‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ Is the Best Film of 2015, According to Quentin Tarantino

Quentin Tarantino’s tastes are…how should we say…a bit singular. In recent years, the director has declared under-seen indie Afternoon Delight, Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris and Toy Story 3 as number one on his top 10 lists in their respective years, and though he admits he doesn’t have time to see a lot of new releases, his preferences are often very interesting. This year, Tarantino has gone with a more conventional pick for his favorite film, and it’s one that many of you (and many critics associations) agree with.

Speaking to French publication Premiere, The Hateful Eight director declared George Miller’s epic action opera Mad Max: Fury Road the best film of 2015, though he says he was initially hesitant to watch it in the first place:

I got a print of Mad Max on 35mm and I watched it in my house, and I had it all weekend and I ended up watching it three different times, and I resisted seeing it for a while because I was like, ‘Mad Max without Mel Gibson? Forget that!’ In a world where Mel Gibson exists, how can you cast Tom Hardy? So, I even wanted to get all defiant about it and #NotMyMax. Then I saw the movie and, ‘Okay, it’s terrific,’ and he’s pretty good in it, I have to admit.

Hear that, Tom Hardy? Tarantino admits you were “pretty good” in Fury Road. Maybe now we’ll see Hardy appear in a Tarantino film. If the director follows through on his promise (threat?), he’ll retire from directing after his next two movies — well, from directing feature-length films, anyway.

Tarantino’s favorite films are always wonderful to sift through, and his top 10 lists often include surprising picks like The Conjuring, the near-universally-loathed Kick-Ass 2, Kevin Smith’s middling-at-best horror flick Red State, and Paul W.S. Anderson’s The Three Musketeers.

The director has also previously listed Anything Else in his top 20 films of all time, and while most consider the rom-com-drama to be one of Woody Allen’s lesser works, I was just happy to see that someone — anyone — had not only seen that movie, but also loved it as much as I did. Would I rank it in my top 20 of all time? Not a chance, but it proves that every film is someone’s favorite.

Will The Hateful Eight be your favorite film of 2015? You’ll find out soon enough when it hits select theaters on December 25 before opening nationwide on January 1.