazi hunters. They had an instant attraction, dancing the night away when they first met, and got married seven years ago.
Pick gave viewers a glimpse of the elaborate screening room where Tarantino, who is famous for his home theaters as well as for his movies, enjoys movies.
She said she bought the comfortable leather seats in the US because she knew Tarantino would be spending a great deal of time there.
He said, "We have very good movie nights with our friends. We saw Sorcerer, we saw Papillon, and it was amazing. We saw Straw Dogs, and it was amazing. Daniella can handle even the more difficult films when there is an audience that understands it too, and then she is more involved with it than when I force it on her when we are alone."
She pointed out that there is a heavy door to the screening room, which she said was a must because Tarantino likes to express his appreciation loudly as he watches movies.
"Yes, it's a good door. And with a mezuzah, of course, that's important to him,” she said.
Asked by Hecht whether the director kisses the mezuzah, as traditional Jews do, she admitted she was joking: "No, I don't think he noticed there was a mezuzah here. I didn't notice either until this moment.
The couple said that Tarantino had encouraged Pick, who had a cameo in his last film, Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood, to take the role in the new movie, The Perfect Gamble, which just premiered in Hollywood, and was offered to her by Israeli director Danny A. Abeckaser.
The Perfect Gamble is about a high-stakes gambler who gets involved with the local mafia at a casino in Tbilisi, and Pick’s co-stars are Abeckaser and David Arquette, who is best known for the Scream franchise. She is also starring in Abeckaser’s new film, about the pager operation in Lebanon, which will soon be released worldwide.
"I'm very excited," she said, speaking about doing publicity for The Perfect Gamble. “This is my first Hollywood premiere," she shares. "This will be the first red carpet I've walked on for my film, and it's really very exciting."
Her husband helped her prepare for the film. "My most important piece of advice was to know the lines … I helped her learn her lines,” said Tarantino.
Pick added, "Yes. The truth is, I recorded Quentin on the phone in voicemail, and then I just went over them at home. I did laundry, dishes, everything I needed to do, and I would hear the lines and answer myself."
Pick also revealed that the two are working on a series together that she will star in, but didn’t give details about it, and also spoke of how she is reviving her music career, recording new songs.
One subject she had difficulty discussing was the death of her father, Israeli pop icon Zvika Pick.
"It's not for nothing that I haven't been interviewed until now, it's just too hard. Very hard," she said. "And that's it, I can't even talk about it without crying. My father didn't like people crying. For me, the most important thing is that his songs will always continue to be played.”
As Pick gave the reporter a tour of their home, she revealed more details of their domestic life. It was not really a surprise that Pick said that Tarantino loves spicy food, much spicier than she enjoys. She said that when she cooks for him, “I take a taste and drink three glasses of water, over and over again until it's spicy enough, and he says, 'Yes, it's spicy.'”
She said that despite the director’s success, he hadn’t been sure he would ever manage to build a family until he met her. "There was a time when he really thought that maybe it wouldn't happen for him, this whole family thing," said Pick. "I'm very happy for him that it happened, after everything he dreamed of before happened to him, which was making the films. I'm happy for him that he was able to fulfill himself in writing as well as a father and as a partner."
Their partnership is working for her, too, she said: "After being busy for a good few years with being at home, being with the kids, giving birth to them, and getting to this place where we have a home, which is strong and fun, from here I can just flourish. I can go out, work, and come back. I have perfect harmony now in terms of how I feel about myself."