Quentin Tarantino gets star on Hollywood Walk of Fame

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 22 (UPI) -- Filmmaker Quentin Tarantino got his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame just days before his new movie, The Hateful Eight opens in theaters.

At a prime location in front of one of the marquees at the historic Chinese Theater, Tarantino got to stand over his star, free of any threatened police-union boycotts.

Samuel L. Jackson, star of many Tarantino movies, introduced the writer-director as an artist without heavy hands: "He's all about making films that make you happy," Jackson said. "Quentin is all about the business of movies as entertainment."

"There aren't a lot of people in this business who still look at filmmaking the way Quentin does, and the purity of what it is, and what it should be — and what it means to you people who pay your money to watch the film."

Some police unions in New York, Philadelphia and Los Angeles were angered by Tarantino's remarks at an October protest against police brutality in New York, where he said police officers who shoot unarmed civilians are "murderers." But threatened boycotts or protests of the filmmaker didn't materialize. He took a group photo with many of the actors from his new film instead.

Tarantino was born in Knoxville, Tenn. and grew up in suburbs of Los Angeles. His breakthrough film was 1992's Reservoir Dogs. Three years later, he and writing partner Roger Avary won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for Pulp Fiction. In 2013, he won again for writing Django Unchained.

"I am happy to have my star on the Walk of Fame, with all the other people that have done a wonderful job in this town," he said.