Tarantino at Cannes

This story at Salon on the showing of Death Proof at the Cannes film festival buries the lede. Apparently Harvey Weinstein hated the whole Grindhouse experiment and considering the box office who can blame him? Midway through the article we have this nifty scene:

Weinstein held his peace at that moment, but a few minutes later, when another eastern European journalist asked why none of the fake trailers from "Grindhouse" are being shown with "Death Proof," he stepped up to the mike. "We had a great time with the whole 'Grindhouse' thing," he began, in the tones of a man not having any fun at all. "Now European audiences will get to see these new movies by Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez, and they'll enjoy them much more [than 'Grindhouse']. You'll see Robert Rodriguez making a true Robert Rodriguez movie, you'll see Quentin making a pure-essence Quentin movie. It's a completely different experience. They will dwarf 'Grindhouse,' trust me."

I think it's pretty clear that he considers "Death Proof" to be the only worthwhile part of the movie and that's why he's emphasizing the longer cut and his auteur of trash and gab. It's his only chance to rehabilitate the project and recoup some of his losses.